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Southern Iowa deer heard

dalton

dalton

New Member
Last year I scouted 13 170inch+ bucks in southern Iowa and this year I’ve seen two and nothing larger than 140 inch bucks. Any ideas of another wave of EHD or why I’m not seeing the mature bucks like I have every season in the past? I’ve been out since July 4th till now October 4th
 
Not relevant to your area, but ive heard some deer pins local to Randolph county MO have lost lastge numbers of deer in the last 2 weeks. 30 of 44 animals in one enclosure that im familiar with.


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Yeah I mean it’s normal this time of the season to not see them because they’re moving at 2 in the morning or whatever. but my brother and i ride around every chance we get in the summer and use cameras etc. when they’re in bachelor groups and we didn’t see much to speak of. And we don’t just drive down the same roads we drive all over the county and it’s not like it’s the first year we’ve done this we’ve done it ever since we could drive. It’s pretty similar to 2012 when EHD hit hard was just wondering if other people were thinking the same thing or finding dead bucks or if it’s just an extremely odd year.
 
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ACORNS!!!! I’m missing so many “good deer” I know made it - it’s “nuts”! Little by little as corn comes down and acorns get gobbled - I think guys will start picking more up. I know a ton of guys in ur spot- can’t locate bucks. Probably more so this year than any others I’ve seen.
Side note- do think ehd could be factor for some guys. Some areas “bad”. I’ve seen it. But- I don’t think it’s a train wreck year like it was several years ago.
 
I'm not sure if it is purely numbers as the southern Iowa (SW) deer herd in general is not back to the age structure and numbers that we had before 2012 but quality is still WAY down. I'm glad OP was able to be on that many high scoring deer last year but I think it has been well established that antler size was down in 2017. Unfortunately from what I am seeing (and reading on IW) 2018 will be as well. Call it poor antler growth, EHD or something else but I think we are fooling ourselves to say "They will come this year". Some will show but I predict based on trail cams, etc that size and quality will be down again in at least SWIA/NWMO for 2018!
 
dalton said:
acorns don’t drop till Around September
Click to expand...
This is not always true and is definitely not true this year....i agree with above statements they are just hanging out in the timber...no need to leave, wet fall makes water readily available as well as a great mast crop...like Sligh said, once corn is down and acorns are gone they will be back!
 
Interesting...mature deer are described by antler growth. A mature deer to me is 4 or 5 yrs old regardless of antler size. I look for a mature body. To heck with antlers. So many deer hunters today are like the name of that cable show “ Bone Collectors “.
 
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