Impressions

[Doc]

Ok, we finished off this year's opening day. It's the big one. So what were your impressions about the activity and participation?

 

I noted that the busiest part of the day was the half hour before legal shooting time. During that 1/2 hour it really sounded like the "old days", But then things started slowing down (just about the time it was legal to be shooting). By 8:45, it was already starting to get to a point where shots were a long ways apart. That was when I added my two shots and filled my permits. After that things really got slow, and by 9:15, the shooting was basically over. My wife drove down the valley and told me that the two state parking lots were half empty. Yesterday afternoon, it was like there was no deer season going on at all, judging from the shots. I've heard more shots from squirrel hunters during small game season.

 

So now I am curious. What was it like where you are hunting? And if it was like our area, what do you make of all this silence for an opening day?

 

By the way, when I went over to the deer processors, it looked like they were having some kind of record day there and some of the bucks that I was seeing were absolutely huge. So maybe the few shots that were being fired were making each shot count.

 

Oh one more thing. Now that rifles are legal in Ontario County, I didn't hear a single 5-shot (lets empty this gun out as fast as possible) volley. Any connection?

[mxsmitz201]

Your description for the morning sit can be directly applied to my area, 6p, 7j. Afternoon sit I heard 2 shots the entire time. Too warm maybe but I still saw the usual amount of deer, was tempted to take a doe.

[azhuntress]

I hunt in 9R. I was surprised not to hear any shots before daylight. There was a surge of shooting at about 8:30 and again about 4:30. Between 2:30 and 3:30 some yahoos were blasting their automatic guns....over and over and over again. It was very annoying. There probably won't be many hunters out today as it's raining right now and is supposed to rain all day.

[Woodjr55]

I don't know how the morning went but on the way to camp the state land was a parking lot 20 + cars that I could see. In the afternoon the camp across the street sounded like wwIII my brother shot twice ended up taking a 2.5 year old button buck. It was a 120 shot with his single shot 20 gauge. But there were shots through out the day.

[Waldershrek]

Shooting has been pretty steady in 7r

[growalot]

I wish it was silent around here...just now the lease guys opened up with 5 shots quickly followed by three from a smaller shot gun...as I type there was just one more single "finish" shot...so they either had two guys skeet shooting at the deer with misses save 2 or they where making running hamburger out of it ...and still needed a finish shot....

 

Jesse ...where did you say your family hunts?....lol

Edited November 17, 2013 by growalot

[sidewinder]

7j i heard 3 or 4 single shots at about 6:35 to about 7:00. saw several groups of doe and younguns at full run between 7:30 and about 8:10. about 8:30 it sounded like a war zone for a few minuts and then shots were far and few between till we left at about 12:30 or so. i was not able to contribute to the noise but my buddy shot a small doe at about 10:30.

 

the area i hunt over the years hunter numbers have stayed about the same but i think most of the hunters are now able to sit and be quiet(no getting boared and getting happy feet) so most deer other then those few that i saw have no need to be moving( pushed).

 

as for rifle.... only heared but 1 all morning but i did hear several vollys to the point that i thought somebody had a belt fed shotgun.

 

hopefully next weekend will be better(for me) but on the whole not to much of a differance between hunting(opening day) this year from the past few. jmho

[Jennifer]

9x, I was unable to go out yesterday due to obligations for a show I did, but I didn't have to leave the house until 8am. I am rural and people hunt all around where I live. I got up at 5:50 and had coffee outside after tending to the chickens and listened, there were quite a few single shots before 8. Maybe 30? More than in years past. I also did not hear the 5-shot volleys that we used to hear a lot when I was younger. I think in general (key words: in general) more guys are being patient and hopefully making the shot count? Drives seem to be much less common than they used to be, at least during the first few days. This is only anecdotal experience though and I have no idea if it's true or not.

On my dive to the show at 8am there were few cars parked at the state forest and along the roads.

Edited November 17, 2013 by Jennifer

[thphm]

Yesterday nothing close to me until 9:30 AM Just 2 shots. Very few after that. This morning could not tell went food shopping,nothing after that rainy and windy here most of the day. A lot of pain in the a$$ road hunters though creeping around everywhere.

[Lawdwaz]

I thought things were pretty normal in Canadice yesterday.  I spent all legal hours of the day14' or so off the ground in my climber.  I can honestly say there wasn't a single (or volley) of shots that got me excited due to their proximity to my location.  I'm hunting a small tract (30 acres) with nobody else on it and most of the surrounding land isn't hunted hard at all.

 

This morning I hunted Naples for a couple hours and heard 2 shots for sure, that's IT!

 

Rifles (bolt, lever, single shot etc.) will definitely slow guys down as far as volleys.  After a year or so of guys figuring things out they'll buy up a ship load of Remington 760's 7600's and 740's 742's 7400's etc. 

 

 

[NY Indy]

8F, relatively quiet both days....BUT, it was one of the top 10 worst 2 days for weather I can remember for a opening weekend...Warm, full moon, unusual SE wind, high winds Sunday with rain.

 

As we all know, these words don't describe ideal whitetail hunting conditions. My prediction is, those who continue to hunt, will see much better activity, and have success as we get into colder, calmer weather. I passed on antlerless deer both days....I know I can fill those tags later.......I was hoping for 1 of 2 bucks I saw during bow.

 

Good luck, and be safe. 

[Five Seasons]

I thought things were pretty normal in Canadice yesterday. I spent all legal hours of the day14' or so off the ground in my climber. I can honestly say there wasn't a single (or volley) of shots that got me excited due to their proximity to my location. I'm hunting a small tract (30 acres) with nobody else on it and most of the surrounding land isn't hunted hard at all.

This morning I hunted Naples for a couple hours and heard 2 shots for sure, that's IT!

Rifles (bolt, lever, single shot etc.) will definitely slow guys down as far as volleys. After a year or so of guys figuring things out they'll buy up a ship load of Remington 760's 7600's and 740's 742's 7400's etc.

Depending, sometimes neighboring pressure can help. The deer will figure out where they can stay safe. Especially the mature ones. Come gun season I don't mind my pumpkin ground/still hunting neighbors. I have several nice 8's I owe to that.

[Doc]

So, I guess the quantity and patterns of shooting varied depending on where you hunt. That's not surprising. Over the decades, I believe that shooting has gotten a lot lighter, and this year was no exception. The cars in the state parking lots have lessened in number, The cars along the road have gotten a whole lot fewer. These are observations made from the late 50's to today and are subtle changes each year that one would not notice without looking at a long period of time.

 

 I think there are a ton of reasons for the changes. The fewer shots I believe are due to the improvements in clothing such that people can stay in one spot for the entire day. No walkers - no deer moving. The shot patterns make that obvious. You have this rash of shots clustered right around daybreak (when hunters are moving to their stands) and then it tapers off to near nothing (when hunters have gotten all hunkered into their stands).

 

Another thing that I have noticed is that hunters today tend to hunt the first part of the day and then take off for breakfast or lunch and only a few of them ever come back.

 

And one last observation that I am sure I will be seeing later this season (like all recent years) is that most of the hunters are opening day hunters only. From here on out, it will be very, very quiet. It will at times seem like there really is no hunting season in progress. The drives of the old days are almost completely gone and hunters have learned the frustration of trying to sit with no other hunters moving around in the woods (moving deer).