East Texas deer hunting
 

Why are the deer so nocturnal? We have had scouting cameras out since before season and 95% of them are at night. Pretty darn frustrating to say the least.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

i am from arlington also. east texas is covered up with poachers. the deer are naturally few in numbers.even dogs run wild by these old places and chase deer.the deer seem to have no [pattern . i see them mostly early mornings with very seldom evenings.not to say they do not come out then.our cams picked up mostly at night but that just seems to be natural there. maybe it is when less people are around.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

Deer are nocturnal by nature. It's the type of animal they are.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

Dep do you hunt east texas also? Where abouts? Do you seem to have the same pattern as we do?

A5, I know deer are nocturnal animals, but this is ridiculous. I've hunted in several different states and never seen deer this "day scared".

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

i stopped 2 years ago for the reason you state.one of the main reasons they are seldom seen is the poaching problem. economy is bad and they kill deer year around.even the hogs were the same way.we hunted in red river county. we saw al kinds of signs but no deer.we set up game cams and saw very few deer. the only deer seen were at nites. we moved the cams everywhere.we had just started to see deer the lasy year we were there. next year they sold and cleared the timber.east texas is just different than most places.give me a call sometimes and maybe we can hunt together.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

I know most of east texas is owned by tree farms which keep a lot of pressure on the deer. If the land was privately owned and not commercially you should be OK.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

where in the world did you get that most of east texas is owned by tree farms?that is sure pulling one out of a hat. that is so obsurd i will not even say anything further on it. also remember i was born and raised there and still have family there.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

Yea dep214 your right I do need to re-phrase that. Most of the land that hunters get for a deer lease is owned by tree companies, also outside of Huntsville you have the national forrest which is also heavily pressured. So if your on a deer lease that is owned by a tree farm then the deer are heavily pressured.

However you could have corrected me without being sarcastic.

It may be just the areas that I have hunted in the past.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

you are very right about around huntsville. the paper companies have bought all the timber. most paper companies own the timber and not the land. i always thought around huntsville was very nice.never saw many deer though.i used to go to huntsville once a week for several years.i was acrrying a load of prisoners to the diagnostics center. we went to all the prisons around there and it all looked like good hunting.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

Because the whitetail are nocturnal by nature, the increased hunting and poaching pressure, not to mention the dog and predator problems cause them to stay put or only move in thickets during the daylight hours.
As I mentioned the thickets that we have in East Texas, gives them a lots of cover to move in, in daylight hours, so not only do they stay nocturnal, when they move in daylight, they still have plenty of foraging area to move around in without being seen.
I have had a good year, we've seen quite a few deer, and I was able to get my limit! Where I hunt, between Woodville and Chester, we've seen deer just about equally between mornings and evenings. I have tried a couple of mid-day hunts this season, but it was just long hours of nothing! The deer I've seen are from daylight to 9 or 10 AM (7:30 to 8:30 AM mostly) and in the evenings from 4 PM until dark!
Your best chances of seeing deer in legal hunting hours is to find a good trail in a creek bottom where they feel safe. Or as where my stands are, old logging roads between the creek bottom forest and very thick young pine thickets! I guess the deer feel safe comming out on these old roads, but generally they don't stay out on these roads very long!

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

I just picked up a place in Leon County this weekend. With a lot of labor a few friends and I were given permission to hunt on it. The property has two creeks running through with hardly any pine trees.

Does anybody know what those berry trees are that grow purple berries? This time of the year they are usually dead with no leaves an berries. I heard deer will eat them? The land is covered in them and wnated to know if we should leave some around!

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

in east texas the deer are even more of a creature of habit.do not make the mistake of removing all the cover or vegitation.thgey will avoid the change.not sure what the berries are.we left our area natural and it always held deerwe did put out blocks and feeders for them

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

dep214 I read my hunting books last night and I think the shrub is a French Mulberry (not for sure though)

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

poachers suck

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

I have noticed the same thing in Jasper County. We are on a 1300 acre lease that has not been hunted in 4 years. I took a nice 8pt opening day. Buy have seen very little since. We know there are deer out there, and alot of them. The feeders are being hit. It just seems they are moving at night. We have some ideal stand locations but just patterning the deer has been difficult. We have maybe seen 20-30 deer total this year. Of those, 4 were killed. I know there are areas around us that are being ran by dogs, as you can hear them on neighboring properties. I am really getting frustrated with not seeing alot of activity. Hope things get better next fall. We have put in numerous food plots and try to improve the habitat.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

if you hunt the feeders change. hunt away from the feeders. hunt a roadway or trail away from the feeder. i did this and was very successful.

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

our deer are hungry little guys because whenever they hear the feeder go off they litterally come runnin!

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

where at in e texas. this is highly unusual for the deer in those areas.everyone we hunted with said the sound still spooked the deer. they would come back for the corn later

RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

bobo is right, it is a mullberry tree.

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RE: East Texas deer hunting
 

I dont know what part of east Texas you are in, but years ago I use to hunt the Longview, Dangerfield area and noticed the same thing. Too many trees. ;)

I have had the same problem this year in West Texas. The season was too hot. I never taged a good buck this year. I finally culled a big spike on the last day.[:@]

Last year at the beginning of season I saw a couple of mature bucks, one with a busted rack and another with a huge body and a small rack. Second weekend of season everything had gone nocturnal except a few does and fawns that is.Super small amount of daytime activity. Hogs were most active from 2am and 4am. Did get some night time pics of a couple monster bucks though. Everything loved moving around in thick fog.