NATCHEZ — Sammy Atkins’ children and nephews had quite a harvest during the youth gun hunt timeframe leading up to the opening of gun season.

That’s probably a good thing, because the opening weekend itself was relatively uneventful for the elder Atkins.

After youth gun season from Nov. 6-19, gun season officially opened Nov. 20, but unseasonably warm weather and other factors led to a slow weekend, Atkins said.

“The weather changed, and the hunting’s been bad,” Atkins said. “I’ve seen a few deer, but there’s not a whole lot of activity. I’ve been out almost every day, and there are not many gunshots around me.”

During youth season, Atkins’ son Braxton Harveston, 7, took his first deer. Tripp Cotten, his 7-year-old nephew, also took his first buck, and his niece Caroline Cotten, 9, killed a doe.

“She’s the hardest hunter of them all,” Atkins said. “She was snakebit, but she finally took her first one.”

In addition to the warmer weather, the full moon has also been contributing to slow hunts, Atkins said.

“Deer kind of go nocturnal with the full moon,” he said. “Between that and the heat, it’s been pretty slow.

“I do a lot of scouting with a deer camera, and the pictures have really slowed down this month. I’m still getting does, but no antlers.”

Atkins wasn’t alone in his assessment of opening weekend. Natchez resident Jody Nichols also said things were slow.

“Saturday was decent, but the better bucks were not moving well,” he said.

“The warm front hurt us. I saw some small does and bucks, but there wasn’t much being seen. A couple of ladies took does and a couple men took some hogs.”

Atkins has also been seeing more hog activity than deer activity recently.

“We bought four or five traps, but have only caught one hog,” Atkins said.

“They’re completely nocturnal, and they eat all the corn and anything else you put out for the deer. There aren’t that many on our place, but 25 to 30 of them seem like a bunch.”

Nichols said the full moon causes deer feeding time to contrast with the timeframe hunters actually spend in the woods.

“It’s making deer feed later in the day,” Nichols said. “There’s more light between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., which is prime feeding time for them. Most hunters are in the woods from 9 to 9:30 in the morning, and then go back out at 3.”

Natchez resident Richard Lambert said the amount of green in the woods is also a factor in slower hunting early in the season.

“There’s still a lot of foliage in the trees and sage grass,” Lambert said. “When we get a couple of chilling frosts and the leaves drop off, things will pick up. That second season is usually better than the first season.”

Lambert said he’s hoping his luck will change soon as far as taking a buck.

“Right now I’m just trying to put something on the ground to put in the freezer,” he said.