Well guys, I don't think the rut exists in my area. LOL
And I have no idea what happened to the deer.

I went out Friday evening, saw one doe with a fawn in 3 hrs...then took my son out for the rifle opener on Sat to one of our best gun stands. We sat almost 5 hrs, didn't see or even hear a deer. (leaves were crunchy) I was proud of him for sticking it out, but the last 90 mins or so he was hating life...especially with hearing the guns continue to bang. LOL

I have no clue what is going on here. Typically in that spot I'll see 10-20 deer on opening day, and several bucks at least. There was shooting all around, we just got blanked. I even had the perfect wind the entire time...which is rare here.

My wife asked me last night did I want to hunt today....she would drive the kids to school. I told her no, I would take them in. VERY frustrated. All the folks I've talked to aren't seeing any rutting action either as of yet. I moved a stand on Sunday...and checked the one area they usually scrape and found 3 total, so something is going on a little anyhow. I just can't imagine its that late...and it still doesn't explain the lack of sightings overall. I'm not overhunting, I'm rotating stands, and hunting mostly when the wind is good. Some of my spots the deer come from everywhere, so wind is kinda moot.

I'm not giving up....but boy is it tough when I've only seen deer 2 out of my last 10 sits. Sorry for the whining guys...just had to vent. I'll be heading to my WV property next week for opening week of gun, I know it will be fun and we'll see lots of deer. Maybe the hunting here will pick up and be better later this year. I'm still determined to get one...I'll probably head out a day or two this week if I can.

Good luck guys, hope its going better where you are!

Mike