DCNF is starting. The bucks killed this weekend were starting to really smell of the rut with really black hocks and the scrapes are abundant. I didn't see any chasing yet but the next 2 weeks should be awesome.

I have a drip a scrape at the ranch that I hung Thursday morning and checked last night with no activity. The ranch is 20 miles west of College Station.

The bucks in the Eldorado area were still running together over the youth weekend. Here is a pic of the buck a friends son took.

Ron,

Do you live in Northeast Texas? I hunt the Davy Crockett NF and the other State lands around Crockett every year and really enjoy the wilderness hunting. There are some really big bucks up there, just really hard to find.

My buddies and I hunt the Davy Crockett National Forest between Crockett and Lufkin. We are going to hunt the Big Slough Wilderness area some this year, nice and swampy and hard to get around. The area looks good. We also hunt the State land within the DCFN, there are some really big bucks in the forest just takes a lot of work to get them. There aint no sitting in a box blind with a feeder, we hunt the trails and a couple of areas where the deer are heading out of the forest onto private property that have nice food plots. Two years ago I was hunting a scrape in a very well traveled area. I doctored the scrape with some doe in heat just before I climbed up into a tree. While waiting for daylight I had a deer come from a creek behind me walk directly under my stand. I don't know if it was a buck or a doe but it went to the scrape and started freshening it up. Then at about 8:00 I had a large 140 class buck coming accross a ridge about 100 yds away and down a trail that would lead him to the scrape directly in front of my stand. My brother was up on the ridge about 150 yards from me. Well he had a 50 yard shot and took it and missed. The buck did not run so I pulled out the grunt and blew on it a couple of times. The buck started to trot towards me so I got ready to make the shot. I'm not sure what happened next but he got a little spooked and then just turned and walked directly away. Oh the heart break of bow hunting. He may still be in the honey hole, I will find out this year.

How many deer has this guy killed hunting this way? I would suggest that you hang your feeder some distance from you stand. I would think that many of the deer would spot you before they get to the feeder if it is hanging right under you stand. Deer will approach the feeder from down wind if possible and will get a good wiff of you it you are directly above your feeder. Also, if you are hunting for bucks and the does come to the feeder first they will not stay long if you are directly above you feeder, they will smell or see you and be gone. The does will probably warn any other deer in the area with snorts and stomping. Put you feeder in an area and place your stand at rifle distance from the feeder. If you bow hunt the same feeder you will have more luck hunting the trails coming to the feeder instead of right next to the feeder. Try this out and see if you don't consistantly kill more and bigger deer than you buddy that sits above his feeder.