I think at this point it is safe to say this is an off-season. One indicator for me is a couple buddies of mine who are out on the road all day long have not seen what they usually see during the rut. Most of the time, they will catch sight of at least a few big boys doing something really insane when things get heated up. Neither of them has witnessed that this year.

I hunt Howard and Montgomery counties, and while I have seen numerous deer given the urban environment. I still have hunted days with no deer in sight. That is uncharacteristic for this part of Maryland. Around here I should see at least one deer every other hunt.

Between the moon and weather, the hunting in MD this season is not what it usually is. We had some pretty warm days during the rut, and some popular hunting weekends saw inclement weather. Hopefully next year there will be cooler, dryer weather during the rut and during popular archery weekends.