I spent the day at my hunting land yesterday clearing the campsite, repairing and moving stands, etc. Also did quite a bit of scouting and saw no fresh buck sign yet. No rubs, specifically. I' ve had years when there was plenty of rubbing by now, but its not unusual to have none now, either. I did notice that we seem to be in for another nice mast crop this year. Maybe not like the monster crop we had last year, but still a good one. Bodes well for the health of the herd and antler growth...but I think it hurts a hunters chances for a really nice buck. With mast and does everywhere, they dont have to travel much!
SC in LR

Hey Scrider,
I hail from north central Arkansas (Stone and Izard Co) and have spent a quite a bit of time in the woods the last two weeks with my squirrell dog .
Here we appear to have another bumper crop of acorns [:-] which bothers me a little. If the deer hunters do not see a lot of deer coming to their corn feeders and fields (deer much prefer acorns over corn or the various grasses) they may cry to the AGFC again and get the deer seasons cut [:@]. I know we cannot stand another cut in the gun and especially the muzzleloading season (ML from 25 days to 7 days) like we got this year. This year I have seen a darned lot of deer sigh, though no buck rubs/sign yet, and as you noted with the abundance of does and heavy mast crop the bucks will not have to do a lot of traveling to satisfy their needs.
Anyway, with the big mast crop last fall and the low buck harvest the hunters that get out and hunt should see some darned good bucks this year. Add that to the good mast crop this year and next year should be another good year for big bucks.
Take care, good hunting and may God bless you and yours.
DD

They are rubbing in south arkansas. i saw a few last weekend.
i also noticed pin oaks had acorns but didnt see any on white oaks.

Hey, Dusty Dog... I hunt in Conway County so we' re practically neighbors. I remember not seeing a lot of rubbing activity before muzz last year...but between muzz and modern gun season they went crazy..there were rubs EVERYWHERE on opening morning of mod. On another topic...I know the Ark harvest was way down last year, but my buddies and I saw MORE legal bucks (6 point or bigger) last season than at any time in the last 10 years that we have hunted this same property. Have you experienced the same? I think the 3-point rule has begun to pay off in that regard. We also caught pics of many different bucks on our trail cams after the season ended last year...a lot more than we thought were there.
SC

Right here beside you in Pope county. Unfortunately i haven' t been able to hit the woods and do any scouting because of college. Just too rough this semester, but hopefully i can get out there this weekend??[:' (]

Hey Scrider,
I went out again yeaterday and again I saw tons of fresh deer sign but still no buck sign. I will normally find a few rubs and scrapes by now, but I am not worried. I know the bucks are here and will start feeling their cheerios before long. Last I saw the most concetrated buck sigh the first week or so of bow season. I think we have seen more good bucks since the 3 pt rule was implimented, but around here we still have a pretty high number of people that has trouble distinguishing between a doe, illegal buck or legal buck so the effects will not be a good as they are where the rules/laws are followed better.
During muzzleloading season it sounds like modern gun season by the number of " repeating muzzleloaders" one hears. Sorry to sound so negative but traditional style muzzleloading is my favorite way to hunt and it is bad enough to have to share the woods with 200 yard modern muzzleloaders but I also have to share it with people totin centerfire rifles.
I will miss the first muzzleloading season this year, I will be in Colorado trying to fill an either sex elk tag. It' s my first trip to Colorado and I am really looking forward to it.
Take care, good hunting and may God bless you and yours.
DD

Yesterday I finally got to get out & check on my Ol Faithful stand sites,,in Southern Arkansas btw..PinOak,,Striped Oak(Nutall)& Overcup are loaded down in the riverbottoms where I do most of my huntin until the hordes addicted to Quack duck hunters take em over..My best little bottleneck was torn up with sign & did find 2 scrapes & a few rubs..The way those few rubs were broken & torn up,,well,," DEER" LORD willin maybe he' ll come cruisin by me during daylight hours..Good huntin this season ya' ll & God Bless....

Hey Folks,
Managed to get out for a little (very little) bowhunting today. Checked one of our places I havn' t been to this year. It appears this little cool spell we are having is making the bucks feel their cheerios [>:]. Found three scrapes and lot of sign. My brother-in-law saw two legal bucks sparring and chasing a doe around . His son saw a small buck chasing a doe . I do not recall ever seein em actually chasin this early.
One of my magazines says this years rut is supposed to be an intense one, looks like it' s startin out that way.
Saw some white oak so heavy with acorns that it looked like the limbs were goin to break, bent way down toward the ground.
Take care, good huntin and may God bless you and yours.
DD

Thanks, Dusty....I' m getting so excited for Muzz season I just about cant stand it. I have not been back out to my place yet, but my wife drives about 20 miles through farm country to work each day and she has started seeing lots of deer all of the sudden in the mornings and evenings...they' re getting active!
Best of luck to all..
SC

I' VE done alot of scouting and little hunting so far this season, no time off work is killing me, but I have also noticed plenty of acorns in logan and pope counties, white oaks have been great and several trees are already dropping, I' ve seen several rubs and a few scrapes, but I have' nt seen a deer yet they seem to still be moving at night quite a bit. I' m headed to camp in the morning and I hope I' ll bag a deer this weekend, I' m off for seven days finaly and I aint goin home with out some fresh venison, I' ll add that buck sign looks good, but deer numbers in my area still seem down. I have usually seen deer by now.