Been watching for deer

[44man]

Friends are still hunting late doe but there are no deer to be seen. Even up the road where it is nothing to see 20 to 30 at a time. Can't hunt there but it seems they are all moving well after dark.
Squirrels are everywhere.

[winelover]

Same here in Arkansas. Seen two does, out back, during the last two weeks.

Winelover

[tomcat388th]

Its about the same here I've been bow hunting some over the Christmas break been really slow. This Friday/ weekend is our 3 day antlerless firearm season hoping to take one with the 44 SRH.

[Charlie U.]

.......... it seems they are all moving well after dark.
Squirrels are everywhere.
That seems to be the case here too. This week is the late antlerless hunt in Michigan then our season is done. I have been out the last couple of days and seen very little activity. Tracks show lots of activity at night, but not much happening during hunting hours.

They have adapted their behavior in response to the hunting pressure.

[s mac]

I've decided the all crawled in a hole somewhere, haven't seen any for day's except the 4 that I saw inside the city limits the other morning.

[John Allen]

Same here in PA. We got an early cold snap and the deer just disappeared. They are only coming out at night.

[smoked turkey]

Same here. I believe that they have had enough of all this human scent for a while and have decided to lay low until it all passes. I have been out almost every day for the past four days and no deer to be seen. At least today is the last day so the misery will all be over and the deer will be back by the weekend:smile:

[starmac]

Squirrels are right tasty, not sure how much would be left after one of them 475 slug hits it though. lol

[Smoke4320]

I am seeing deer but they are in the thickets too thick to risk a wounding shot
Saw a nice buck last Tuesday About 8:10 AM. Glimpsed his horns 3 times while he is moving about 80 yds from me and 20-25 yds deep in the thicket.. Light was just right to highlight the movement but never had a clear shot ..

Same thing Sat Morning.. Saw 6 does doing the exact same thing at 8:15 AM .. Never had a clean shot

[Hickok]

44man, same here in the higher elevations of WV, they seem to go nocturnal every year about the beginning of December.

[44man]

Squirrels are right tasty, not sure how much would be left after one of them 475 slug hits it though. lol
Been using the .500 JRH for deer this year, got it working and I have been tempted by those bushy tail rascals. I never knew there were so many around since squirrel season when it was hard to find one. Season is open another month for them and the best way to hunt them is from a ladder stand so I will get some yet. Squirrel Au Vin with moral shrooms.

[44man]

I think the slowing of the rut and changing food supply has an affect too, not many hunters here. I know that where I hunt, we had no affect. Then where we can't hunt, they are also gone. I just don't think the hunters changed it that much.

[Loudenboomer]

I'll bet the deer caught wind of someone ready to sling BIG lead down the road and decided to find a safer spot!

But seriously. Our firearms season has been over for a while it's -10 deer are in winter mode and were in ice fishing and casting mode.
In Northern Minnesota we seem to get a secondary late rut when some of the fawns come into estrus. Do you see the same in your area?

[waksupi]

They are still rutting here. I watched a buck chase a doe around my yard yesterday.

[randyrat]

As soon as you bring a gun in the woods they spread the word. Time to go Nocturnal.
This year I seen a lot of tracks over mine from the night before and they weren't moving during the day at all. We had to push them out of the brush, Awful year.

[white eagle]

seem real thin here as well not seeing any deer in the fields at all where I normally do
and the road kills seems to be a whole lot less on the roads I travel too
must be a DNR thing with the new math they use

[butch2570]

44 Man, same here in the middle of the state. I bow hunted every day, a week and a half before rifle season started and the first week of rifle season and was seeing some deer but not the usual . I killed one small 9pt with the bow (jerky meat) and called in another 3- 4 runt bucks, but I only saw 1 nice shooter the whole time . killed one coyote though. was coyote hunting some more this week in the same area , think I saw 5 deer in three days , deer sign is not abundant either. Have about a 5 acre hay field about 75 yds from my house and when we moved here in 03 we could watch 20-25 head every day here , I haven't seen more than 5 at a time here in the last two years and not a single deer in the last month .

[Hickok]

I think the slowing of the rut and changing food supply has an affect too, not many hunters here. I know that where I hunt, we had no affect. Then where we can't hunt, they are also gone. I just don't think the hunters changed it that much.44 man, I have always thought the same. The oak has been eaten up, the farm fields have been gleaned of every last morsel, and the green pasture grass has quit growing. The deer here seem to go deep in the woods and eat a lot of mountain laurel bushes and anything else they can find. Hence their habits change as do their routes of travel and bedding areas.

The deer can sure nip off the leaves in a patch of laurel.

[DougGuy]

As soon as you bring a gun in the woods they spread the word. Time to go Nocturnal.
This year I seen a lot of tracks over mine from the night before and they weren't moving during the day at all. We had to push them out of the brush, Awful year.



http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/dumb%20stuff/TreestandSkeleton_zpsea4edf35.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/dumb%20stuff/TreestandSkeleton_zpsea4edf35.jpg.html)

[s mac]

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/dumb%20stuff/TreestandSkeleton_zpsea4edf35.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/dumb%20stuff/TreestandSkeleton_zpsea4edf35.jpg.html)

Looks like your getting kinda hungry there DougGuy.

[DougGuy]

I'm practicing for my New Year's resolution to diet... :kidding:

[44man]

Bucks will breed younger doe as they come in season, well after the peak is over. Darn, I see spotted fawns just before bow season.
I love that picture.

[labradigger1]

First year since I was 12 that I have never killed a deer. Hunted hard in buck season, hunted a little last two days after work for the late doe season. Never seen a deer in either season. I think coyotes have a bit to do with it.
Lab

[Hickok]

First year since I was 12 that I have never killed a deer. Hunted hard in buck season, hunted a little last two days after work for the late doe season. Never seen a deer in either season. I think coyotes have a bit to do with it.
LabHello fellow Mountaineer! Same with me in late doe season, never saw a doe. Those coyotes are have really taken up residence in the last 10 years in WV.

Some that I have seen are big as a wolf. Really makes me wonder.:?

Years ago, some fellow bowhunters and I were telling a game warden about seeing coyotes. He got kinda indignant about it, and told us, "There are no such things as coyotes in WV, you guys are seeing wild dogs."

Yes-sir-ree, that is what we were seeing, dogs!!! So said a state game official.

That is why I wouldn't be surprised if someone put a bullet into a wolf one of these days here in WV.

[Wolfer]

Our deer season ended last night. I've hunted pretty hard and saw very few deer. I saw six on the way home from work tonight. I don't know how they know!

[truckjohn]

Shoot -
I haven't even seen a squirrel in 2 weeks.... It's like the little suckers went dormant...

[44man]

Shoot -
I haven't even seen a squirrel in 2 weeks.... It's like the little suckers went dormant...
Get in a ladder stand, off the ground and they will be all around you. Best way ever to hunt them.
We have a month left for the rats and I will need to get some. I see none when walking or sitting.

[winelover]

Plenty of tree rats, out back. Can see three or four, whenever I look out back window. Probably because I don't hunt them.

Two does and their offspring returned to the small food plot, last evening. Stayed about half hour, or so, till dark. Probably figured out that gun season is over. Although, hunting pressure is very minimal in my neck of the woods. I quit the weekend before Thanksgiving. Larder was full.

Winelover

[nekshot]

I hunted all gun season and did not see a deer till the last day of muzzle loader season and then saw 2 doe after I called it a couple times one came straight in and stopped because it winded me- in that pause and at about 65 yards it was head on between the fork of 2 tree trunks only wide enough for me to see the neck and head and I was standing free hand cross hairs on neck,I squeezed the trigger, it went boom and the deer merrily bounced away. It went down past my son (he was hunting for buck-no doe) and he said when it caught up to the other doe they both were bleating back and forth as they ran away! I figure they were laughing saying "I knew the ole fart would miss"! Kinda getting used to this!!!

[44man]

I need some snow to walk and track to see where they feed after acorns and corn is gone. That would help in late season. Lot of foods like Laural we do not have. Deer in PA, late, ate hemlock. I could track but with no snow it is hard to see where they go to feed. A food source is where deer are.

[TXGunNut]

Sorry to read about the disappointing season some of you had. Hoping for a better year for all of you next year. If you need fresh meat to tide you over come south and kill a hog or two. They breed year-round and the season never closes. Most are pretty good eating, nobody minds if you feed the smelly ones to the coyotes.

[Jal5]

Going out this afternoon last day of the ML season. So far, early bow season and all the gun seasons in OHIO only saw does and a couple of runty bucks very early in the Fall. Our deer numbers are way down, and the ODNR still wants it lower to appease the insurance companies and the farm bureau. Numbers will continue to decline too as long as we all shoot as many does as we have been in the past. Still looking for a decent buck for me.
Joe

[clearcut]

You some Granola bars in that stand
CC

[Orchard6]

I haven't seen much activity the last 2-3 weeks but season ended New Year's Day and tonight on the way home I saw about a dozen milling around in a harvested corn field. Yup they figured out how to use a calender for sure!

[44man]

A friend was archery hunting with me in PA. He had animal crackers and set the box on the stand, knocked them off. Later looked down to see a buck eating them out of the box.

[butch2570]

Never tried the animal crackers , but I know at least two that would eat every Dorito in the Doritos bag.