Valentine

They can and do reduce the number of deer. Farmers don't have it perfect; neither do hunters.

Beard Buster

What part of southern MO are you in, 1Gobble?

GTOHunter

I'm located in Southeast MO. and it's going to be really tough Hunting around here this Fall.Ive been seeing several nice young Bucks moving around....biggest thing that we will have to worry about like back in 2006 is the EHD that will kill off more Deer than anything else.With the water sources drying up and any stagnant water laying around the flies will flourish and if they bite the Deer and infect them that's where the trouble will start.

Our MDC asks us to watch for Buzzards and report any Dead Deer we think died of un- natural causes...we have gotten cooler weather and some rain but it's scattered all across our County.

I have a feeling any Food Plots planted this Fall will be hit hard by the Deer since the acorn crop might very well be poor this year also.We have plans for several food plots and hopefully we will get a good amount of rain fall in late Aug/Sept?

dejager

just got 3 in of rain in the last 3 days thing are starting to look up

Mojotex

Terasac makes a great point about water sources. Last couple of years where I hunt it has been unusually dry pretty much year round, with the winter rainfall very much less than "normal". For all the years before these two there has been plenty of rain and the creeks were almost always running ... even some of the small drainage creeks. In one of these larger creeks, I have seen ducks and otters cruising and feeding in past years. This 6' wide 6' deep creek bed was essentially a damp bottomed ditch with a few pot hles here and there. None of the small ones had sqaut for water.

There is one huge creek along the northern end of the property. Walls are 20' in places and 75 yards wide. It was very weak, but flowing.

Im am hardeheaded sometimes and it took me too give up on my usual haunts despite a very good acorn crop in these areas. I moved to that creek. And bingo ... lots of the deer were hanging closer to that big creek. Heavy trails. Obvious browsing, poop piles, etdc. So when I finally started hunting along the southern area of that creek bed, my luck changed.

So ... may be a similar case up your way too. I'd scout now for creek crossings and see if you can find good fresh sign. Good luck and hope you have a great season.

Jenks

Hey GTOHunter, we got a rain over here in Ripley Co!! The weatherman says there is more coming. It is hit-or-miss, thunderstorms moving thru. I think I had nearly two months without rain. If we had not gotten some soon the trees may have started dieing. The red oaks have the "red oak decline" and have mostly already died, around my house, anyway. I hunt in Ralls Co. and it was reported to be the driest county in MO. Deer up there had the EHD several years ago and it hurt the numbers for awhile. I hope it does not come back. Have a good season!!!