Started seeing scrapes the first weekend in October and rubs the second weekend in October. Also some evidence of fighting going on. I guess that indicates pre-rut? This is in Stewart county.

Sure would be nice to get a break from this humid, weird weather pattern we're in. My buddy shot a 215 lb 110 class 8pt yesterday "10/23" morning in Taylor Co. It was traveling w/ a bigger buck, and they both came in to a can-call. I've yet to connect, but the day is drawing nigh for a pencil-necked doe to be converted into venison.

Very little rut sign so far. " NE Decatur Cty" few scrapes , rubs. Morning deer activity has been slow at best.
Modified by stout at 8:30 AM 10/29/2004

White Oaks are raining down so hard in Jones Co. that it would be wise to wear a hard hat to your stand. Even so, I hunted in a grove there this morning "10/25"from daylight 'til 11am and did not observe a single deer munching on them. I'm guessing every tree in the woods must be loaded. I did see 2 yearling bucks at 10am - spike & 5pt - just cruising. Saw a couple scrapes in the hardwoods. Anxiously awaiting cold weather.

New to this site and trying to post so we will see if this goes through. My wife and I hunt in Elbert county on our property. Lots of sign and tons of acorns but the deer don't seem to be feeding on them yet. Looks like they are still going to the plentyfull grass and green stuff in the area. No sign of rut starting here at all.

Hunted this afternoon in Elbert county and nothing moving "in a heavy population area" . Seems they are all resting up. Still lots of acorns falling but the deer don't seem to be into them yet. Turkeys are but not the deer.

Only thing to say about those acorns is "Wowziers"I hunted in Jones on 10/27 and if 1 acorn fell 2000 fell!! I couldn't believe it. And NO Deer- That's right NO deer came into sight. Right now its HOT and the deer don't have to move very far to find food. Don't just look for acorns on the ground- Look for turds- steaming turds that is. Looks like the weather will be getting cooler next week, so maybe they'll get going!! Happy Hunting!! Vote Bush!!

Hunted all day today and nothing moving, some sign but it appears they moved last night. This morning was over acorns in a bottom and this afternoon on a food plot burried in pines amd still nothing moving. Temp was over 75 so I guess they are sitting in the air conditioning like we should be, LOL

Hunted this morning "sat 30 th" in Elbert County. Over 60 degrees at 5:30 am when we headed out..................not good. Hunted over a food plot with no activity at daylight. Around 8:45 tried doe bleet and a buck got around me below a hill and close enough to snort........ Checked a mineral spot on the food plot and it is starting to get used heavy, it has been there three weeks and this is the first heavy indications. Did not hunt this evening just to warm "in the 80's"

"Elbert Co"Sunday 31 st. Hunted AM, still warm but not as bad as yesterday. Tried seeting up two stands with my wife in one at about 500 yds away from me. She faces south. I was facing east. At 9 am tried rattling and grunt call and about two minutes later she pulled the trigger and got herself a buck. Then switched tactics and she grunted and rattled and one walked in on me from the west. Both were in hardwood bottoms, next to pines with a creek. Went to different stands tonight with no action, way to hot even when your just sitting in a tree, LOL. Checked a couple of mineral sites and they are using them.

Southeast Ga "savannah-Chatham County"- Hunting at Ft Stewart's Home of the 3rd ID. Hunting pressure has been very high this year with a limited number of areas open on the installation. I have been seeing alot of tracks since september, latley I have been seeing more signs of the pre Rut starting to kick in. I have started seeing some light scrapes and a few rubs on small saplings. I have seen a few deer, unfortunately, they are usually from my truck on the way out of the woods. Acorns are falling rapidly from the oak trees and the weather has been unusally hot, except for opening weekend of Fiream season. Hopeffully once this moon phase reverses it self the deer will start showing up in the mornings and late afternoons again. I am patiently waiting for some cooler weather!!! Thank god for Thermacells. The Bugs have been pretty bad. So far I have 96.4 Hours in the tree stand and have only seen four deer while sitting, 3 does one i missed low with a bow on opening day and a buck that was with a doe on opening day of firearm season, running full speed and i could not get a shot at. Talking with other hunters around town and they seem to be reporting the same as far as seeing any real activity during legal shooting hours.

JayLaw

Hunting in the Wilkes county area. Have seen a few scrapes and rubs. Did see a nice 8 pointer work a scrape two morinings in a row. Had two spikes chasing does but no sign of the big boys yet.

they are chasing does in Douglas co.

Elbert co, has been really warm and humid here this week with temps in the 80's and a lot of rain. It is supposed to cool to around 40 here at night in the next few days so hopefully that will be better for them and get things moving.

Our hunt camp is on an 85 acre piece of land with three streams, 35 acres of oak ridges and bottoms and the remainder in 20 foot tall pines so there are tons of hiding places and food sources.

We put in two small and one medium sized food plots this year but honestly haven't seen much sign that they are hitting it yet, could be because there is so much other food available right now with acorns and neighbouring green fields.

Will be hunting sat/sun this week so hope things are moving with the weather change and the rut getting near. Has anyone on this site been out in georgia this week, if so any sign of real pre rut starting?

In Elbert county this weekend we saw 2 does, 1 buck and 2 unidentified moving through. The two does we took "1 sat evening, 1 sun morning" were on their own and did not appear to be in heat. Temperature was better through the night and nice and cool in the mornings but by noon its well over 70 still. Leaves are coming off fast and acorns seem to have stopped falling.

Tried bleet calls, grunts and rattles at different times with zero response.

Anyways looks like the rut is still yet to come. We have a logging road through the center of our property and there are a lot of tracks but they still appear to be moving in the dark.

Heading out finally on Friday 11/12 for the first time this season; will let y'all know what I find rut-wise. We're Spalding County, about 200 acres near the Henry County border "about 30 miles south of the Atlanta airport".

My buddy, the owner of the property, has seen more sign this year than in the 25 past years he's hunted there. I quote, "the place is tore up."

Hope the colder weather has them moving!

Doug

Good luck on the hunt this weekend in Georgia. The temperatures according to our forecast look like they should be well down at night and that should get them moving better.

We took two good mature does this past weekend on our property and neither of them showed any sign of being in heat but that can change quick and the time has to be getting near.

Anyways good luck with the hunt and let us know how it goes

I've seen a lot of scrapes and rubs as early as the first week in October. Gradually I'm starting to see more deer, but the does don't seem to be in heat yet. The bucks are getting ready though, because there are fresh scrapes everywhere. This weekend should be it!

By the way, I'm in Crisp and Dooly counties.

Lots of scrapes/rubs in Clay Co. Very little daylight buck activity as the boys have gone into stealth mode. Should start heating up with pre-rut activity in a couple more weeks- around Thanksgiving. Will be watching for the rut the first week of December for our area. MOre to come as I will be in the woods the next 4 days.

Still not much sign in NE Decatur cty. I'm about 1/2 mile west of Grady cty line and about 3 miles south of Mitchell cty. The very NE corner of Decatur. Have seen less rut sign than normal for this date, very few rubs and scrapes. I have 800 acres , seeing lots of tracks and some deer.

I saw first sign of scrapes on farm where I hunt 2nd of november. Not alot of activity. Just one area of 110 acre farm.

LOL all you hunters will get a kick out of this one. I work in a fairly large plant 500,000 square feet located inside town limits. Our office section of the building faces north and there is a parking lot with 50 or more office cars between us and some lawn area bordered by brush and trees and then a highway.

Tonight at 5:10 pm when I left the office, got in my truck, started it, and looked forward there on the grass was a young button buck eating away. I left the truck running, got out, went back in the office and got some other people to come see. Three of us walked across the parking lot till we were 50 yds from the deer and stood there watching him.

He lifted his head, perked his ears and then went back to eating. One of the people waved and he just looked up then proceeded to eat. I then walked 10 yds closer, grabbed a tree branch and snapped the twig.

He lifted his head, looked at us, we waived, then he turned, lifted his tail and walked into the brush and stood just inside where we could still make him out and watched us in the parking lot.

I am firmly convincved that the only reason he has any chance of living till Jan 1 is that he is inside city limits in a populated area................what a laugh. Anyways he looked in good shape, buttons on his head were visible and he was more worried about eating the grass and ignoring the acorns from the trees behind him than he was about us....................................guess this one gets away , LOL

Good frost here this morning so looking forward to seeing whats happening this weekend............

Looks like the Bucks in Carroll county are getting Doe Fever, Last week-end I visited my new hunting property I just leased, plenty of scrapes & rubs everywhere. And this lite rain we are having today & temp drop just seals the fate on this week-ends hunt, brings in the cold weather, makes the Does & Bucks happy and us hunters dream of the big one that is soon to walk by. Good luck & be safe every-1 !

Hunted this evening in Jones Co. Saw nine deer. Two young bucks sparring - and two young fellas grunting and chasing. I'm not sure if the older bucks are on the move yet. Have heard of only one big deer taken in the area - something about a 165" buck off of Piedmont.

Great to hear the good news, doeboy. When you need a star-tatoo placed on one of those deer just give me a call.

Elbert co, hunted after the rain quit this afternoon sat in a stand in a hardwood bottom from 2 till dark.............no deer. My wife was on another stand next to a creek with hardwoods and pines, same result

Tomorrows another day.....................luck to all

elbert co, hunted this am saw a buck "8 pt", and three does on the road right at our gate at 5:45 am. Wind started at 7:30 am and didnt see a thing although our logging rod has plenty of fresh crossings during the morning...........................

If you are in the Wilkes county area, the rut is on. Hunted Wed 11/10 - Sun. 11/14. Saw bucks chasing does but alas wasn't able to get a shot. Other club members reported seeing does being chased as well. Lots of movement especially sunday morning as we took three does.

HUnted all weekend in Dooly County. A friend of mine shot a 153" and his buddy shot a 120 class. I saw only four deer all weekend "actually Thursday-Monday". I don't know what's going on. The bucks they shot were definately ruttin, they just don't seem to be doing much daylight activity on our property. Anyone else having the same problem?

Glad to hear the good news of the woods heating up!! One of my buddies killed a nice 9pt "bow" on Sunday morning in Jones County. It was probably the worst bow shot that I have ever seen, but he was lucky enough to find it. Another shot like that and we should petition to remove his license!!! Ready to get in the woods and bring home a true monster. Thanks for the information.

Still slow in Clay. Starting to see alot more scrapes.... but...Next week "Thanksgiving" should be a whole lots better.

Elbert co weekend,

Hunted fri afternoon, did not see any. Hunted sat morning saw 1 buck and 3 does on the way into camp. Wind was very strong sat. Hunted sunday am, wind strong again and did not see any. Hunted monday am, saw one doe, good frost and no wind. Hunted mon pm cool and no wind, my wife shot a doe at 5 pm and saw one other right after that. The doe showed signs of being in season but just starting. She was feeding on acorns of which there are plenty but until now they had not been using them much.

Lots of tracks on our logging road indicating they are moving at night, generally still seem to be moving through pines to neighbouring fields.

Hopefully next weekend we don't have the wind as it appears they are starting to move and the rut is coming................have a good one.

Hunted this AM in Bibb County "archery only area". Had good buck come in at 6:25 and make a scrape 15 yards from my climber. Wanted to shoot but too dark to see my pin. He was definitely on a mission to check his scrape lines. Will try again in the morning and hope he shows up 10 or 15 mins later.

I also hunted in Bibb this morning! Saw some chasing... 3 unknown deer. at 7:30am About 8:20 a nice buck was crusing down the same path. i did everything to get him to stop, grunted, can call, but he had one thing on his mine and stayed focus on it. he was probably 35 to 40 yrds, but couldn't get a BOW shot. A 3 pointer came in, in response to the can call. He was all bruised up, but didnt shoot. Got down early- some of us have to work!! There moving get in the woods!!

Dr. Pass Thru may criticize my shot, but I got him, baby. If anybody's license is revoked, it should be yours for that hoof-shot you made on that Illinois doe. Sunday the 14th, I experienced the most intense rut activity I've ever seen in Jones Co. At least 3 - maybe 4 - bucks came thru chasing one hot doe. It sounded like the UGA defensive line coming thru the woods. One of the bucks "which I couldn't see" snort-wheezed three times. I arrowed a good nine pt - and it was an awful shot - but that just makes me want to practice more. By the way that was Sun morning, 7:15am.Hunted this morning "11/16" with DrPassThru and Markerbuck in Bibb Co. All of us saw bucks on the move. I love this time of year!

deer been moven good last couple of days ,15 -16th. Rattled up 4 bucks together , still in bachelor groups. Rut's not on in Decatur cty. just yet.

You are right, doeboy, and you did kill a very nice buck on Sunday. I will humbly accept my place in line while I try to one-up you! However, at least I shoot enough poundage to push my arrows through the the deer--I never see unbloody fletchings!! Keep hunting hard, competition keeps you awake in the stand. P&Y or bust!!http://www.awesomeantlers.com/showphoto.php?photo=2713&sort=1&cat=507

I'm a college student at UF, 'yes we lost to GA' but hey with a season like this years I expected it. I'm heading to Clay thursday to hunt till monday. It's a birthday present I get every year and hope to have a good report for ya'll when I get back.

RedfishKB8 - I sent you an IM. I hunt Clay county too.

Hunted in western Cherokee County twice this week. Isolated rubs and scrapes but no well-defined lines. No intense scraping, no bucks chasing does. No definite sign of the rut here yet. Plus another week of temps in the 60's and 70's. BLAH!

I hunt in Jones county, and have not seen a deer all year. Just been too hot.I will be out in the morning, hoping for better luck. I also was wonderin were in jones county do u guys hunt in. I hunt Just 3 or 4Miles off of Hwy 49 near the walthall gas station u guys no where that is? you probaly do.

Yessir, Mr. Walthall, I know where that is. I hunt a small piece of property in the metropolis of Haddock, GA - as well as a piece just northeast of Macon on the Bibb/Jones line. Haven't been in the last couple days. My body is plum worn down from the rut. I feel like an old beat-up buck. A few days bedded down, and I'll be ready for the chase once again.

Pre-rut signs in Paulding county this weekend. I saw lots of fresh rubs and many weak scrapes during 10 hours in the woods. Plenty of tracks and sign, but unfortunately saw no deer.

Still slow here in Savannah. Talk to the game warden out out The Base I hunt and he has report the same as far as people checking in the harvested deer. He said they have not been getting the number compared to this time last year. So I went and check last years temps and as you could guess, it was a good 7-15 degrees cooler over the past three weeks last year compared to this year. I just checked the weather and it isnt looking much cooler for this week, maybe the weekend it will cool down a bit. The farcast is rain, which is going to get them durn mosquitos thriving again. By the way I did see a 7 point on Friday Pm"Could not get a shot by the time i had him in the scope ". Also saw a Doe from the same stand on Sat AM, I have still not seen them chasing each other yet. I will post ,more in the upcoming days if any activity changes.

JayLaw

Elbert co, it's still warm here as well. Sat at daylight it was over 60 degrees, sunday was the same.

My wife took a great 8 pt on sat at 7:15 am with her trusty 243. He definitly thinks its the rut as his neck and glands were very swollen. She watched him come up a hardwood creek bottom next to pines for `100 yds and she said he never lifted his head off the ground sniffing.

Other than that we saw one moving thru thick stuff, couldn't tell what it was and two fawns early sunday am.

We hunted sat am/pm and yesterday am, then heavy rain for the pm so we packed it in and left camp early. Still a ton of white oak acorns on the ground and they dont seem to be hitting it very hard at all.

Hopefully it cools down the end of the week.

I didn't get to pull the trigger in Pike Co. this weekend but my dad did. He shot this brute the first evening we were up there. He doesn't understand what a fine deer it is.

Modified by RedfishKB8 at 7:15 AM 11/24/2004

Your right, that is a pretty good deer in Georgia, certainly one I would be proud of. We will be out again this weekend in Elbert Co so hopefully the weather cools off a bit so they are moving better. Best of luck and again nice deer............

Redfish - That is a very nice deer that your dad should be proud of. I do however hope that gun in the picture is not loaded. If it is can you remind him of safe weapons practice. Always to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. I would hate to see something happen to him. Tell him congrats on that deer.

JayLaw

That is a very good deer redfish one i would be very happy with. I hunted in Jones county this morning with my dad and he saw 3does but no bucks. I heard some deer running in some thick pines but could not see them. I will be out all day tommorow hope to get a shot off. Still not sure if the rut has peaked yet.