It’s cold

[Ketchup]

Anyone out with their strings after the gun season? Had planned to head out yesterday, but that wind would have sent me into the next county. 
 

Im headed to Stockton here shortly to try out the square bill bite, and may hit the deer stand tomorrow morning. 
 

One observation i wanted to mention. Last few years we have had lots of scrapes and rubs around here. I walked the same areas Sunday and did not see one single run or scrape anywhere. Also in years past we had several bucks showing up often, especially this time of year. Since i planted my food plot, all of that has changed. Kinda weird, but has me puzzled daily thinking how adding a food plot could alter so much. It has to be something totally different, right? 

[Seth]

I'm headed down to Peck Ranch for a managed muzzleloader hunt with dad, father in law and a couple buddies this weekend. I've never hunted down there this time of year so I have no clue what to expect. We've killed several bucks over the years when the hunt was in late October/early November.

Unless you cleared a bunch of cover to make a food plot, I doubt it has anything to do with that. The acorns were crazy heavy this year and I'm sure that might have something to do with it. This was the worst year we've ever had for growing food plots so ours aren't doing much. We have some wheat growing, but it didn't get rain till late October and isn't very tall. Our brassica plot burned up from the super dry September/October and grass took over.

[MrGiggles]

I've been seeing the normal amount of buck sign. I normally don't pay a whole lot of attention to scrapes but I have seen some, and some rub lines.

The food plot thing is kinda odd, only thing I can think of is added pressure, or maybe you tilled up some kind of forage that they really liked. The first year for my plots was really good.

I still have an archery tag, I've been letting the place settle a little bit after hunting during firearms season. Wouldn't mind for the acorns and stuff to dry up a little more too, so my turnips look more appetizing.

[Ketchup]

On 11/30/2022 at 2:22 PM, Seth said:

I'm headed down to Peck Ranch for a managed muzzleloader hunt with dad, father in law and a couple buddies this weekend. I've never hunted down there this time of year so I have no clue what to expect. We've killed several bucks over the years when the hunt was in late October/early November.

Unless you cleared a bunch of cover to make a food plot, I doubt it has anything to do with that. The acorns were crazy heavy this year and I'm sure that might have something to do with it. This was the worst year we've ever had for growing food plots so ours aren't doing much. We have some wheat growing, but it didn't get rain till late October and isn't very tall. Our brassica plot burned up from the super dry September/October and grass took over.

It was just grown up fescue that i brush hogged 3 times a year. I do get bucks coming in, but nothing like years past. 
 

I have 3 different bucks the past 2 weeks that only have one side of a rack. Small guts at that. 

[Seth]

On 12/2/2022 at 1:19 PM, Ketchup said:

It was just grown up fescue that i brush hogged 3 times a year. I do get bucks coming in, but nothing like years past. 
 

I have 3 different bucks the past 2 weeks that only have one side of a rack. Small guts at that. 

Our family farm is similar this year. It just hasn't had crap on it compared to how it was 5-10 years ago. Im sure part of it is that fact that up until about 5 years ago, there was essentially zero hunting pressure to the east and west. Now we have pressure on both sides. I'm trying to convince dad that we need to go in and do some TSI work to really thicken the place up.