Bowhunters throughout the Southeast have dealt with an unusually warm start to the season, but a cold front is moving throughout the region, which should increase deer activity during daylight hours.

That warm weather and a bumper crop of acorns have made the hunting tough in Tennessee so far, according to Michael Arnold, a local land manager

“I’ve only laid eyes on one mature buck so far,” he said. “But, thanks to a cold front and super moon, they’re firing up with fresh scrapes and rubs everywhere. I’ve started getting more daylight pics over the last couple of days. The bucks haven’t busted up yet, but they’re starting to show some aggressive behavior toward each other. We just need more cooler weather, and things should pick up.”

Capt. Nate Weber said deer activity in northern Florida is noticeably shifting toward the pre-rut/ chase period, with more scraping and rut activity sprouting up during the past week. He said the woods are not littered with sign yet, but the sign he’s seen is leaning in a positive direction.

New bucks have started appearing on camera, and mature bucks are becoming more frequent and testing the daylight. Frequent sparring sessions have also increased at camera sites. Weber said young bucks are actively moving does around and are exhibiting far more vocalizations.

“Our region has just experienced a massive acorn drop,” he said. “Bucks and does have shifted from feed stations and are leaning hard on the fresh crop. White oaks drops can be paramount for success because deer are not straying too far from the readily available natural browse. We are slowly coming out of a very hard drought, and water sources have become critical to all game. Over the next few weeks, we will begin to experience the best part of northern Florida deer hunting.”

Cody Kelly with SmallTown Hunting Properties just finished hunting with a group on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. He said acorns have started to fall, but deer are primarily feeding on persimmons right now.

“Every persimmon tree has started dropping, and the deer immediately began moving to them,” he said. “We saw a lot of deer, but a lot of the mature deer were moving at last light, which is typical early season behavior. The bucks just recently shed their velvet this past week, and they seemed to be starting to get a little territorial. We saw a lot of fresh rubs from the recent shedding.”

Based on Bert Moore’s camera surveys in central Alabama, bucks are still in their bachelor groups and are shedding velvet. He said he’s not really seeing any fighting other than some random sparring around the feeders.

Don’t Miss: 3 Killer Ways to Get Bucks on Your Trail Cameras

“I’ve not seen any scrapes yet, but I have found a few velvet rubs,” he said. “The persimmons are dropping, and deer are feeding on them, as well as the natural browse still. White oaks, red oaks, water oaks, and swamp overcup oak trees are full of acorns thanks to a wet spring and early summer, but I am not seeing many dropping yet. It’s still too warm. I am getting plenty of daytime buck photos in the wooded areas, and they are showing up in the fields at night.”

Moore said does are still dropping fawns, and he’s spotted several pairs of twins on his property this year.

In South Carolina, Montana Decoy President C.J. Davis said scrapes are starting to appear, and rubs are becoming more numerous.

“I’ve moved some of my cameras to scrapes as well as a couple of signpost rubs that get used very heavily,” he said. “Those rubs will usually get me a pic of every buck in the area, so I look forward to seeing what those cams produce.”

According to Davis, deer are feeding on early dropping acorns as well as soft mast, and he expects the white oaks to start dropping “big time” in a few weeks.

Central Kentucky bucks are in transition, according to Timber 2 Table Editor Michael Pendley. Mature bucks that were regulars on trail cameras since late summer are moving to new areas and showing up on the cameras less often.

“Two new mature (4-plus-year-old) bucks have shown up on our farm over the past week,” he said. “Younger bucks are sparring, sometimes aggressively. The deer are switching over to acorns from food plots, which have produced poorly after an extremely dry summer. Cameras on scrape lines have seen increased activity, although the bucks are still mostly nocturnal.”

Outdoor photographer Glenn Wheeler says the acorns are thick this year in Arkansas, so deer aren't having to travel much. Bucks are still in bachelor groups. They’re beginning to spar, but they’re not fighting hard yet.

“We are starting to see some scraping activity as well, so the rut is beginning to be on their minds. I would say the next couple of weeks we should see them getting fired up. The weather is finally starting to cool some, and I've had a couple of nights in the upper 40s at my house. So, even if the deer aren't getting fired up, us hunters are.”

Cooler temperatures and rising barometric pressure are expected next week, creating ideal conditions for increased deer movement and hunting success. This weather shift will likely trigger the early stages of the pre-rut phase throughout the region.