This year I made my first try for a deer. I only made it out made it out two days, but there was nothing to be seen. I'm begining to wonder if the area was overhunted or if my technique was bad.
First day, Monday after opening weekend, my brother and I get to the woods at 6 am. As we are signing in at the ranger station, we notice that there were over 200 hunters on the sheet from the previous day. We go to an area that no one had indicated they were hunting (as per the sign-in sheet) and found a natural blind on a ridge. We waited a while and didn't see anything. After about an hour, we did some moving. About every quarter mile we would find a new natural blind and set up for about an hour, still nothing. I was using a call I had bought used at a local gun show occasionally. Nothing showed up and nothing made a noise in response. We headed home just before dark. Only heard a handful of shots while we were out.
I went out by myself the Wednesday of that week. That morning, as I was signing in, I met an old timer and asked if he had any advice for a first-timer (I know, I shoukd have asked here first), and he pointed me to an area near where we had hunted on Monday. Said he had seen a group of bucks in the velvet in that area weeks before (he is a local) so I headed out that way, even though it was fairly close to where I was on Monday. I took my climbing stand with me that day. That turned out to be a mistake. The area didn't have any trees (that I could find before sunup) which I could climb into with it. I attached the platform to the bottom of a spruce and used it as a chair for the morning. Nothing. I had lunch in my car to get out of the wind when it hit me that the deer may have the same idea. So that afternoon I hunted the woods south of where I had sat on my stand. I saw several people's (unoccupied) ladder stands. Every one I found, I would wait near it. Finally got to a swamp near sundown, almost got bogged down and had to give up for the day. Used my call just like the other day. This day the only shots I heard were in five shot groups, so they were probably coming from the range on the property.
So, what's the verdict, bad technique or were all the deer hiding from hunting pressure? I am considering giving it one more try in muzzleloader season, but I haven't made up my mind yet.