A subject i can talk all day about... Overall its been a great year for me. After back to back seasons which were borderline awful maybe it was due. I really paid attention to the Early November weather pattern and chose to hunt hard the second week of November. High pressure, frosty am temps, and light winds made it the best (and most consistant) 10 days of the hunting season so far. Deer activity resembled the seek/chase phase perfectly with numerous big bucks sighted on stand during daylight hours. Weather i believe is the most overlooked piece of the puzzle when looking to hunting the rut. Consistant weather keeps the deer movement consistant (just like fishing). Less then ideal weather conditions for the past 2 weeks have put a serious damper on daytime activity and the wind forecast over the next couple of days is 25-30 west winds w/ gusts 30+ mph is sure to put deer on lockdown and even evening feed spots will be vacant till after the sun goes down.
Overall deer sightings for the season have been down for me. Doe/fawn numbers seem to be lower than previous years and 1 1/2 old buck numbers seem to be really low. "Shooter" buck (100+" and outside the ears) numbers seem to be up. My game cams have also confirmed what i have witnessed in the field.
Any theories from anyone on that?