Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer are strange this year

We’ve a good year as far as crops so i’d figure there will be plenty of acorns . I have asian pear trees in my yard and i have never seen deer eat them this time of year,only in late season when they had nothing much to eat. This year they are eating every day, sometimes 3-4 times a day they are here. Just a bunch young bucks spikes ,3pter,4pter. Today i watched a spike stand under one of my pear trees sticking his head up the pears. I thought he was trying to knock a few out. He then pawed out a scrape and pee’d 3 times in it. That was kind of strange for early sept.

We have a lot of green acorns dropping early this year as it was quite dry before this last week or so of rain. Turkey's seem to like them though.

SRW

IMO it’s not much early. Here S Ark, I’m seeing some bucks out of velvet. The bucks ‘can’ start sparring, hooking, and scraping now anytime. Their
internal barometer tells them what the WX and season hold.

they are still in velvet here

I had a bachelor group run across the road in front of me yesterday morning. I had to stop for them and got a good look. A lot of nice bucks. They were still in velvet too. They generally start losing it the second week of September here. Bow season starts here on Saturday I think. It's still way too hot, gonna be 95* today. It's been wet this year and the corn and the soy beans are lookin' good. The deer herd should be pretty healthy this year.

Started seeing bone instead of velvet mid August, about 2 weeks earlier than normal. Late frost last spring means no fruit on our natural persimmon trees or planted pear trees. No idea on acorns yet

Early youth hunt Saturday should be interesting. Will be 70 and humid at daybreak- thermacell time

I saw a spike smoking a Pall Mall. Weird year.

ThinK...COLD!

How the hell did that happen? I thought it was illegal for them to buy cigarettes at that young age.

Here are a few pix from THIS year - 9/18

-----* I learned from these pix WHEN I enlarge them--- they get fuzzy. Sorry.

My neighbor sent this pic last Sat, 9-1. This buck was behind his house. He also sent pix of a group of Does.
It was fuzzy when I got it.




This AM - 9-6-18 I went to my hunting property to check out what needs cutting, obstructions, etc. & scouting
As I drove in a long drive way I got this pic of 2 deer



The buck stopped a few yards away and I got another pic. I enlarged it and that made it a little fuzzy
These are 2 buck that have ALREADY shed the velvet.




Those 2 pix were on the E side of the property.
The following is on the N W side of the property approaching a strip of pines you can stalk and see thru.
I have posted pix of this SAME spot in 2 previous seasons. There has been a scrape HERE every yr. since 2012.




close up - <honestly, I did NOT place those 2 leaves as markers. They were already there.
At least 1 buck is 'gettin ready'.



I looked very close (ly) and could not tell if it was Antler or Hoof that scratched the ground.

There is a spot near one of my sons stands that is scraped every year as well.

I just now - 10:00 AM talked to my neighbor who sent me this pic:



and he was watching 2 -two - bucks bigger than that one, and they were sparring.
One was a 7 pt and he couldn't tell about the other.

I've had a bachelor group eating acorns out in the back for over two weeks. Saw my first 6-pt without velvet ten days ago. I watched a young buck scraping and rubbing his forehead on a branch over the scrape about two weeks ago. All this activity is over two weeks earlier than last year.

Yeah, they usual go with Kent's.

TODAY is 9-18-18 > > > 12 days later.

This NEW scrape was NOT here yesterday. Behind my house. I took 2 pix but this is the clearest.



'Some' bucks are feeling the urge and STARTING to get ready.

B U M P

Been seeing some small spikes and 4 points fighting already, its strange. The 8 points kind of ignore them, maybe the small bucks are acting tough, never seen such stuff this early.