Anyone see any action yet? I found a couple of scrapes yesterday walking into a new area. Saw 2 does together at dusk but no bucks yet this year.

Also I hunted on the edge of a pine ridge and hardwood bottom. The trees in front of me had blue paint sprayed on them about 8ft up the tree. This continued about every 10-12 feet along the edge of the pines and hardwoods. There was a small dropoff/cliff separating the pines and hardwoods in some places so I assume it was there to let hunters know of the terrain drop. Am I right or does the blue paint mean something else?

Probably where they clear cut and were marking a line.

Not really sure without seeing it but blue lines usually mean a boundary or property line on public land.

Yeah, on the other side of the hardwood bottom, probably 75yds from me, there were 10ft pines that were very thick. Looking at google earth just now you can see where it was cut awhile back.

Haven't seen a buck yet. Seen some does leisurely feeding through. Saw one doe that slipped up on me and was moving on along. Never saw anything come behind her and it's possible she may have been entering the clear cut via a trail 30 yds away, saw me move and decided to turn and go back at quick time, I'm not sure, at the time I could not imagine how she could have slipped passed me coming from the cc. I recently saw a couple of what may have been untended scrapes. They were fairly covered over but I did not think they were last years.

Seen several nice bucks so far. Got several promising young bucks sparing on camera and I was lucky enough to witness the one I've been after breed a doe on 12/11. They stayed together in the same spot for about 8 hours. Bred about every 30 minutes from what I could tell. My 3rd year seeing this buck. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a few others I was on from last year and the year before.

That's a pretty cool story jbsbama! I haven't been in the woods in a month. I'm hoping to make it out in the morning. Hopefully I can at least lay eyes on a deer. Maybe the rut will start kicking in good.

Oh...and I forgot to mention that her fawn stayed within 50 yards of them the whole time which I thought was awkward.

We have all been there lol

I hunted the Cahaba this morning (I don't know much about it. I didn't have enough time to go to my land down south because of Christmas dinner tonight with family, so I ventured out there this morning with my bow). There was a gun hunt going on, and one guy killed a pretty good deer chasing a doe....that's what he told me. It was a good deer - 11 point. I didn't see any chasing with my own two eyes. I did see some fresh scrapes.

I hunted it yesterday morning. Saw several fresh scrapes. Saw a young buck following a doe around. That was around 7. Didn't see anything else.

Watched 2 spikes run a young doe to exhaustion today. They ran her in circles up and down and this valley for about 30 minutes. Hell it made me tired. Kinda felt bad for her. Ironically, a bigger bodied spike came in and pushed the smaller spikes off of her. Not sure what happened after that.

Got a nice 11 on camera at 5 this morning. Wonder if it's the same buck?

What are are y'all hunting in? I went out yesterday morning and didn't see the first scrape or rub.

I'm hunting off setco mine rd but I think I'm going to switch things up this week and try some other spots I scouted before the season.

That's the area I have been hunting. I'm set up on the power line now. I hope I can at least catch the glimpse of a deer. I haven't seen one from the stand all year.