I along with many of the other hunters I talked with had a rough buck season this year. It was by far the least amount of shots I can remember hearing during the first 3 days of buck season when most of the harvest takes place. Once again weather played a main factor in the lack of activity.
On Monday the deer were moving right at daylight then the mock 10 winds started to blow. The temperatures warmed to near 70 degrees which always causes the deer to bed up and not move very much throughout the day. I stuck it out but at times it was scary as the treetops were whipping and limbs were falling.
Tuesday the weather conditions were better but I only saw a bunch of does and little ones and no bucks. It’s been a weird season for me as I’ve hardly seen any rutting activity at all. I’m a firm believer in finding the does and watching them as a buck usually isn’t far behind but that hasn’t been the case for me this year.
Buck season opened a week later than it did last year due to the calendar and I think that was another factor. November 6th through the 9th is when I saw a couple of the shooter bucks I was after as well as several pictures taken on my trail camera. I think this is when the peak of the rut occurred.
Of course the does come in heat at different times and I think the key to being successful this year was finding the one or two hot does in the area and the big bucks were with them. All of the does I was seeing were still grouped together and had their last year fawns with them. Another thing I noticed this year was the lack of road kill deer. Sure there are always a few here and there but there wasn’t near as many as I normally see during the month of November.
On Wednesday snow moved into the area. The folks in the eastern panhandle received over a foot and a half of heavy wet snow that pretty much put a halt to the season there. We didn’t get that much here in the central part of the state but the snow squalls reduced visibility making it tough to see at times throughout the day.
With 2 out of the 3 busiest days of buck season being less than ideal it’s surely going to have the buck kill down this year. I’ve heard some early reports of counties down 40-50%. It will be interesting to see the totals once all of the check-in tags are tallied.
I kept on hunting after Thanksgiving and actually saw my first buck chase of the year on Friday and Saturday. I finally found a couple hot does that came back into heat. After the peak of the rut the does that didn’t come into heat the first cycle will come in 21 days later. This matches up with my observation of the peak taking place November 6-9.
I had an interesting day on Friday at the farm I was hunting in Braxton County. Not long after I got settled in my stand I saw a doe and little one below me glaring in one direction. I just knew they were looking at a buck so I scanned the woods and sure enough caught movement. I grabbed my binoculars and had to do a double take at the big black object I was looking at. I immediately grabbed my rifle and as I was putting it to my shoulder a bear ran across the shooting lane.
Braxton County was open to concurrent bear season during the two week long buck season and I almost had a shot at a nice one. After that, I ended up seeing 3 spikes, 2 6 points, and a young 8 point that had a busted g2 on his left side. All of the bucks were after 5 does and I watched them do circles in the woods chasing after them for over 2 hours. They stopped in between and were still eating the abundant acorns on the oak point I was watching.
I’m after a big mature buck so all of the younger bucks got a pass from me hoping I’ll see them again next year. On Saturday I watched another young 8 point single out a lone doe and chase after her like a race horse. It was the best chase I saw the whole season so far.
The first week came to an end but I kept on hunting through the second week with the same results. Even though I had action those 2 days, overall it was the least amount of rutting activity I’ve ever witnessed in my 20 plus years of hunting.
Two of the shooter bucks I was after got shot by both neighbors but that’s the way it goes sometimes. All you can do is stick with it and if that big buck doesn’t show himself there’s always muzzleloader and antlerless seasons to fill the freezer with a couple of does. Good luck to those that are still hunting and don’t feel bad if you’re having a rough season as I feel your pain. There’s always next year.
