Just one....

[growalot]

deer taken at camp...our son shot a doe....has to be a record low   it doesn't look like the harvest thread has been as busy as last  season either??????

[MACHINIST]

Nope.I really think that the DEC needs to real back on the doe tags,I love to be able to shoot them,but this year has been the worst one I have had in a long long time! I dont know what will help but a one buck rule might help also.

[growalot]

I actually think it is due to the early gun opener...coupled with the crazy amounts of food and this fluctuation in temps with freakish amounts of wind

 

I complain about the winds every gun season on this west/ north facing hill...but this year has just been the pits!

[cdmckane]

Anyone think that maybe the 6 week bow season has increased the bow take the last two years?

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[thphm]

Nope.I really think that the DEC needs to real back on the doe tags,I love to be able to shoot them,but this year has been the worst one I have had in a long long time! I dont know what will help but a one buck rule might help also.

 

X2, I have been saying this for the last few years.Very few deer compaired to 5 years ago when the handed out Too many doe permits and they realy slautered them by me.The should have made it a 6 point or better for the bucks not 3 points on one side also.

I am outside on my property almost every day all year except for days like today and I have only seen One shooter buck an 8,a spike and a very little 4 that is a little more then a year old.Before I always saw 4 to 6 shooter bucks every year.

 

M30.

 

[dirt_a_KISS]

I agree i think it might be this weather we have been having espically in the wny region. My dad says he thinks its the DMPS that do it especially when they issue too many of them. Maybe a need to once again rethink the so called "5 year plan". This is just my personal opinion.

[wooly]

I honestly believe last winter was a lot tougher on them than many may think.

2012 we had an early green up before the final cold snap that destroyed all the mast heading into winter 2013.

2012-13 winter lingered into April and we lost a lot of deer around here before green up in May.

Heck, I found 40 fresh dead ones post season on the grounds I shed hunt alone. 

 

Normaly I can watch 30 different bucks while photographing over the summer months at the green fields. This summer was more like 10-12 different bucks. That's kinda what I was expecting but it's still pretty frustrating.

 

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

old timer i talked to said he found 6 dead doe/fawns curled up in pines this past spring. that was on about 50 acre block.

[Lawdwaz]

Anyone think that maybe the 6 week bow season has increased the bow take the last two years?

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I highly doubt it but the DEC should easily be able to answer that question.

[WesternNY]

I highly doubt it but the DEC should easily be able to answer that question.

 

Even if the bow take has increased I highly doubt it would have the impact that is being described.

 

Don't forget the impact that coyotes have during fawning and during winter when it is difficult for adult deer to run great distances in heavy snow.

[Early]

Hmmm.....Can DEC really answer any questions...in language that we can understand??

[Five Seasons]

I've had good action but the rut had been feast or famine on our properties. Seems I'm getting voided or tons of deer. I blame the lacy that they moved the corn at our one place.

[Meat Manager]

Nope.I really think that the DEC needs to real back on the doe tags,I love to be able to shoot them,but this year has been the worst one I have had in a long long time! I dont know what will help but a one buck rule might help also.

Only 17% of dmp's get filled.

I think red tags are more likely to have a local impact on a deer heard than any other legal manner of taking.

I find it more likely that unfavorable weather, acres and acres of late standing corn, and a huge acorn, beech-nut, and apple mast resulted in less daytime movement.

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Edited November 25, 2013 by Meat Manager

[PooperScooper]

I'm blaming last year's harsh winter. Deer were starving all around us. Add to that the fact that I can walk into the woods and see more coyote tracks than deer tracks ... I'm going to be very lucky to get anything this year I think.

[Meat Manager]

I'm blaming last year's harsh winter. Deer were starving all around us. Add to that the fact that I can walk into the woods and see more coyote tracks than deer tracks ... I'm going to be very lucky to get anything this year I think.

Keep at it you'll score.

With this cold and snow on the ground you know they are on their feet more and likely on their way to or fro a good protein source.

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Edited November 25, 2013 by Meat Manager

[Lawdwaz]

I'm blaming last year's harsh winter. Deer were starving all around us.

 

What county are you in?

[Lawdwaz]

Keep at it you'll score.

With this cold and snow on the ground you know they are on their feet more and likely on their way to or fro a good protein source.

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+1  They need to get up and move after a bit.  They need fuel for the burners..................

[phade]

I documented more larger, older, higher scoring bucks this season here in NY than I have in the past three years combined. Several of them have been shot.

 

Doe numbers seem wishy washy based on locale. Some places seem fine, while others seem like the numbers are low. I wouldn't be shocked at a slight cut-back for next year though.

 

I've seen plenty of good bucks on NYAntler's FB feed...and never seen so many good bucks shot by female hunters as I have this year.

 

This weekend weather certainly kept many hunters out of the woods. It's a tough time of year - the pressure has taken toll, many hunters lose the faith or start cutting corners and getting sloppy because they feel their odds of success are lower now, and let's be honest, it sucks sitting in 15 degree weather with sideways blowing snow and 25 mph winds when you "believe" the odds for an encounter are slim to none. That's weather more of a typical last weekend of gun season or mz season here in Rochester than the second weekend of gun season.

 

I also saw doe yarding this weekend, which to me, is way too early for my parts. Typically its MZ season when that starts happening.

 

 

Edited November 25, 2013 by phade

[Five Seasons]

I'm blaming last year's harsh winter. Deer were starving all around us. Add to that the fact that I can walk into the woods and see more coyote tracks than deer tracks ... I'm going to be very lucky to get anything this year I think.

 

where are you? we hardly even had snow around us in Rochester for 2 winters in a row now.

[NYbuck50]

I dont know where you guys are hunting but as far as #'s this season has been really good. in 7M and 7F I've seen 250+ deer so far on stand this year, tons of does and alot of small/medium bucks. Only thing thats been absent is the 3-4 mature bucks i watched all summer. (figures right)

[Meat Manager]

I dont know where you guys are hunting but as far as #'s this season has been really good. in 7M and 7F I've seen 250+ deer so far on stand this year, tons of does and alot of small/medium bucks. Only thing thats been absent is the 3-4 mature bucks i watched all summer. (figures right)

I'm in 7f & 7j and my sightings are way down from last year but that hasn't stopped me from filling 5 tags and I'll be out every chance I get to fill the 2 NY tags I have left, not to mention dmfa in January and NJ in February...this is mid-season.

One thing that was mentioned is that when you believe there are no deer it's hard to stay focused and hunt right. When I hunt on edge as if deer are right around the corner it goes by faster, I have more focus, and I actually see more deer. Even if they were nowhere near range that is the kind of encouragement i need to keep me hunting on edge.

There are very few places in NY or the Northeast for that matter that are not overpopulated with deer.

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Edited November 25, 2013 by Meat Manager

[First-light]

deer taken at camp...our son shot a doe....has to be a record low   it doesn't look like the harvest thread has been as busy as last  season either??????

 

As you know 5 hunters at my camp took 4 deer opening day.  Now the camp down the road took 1 deer for 10 hunters. They hunted all week. Go figure??

Edited November 25, 2013 by First-light

[Bayou]

I hunt 8A in Rochester and deer sightings have been dismal on the property I've been on but counted 13 from a drive to Greece to Hilton after work one day lol figures

Edited November 25, 2013 by Bayou

[blackradio]

I haven't seen much this year but did take a nice buck with bow. Haven't seen many deer on stand. I am hunting a new spot so hard to compare from last year.

 

[dbHunterNY]

I have noticed a decrease in doe numbers and on my dad's farm doe harvest is strictly controlled to a minimum.

any doe taken are based on fawn sightings and number of bucks taken or known to be lost in rare circumstances.  numbers are still ok but I think if they backed off on handing so many DMPs out and changed to 1 buck per year rule i'd say we'll be looking good. to build numbers back up quickly.

 

I don't think any of this is any real problem at all.  However, the problem I think we've got is the data DEC uses to decide how many DMPs to hand out.  Our system is based heavily on the honor system.  sure people tag their deer but I have a bad feeling that not nearly as many report their harvest.