Antler size

[Ehunter]

Is anyone else noticing that the racks seem to be a bit smaller this year than normal? I'm wondering if it's due to all the dry weather we had this summer, but here in S.E. Kansas, I've only seen two really good bucks so far this year. Neither of them on my hunting ground though. lol I'm seeing alot of "basket" 8 pointers, and even the older deer that I am seeing are basket racked. Nothing over a 12-14 inch spread. Just wondering if anyone else is running into this.

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

If I ever see one I will let you know Lol





Hutch

[Ehunter]

Well Hutch, buy a Kansas tag next year and I'll take you with me. Thankfully, I have a few customers that are farmers and let me hunt on their places. I have roughly 1000 acres of farmland to hunt, some creek bottom land, and a bit of pasture land in this area. Up in North Central Kansas, I have probably 15,000 acres of land to hunt, but I've never tried deer hunting up there. Pheasant and quail is all so far. They do have Muleys up in that area though, so I'm planning on eventually giving it a try.

[Money Man]

Well, NY is quite a drive from Kansas, but my buddy and I do a lot of scouting preseason and we noticed that of the bucks we saw, they all seemed smaller than normal. We also saw a lot fewer deer than normal too. Even as our bow season just closed, we both saw fewer deer in the woods. Between the 2 of us, we hunt about 6 or 7 different areas and the same results everywhere. Now I think it was 3 or 4 years ago, and it was a banner year for number of deer and the incredible sizes of racks. We didn't have droughts this past year, as a matter of fact it was quite wet. We did get hit with some heavy snow last year and we have seen a lot more coyotes around.

[Ehunter]

MM, I've noticed a rise in coyote numbers as well here. Been running into them almost every night as I walk out. I'm still seeing good deer numbers, just smaller racks than ever before. After season is over, I plan on doing my best to thin out some coyotes. Of course, any that walk under my stand while I'm deer hunting are gonna be in trouble. lol

[elkslayer4x5]

If the areas that you're hunting recieve any kind of pressure the bigger, older bucks will favor coming out at night, offering less chances of being seen. Got any trail cams, even cheap trail cams are better than none, as you don't see whats going on when you're not there. So far, its been my experience that the critters don't care about the flash, they're more concerned about the tiny click that our Wildview II's make just before the cam takes the pic. We've never yet seen this guy in legal shooting hours, have found his core area, his shed this spring,and plenty of sign, also have bumped him a few times , gotten close to him, but did'nt see him, but we do know that he IS there.

[MLN1963]

EHunter

I have been talking to a lot of seasoned hunters around here and a common topic is the smaller size of racks (and deer) this year. Like you, we have been in a multi-year drought and the food and water sources just aren't there. My understanding is that along with genetics, nutrition has a big part in rack development.

[Ehunter]

MLN, that's kinda what I was figuring as well. The drought has kept the food scarce, thus no good antler size this year. Even the crops this year were terrible. Most of the corn got cut for sileage here, and the bean crop is smaller than I can remember in a long time. Not very many even have wheat planted yet. Even the acorns are small this year.

Elk4X5, I'm lucky in that I am the only person that hunts these properties, so hunting pressure isn't a big issue for me. My trail cams haven't shown anything over 110-115 inch buck this year either. I think it's just a poor season for growth in this area this year. Anyone know a good recipe for tag stew? lol

[MLN1963]

MLN, that's kinda what I was figuring as well. The drought has kept the food scarce, thus no good antler size this year. Even the crops this year were terrible. Most of the corn got cut for sileage here, and the bean crop is smaller than I can remember in a long time. Not very many even have wheat planted yet. Even the acorns are small this year.

It is funny you mention acorn size. I was having that same discussion with my F-I-L last week while out hunting. He was saying the same thing. I hadn't really even paid attention to that until he mentioned it. Sure enough, they are small.

I have some peanut farming uncles who have had a terrible year. They are getting empty nuts and small peanuts to the tune of a ton in 40 acres when they should be getting a ton plus per acre. They were hit harder than some others but it seems everyone is hit hard, the farmers and the deer. Soon it will be us in the grocery stores.

I have seen some pictures nice bucks taken in OK this year but unfortunately they weren't around my area. So there are still some deer getting a balanced diet.

[elkslayer4x5]

MLN, that's kinda what I was figuring as well. The drought has kept the food scarce, thus no good antler size this year. Even the crops this year were terrible. Most of the corn got cut for sileage here, and the bean crop is smaller than I can remember in a long time. Not very many even have wheat planted yet. Even the acorns are small this year.

Elk4X5, I'm lucky in that I am the only person that hunts these properties, so hunting pressure isn't a big issue for me. My trail cams haven't shown anything over 110-115 inch buck this year either. I think it's just a poor season for growth in this area this year. Anyone know a good recipe for tag stew? lol

Not right offhand, but would recomend lots of catsup! lol