It seems like everything is normal around where we hunt. Lots of activity during primitive weapons and then it slowed down until around Halloween/first week of November. I was seeing mainly does and small bucks and I hunted that a little too long. Once I decided to hunt the sign away from the areas that I would see “ all the deer”, things changed. Good Luck to you and wish you the best with the rest of your season!

@Joshua Okay thanks for the input. You actually confirmed something I have been considering which is to move away from the area I am seeing the doe’s and hunt this thick pine grove that has a lot of sign.

I beleive the weather in Virginia has had them all messed up this year. It was in the 70's all through the pre-rut and i saw plenty of does but no bucks. The weather finally changed a few days ago, now its in the 50's during the day and steady movement has finally begun. i thought the moon phase earlier in the month would make them move but until the temp dropped they could have cared less.

I have also wondered if the hot weather changed some things. Last weekend was the first time we have temps below 60. I was listening to the Wired to Hunt podcast and they were saying some similar things in the latest episode.

We seem to be late in Central Louisiana

My hypothesis on the hot weather with the rut: hunt early morning and evening. With it being hotter than usual during mid afternoon hours, these deer won’t be running great distances like usual. They know they need to conserve fat for the winter. They will be active still, just not covering the usual miles they cover while it’s so hot out.