I agree that it’s not that simple and there are nuances. I just thought it was an informative podcast that touched on how much processing is down, corn sales down, etc. The main host owns and leases large tracts and spends all his time managing for wildlife. If properties like that are not seeing deer, it just shows the impact that an abnormal acorn crop can have.
Over abundance of available food is 90%+ of the drop off of sighting and corn/bait usage in my area...........PERIOD. Every species of oak on my property hit bigly this year , even Chinkapin , which is the lowest tannic acid , ice cream acorn. I put out 55 gal of corn in two locations 20 days ago , as of yesterday there was corn visible from the stand on top of the leaves. In a normal year , at those two same locations , in 10 days , no corn would be visible and a very large bare dirt spot would be showing with few to no kernels left. My self and another fellow saw 39 deer yesterday in combined morning and afternoon sits, that's no deer shortage for woods hunting.
I'm not gonna sit here and tell ya what's happening in other counties I've never set foot in , but I can say with 100% certainty what the driving factor is up here. 55 years a student of the animal and the local terrain should speak for it's self.
Another minor, short lived factor up here was the abnormal warm spell , but that was temporary. Also I understand we have a bunch of ducks this year and some may be taking advantage of that. Lota folks up here hunt both. There may not be hardly as many folks in the "deer woods" this year , effecting checked deer numbers. Those two do not point to a shortage of deer up here in OL' Hi-Jackson, possibly fewer deer checked in .
