This has been a tough and very weird year. I just wanted to see what others thought and if they had the same experience.

Here is what is happening.

I am hunting in land that is about 60% woods, and the rest pasture. Out of 10 guys hunting in a 2 mile radius,

after 8 days we only have 4 deer between us. Normally, we would have had about 10. Without trying to brag, normally I would have had 2 by now.

Here is what I observed.

I had a camera on a trail head near a food plot. Between 11-14 and 11-27, I grabbed nearly 300 pics from my camera. Most had deer, and most were at night. I did catch a lot of groups between 4 and 10 with bucks and does mixed. I did get many pics during the day, including a few bucks.

About 11-28, the weekend after Thanksgiving, the activity really started slowing down. From that Sunday to the next Thursday, I was only getting 4 to 10 pics per day. Season opened on that Wednesday. I shot a doe on Friday that was in a group of 5 - no bucks in the group.

In one other spot on my land, on the first day of season, the Wed after Thanksgiving, I spotted a pretty large herd of about 17 mixed does and bucks. I had to leave early that day, so spotted these guys about 4:30 coming out of a creek bed moving into the pasture. Since then, I haven't seen them again, and have been tracking and haven't seen any tracks.

This year has been unseasonably warm. The first 3 days of the season - I think it was in the 60s each day. Even today, 8 days after open, the temp was in the high 50s.

Since last Sunday through today, I haven't seen a thing. I have talked with a few other guys in the area, and they haven't seen anything either. I haven't heard any shots. The local bus driver hasn't seen anything either.

So, I am stuck. I don't know if anyone else is hunting in SE Kansas and has had better or same luck.

My theory is that they went into rut too late. Instead of peaking around 11-10, I am thinking the rut didn't peak until more like 11-28. So, when opening day came, instead of starting back with second rut, they were resting up from the first rut. The extra warmness is keeping them in the post rut pattern. The lack of cold isn't triggering the does to return to estrus, and it is also not triggering them to start trying to put on winter weight.

We are supposed to get some cold weather starting Saturday. Highs over the weekend are low 40s. I don't remember the last rain we had, but its been a few weeks. We are supposed to get some rain or snow over the weekend.

So, I am also trying to figure out what my strategies should be over the weekend. My logic tells me that if it gets cold, they might return to historical patterns, in which case my proven setup should work. The other part of me says I can't take the chance and I need to get deep in the woods and figure out where they are.

What does everyone else think?