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Where are the deer?

Gravey said:
We have food plots, acorns, and plenty of thick cover and not seeing them this year like we normally do. Had several good bucks on camera and all pics are few and far between. Stayed on stand until 11:00 this morning and not the first deer. Folks around us saying the same when it comes to lack of sightings. Has me puzzled.
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It's been a weird year for me.

Back during the first week of October, I swear I thought a doe migration was going on. One day I counted over 40 moving through from the same area. I have never seen numbers like that before. I figured someone was harvesting row crops nearby. Then…poof… back down to the normal numbers. Managed to take a couple with a bow before they disappeared.

The buck movement has been extremely slow, and lots of pics of deer at night. The two bucks we've taken were both full of red oak acorns, but I'd guess they're on alternative foods sources around us at least as much as they're hitting the acorns.

Hoping for one more doe this weekend or next, but it'll have to be just the right one.
 
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My property is a doe magnet, holding them year round as they fawn. Only bucks I get are during the rut. And once that's over, the bucks disappear until summer, where I may get a few periodically at my licks. That said, I'm getting lots of doe pics in my plots at daylight and dark. Much more so this year than last. Seems they are craving the moisture content of the green stuff.
 
gatodoc said:
I guess these Roane county deer were just craving some salad….
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We still have deer in food plots. But deer still eating acorns as well. This is no doubt the biggest acorn crop we have ever had. What is strange is deer not eating in corn fields compared to years pass. Seems more towards greens.
 
Last year deer hammered cut corn. This year got cut corn next to my house and no deer to speak of. They didn't hammer it like last year. Might still be on acorns is why. Probably be hammered after season some time.
 
gatodoc said:
Just saw. 5 deer grazing in a field in Roane county about 4:45 pm. Guess the acorns have run out and they're back on grass…
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Even with the massive acorn crop we have locally, deer have been pounding our food plots all season. Never seen anything like it. Usually, in a bumper acorn year, the food plots go virtually untouched.
 
I live in a wooded community next to Old Hickory Lake. We have deer up the ying yang. It's nothing for me to count 20+ deer within a qtr mile. What I can't figure out is where the bucks go. We only see bucks during rut and some very nice ones. Then they vanish. And I mean gone. Every year it's the same. I wish I knew where they go. Man they are smart. The does just stick around and eat everybody's plants and get hit by cars. Where do those bucks go?
 
BSK said:
Strangely, also still seeing a LOT of scrape-working. That is unusual for late December. Three traditional scrapes are still getting hit hard, one of them (on the edge of a food plot) every day.
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I moved a camera yesterday for this very reason. Two scrapes side by side in edge of food plot getting hammered. Agree that in our area its not normal for late December, but very interesting.
 

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