Its been quiet....too quiet.

[outdoorstom]

I haven't been out in a week and half, since I filled my dmp. Hopefully, the deer have relaxed a little bit now. Good luck out there everyone!

[Jennifer]

not sure what's going on but they are out there just hunkered down for some reason...

That's what the deer do every year. That's why traditionally the overwhelming majority of deer are taken on opening day. The fact that after opening day (opening morning actually) they hunker down and have to be kicked in the butt to get them moving is nothing new. And they don't have to be shot at to go into this "hunkered down" mode. It's just what deer do as a defense when they feel their woods is being invaded. It's also one of the main reasons why so many hunters begin to claim that all the deer have been exterminated... .

Doc

I agree with this for deer that are used to undisturbed (or mostly undisturbed) woods. Or, perhaps more accurately, woods only disturbed by people not 'acting sneaky' ... deer and other animals can absolutely 'read' behavior to some extent, and a guy sneaking through like a predator will often get a different reaction than someone hiking along, riding a mountain bike, etc.  The property I hunt, I hunt from Sept 1st straight on through... squirrel and especially turkey when it opens up. And not just once or twice but several times a week as the weather holds. So, people invading their areas and 'acting sneaky' is nothing new to these deer. Sure if they get kicked often out of one area they will avoid it ! But (the three of us) is nothing new to them It's been my observation that the habits of the deer where I hunt tend to be more concerned with food, weather, and of course breeding. Right now, as in years past, the sudden snow and cold that we've gotten since Thursday has them pushed down low, around the houses. Though sometimes it's hard to age tracks in the snow depending on conditions, they don't lie about where the deer have been. Sadly right now they are all hugging down low in the thick patches around people's homes, and out into the fields and swampy areas where we cannot hunt (I live close to the PA border). We've only cut two tracks in the last 4 days up in the area where we can hunt.. the population is still around but all of them are down low right now (where I am).

Of course each area is different and what I've observed is only true for here! 

[Brushbuster]

I hunted 80 acres that has not been pushed all season and it is loaded with scrapes and rubs in lots of thick cover.  I walked all the hot spots after a couple days of flurries that left an inch of snow and was stunned that I could not find a single deer track.  I pushed a huge flock of turkey and saw where they had been feeding throughout a thick hillside but no deer.

I also understand that there was no shooting on any of the adjacent farms on opening day.  This is in 8R which historically does pretty well.

Theyre still out there but this has been a strange season.

[Doc]

OK Doc, so when this state ends? Will I have more luck in the ML season?

That's hard to say. Will the deer immediately forget about all the hunters that were wandering through their woods for the past bunch of weeks and resume their daytime pursuit of food? Probably not for a while, but eventually they do. Then too, I remember a couple of years ago when the deer were in my front yard in broad daylight, munching on some bushes on exactly the day after gun season closed, which would have still been muzzleloader/bow season. That was another year when the season was so quiet that the deer hardly even knew there had been a gun season going on ..... lol. I don't think that anyone can really say just how long the deer will hang onto their defensive gun-season tactics. I would think that the more hunter activity you have had, the longer it would take the deer to calm back down.

[bubba]

I got it I got ut.  With the freaking tax rate in NY, they all moved out 

[bkln]

Valid point Doc, it makes sens what you saying about their behavior after opening day. Do you (or anyone else) know if this is the same case in the areas with bow hunting only? (e.g. Westchester County) There is no shot fired throughout the entire season so I guess the deer will be less spooked than gun areas. Am I correct?

[Doc]

I've never hunted "bow only" areas, so I'm not sure how the deer react. However, I don't believe that the change in deer behavior when the gun season opens is completely due to guns. I've seen deer go into the invisible mode even in areas where no shots were fired. In fact, I swear that some of that defense can begin during bow season with as light a footprint as the typical bowhunter leaves on an area. I have some state land nearby that I hunt that is heavily pressured through the entire spring, summer, and fall by hikers and mountain bikers. In those areas where they have built and used trails, it is almost a waste of time to expect to see any deer during daylight hours even weeks after the hikers and bikers stop using it. So, if large amounts of hunters enter the woods, even during bow season, I wouldn't be real surprised if the deer went into the "invisible mode" there too. I do believe that bowhunters can over-pressure deer, and I do believe the deer will react by altering their habits and patterns and beginning to think defense. I think it all relates to hunter (or human) density and activity, and I don't think it takes that dense a hunter intrusion to put the entire herd on alert for a fairly long time.

It's a subject that I wish we understood better. But, I don't know if anyone has gone out of their way to officially study deer reactions to various kinds of pressure in any sort of scientific fashion. My comments are based only on what I have personally observed in the relatively small area that I hunt and have wandered around in since I was a kid. These observations bear no resemblance to any sort of credible scientific study.

Doc

[flny77]

    I do agree with the whole idea of  changing deer patterns during season, because it makes so much sense. I think  the lunar cycle has a great influence. And, I think population is way down. But,  I think we give deer more credit then we should.

Almost 20 years ago I would come home from working  at a bar before the smokers laws were passed, sleep for about 3 hours, get in  the woods smelling like I just walked out of studio 54,  wearing carhartts that were out in the garage  from where I left them from last time I chained sawed, and shoot a couple of  deer in the middle of woods with a beat-up Ithaca 12g model 37 (deer slayer)  that I got at a garage sale for 50 dollars, 5 yards away from a 1 day old gut  pile.

  Now I  am going vegetarian two weeks before season, drinking chlorophyll, showering  with secret potions, spraying stuff all over, wearing all this scent clothing,  hunting in super strategic location (studying topographic maps and wind  patterns, cameras, and scouting, reading and watching DDH), near food plots, and I sit by myself all day without a deer.

I wrote this on an older post: NY  state was well on its way to becoming a deer hunting mecca in the 1990's. QDM,  food plots, awesome genetics, perfect environmental conditions, and then came  the population boom of the coyote and with some better breeding (wondered how  that happened?). Now hogs are sneaking over the pa line.  Coyotes, hogs,  and other issues (disease, regulations, fees, population control strategies)  facing the herd are leading to the thought that good old NY might in be in for  some heartache. Storm is brewing.

I love NY, I love hunting NY –region  8’s are awesome, but when I hunt in SC, GA, I see mature bucks and tons of  deer. Like NY used to be.

PS –it’s cheaper to hit a coyote  with your truck than a deer –for everyone involved. Motive.

[fasteddie]

The deer have evolved and are much smarter than they were years ago . Right now , I am at my son's house in Honeoye Falls . It was common to see 15 - 18 deer the week before bow season . The same with the field 1/4 mile west of here . I had counted 30 deer in that field a couple times . Now you don't see them at all .

They are out there someplace !

[bubba]

I guess my question would be is thsi normal every year, or is this year somehow different?  If it is normal, then it is normal.  If it is unusual, then it requires some investigation as to why.  I think Eddie has it.  There is a superior deer population now.  As hunters technology got better, they had to evolve to keep up.  Seriously though.  If you want osee deer, go to the swamps.  I bet if you get your feet wet, you will see deer.  Swamps are full of water means they are full of deer.  You can sit in a stand and wait and hope, or go get them. It is late ml weekend here. We have about 4 inches of snow right now.  I plan to ge my feet wet this weekend and chase some deer out.

[biggamefish]

  Bow only areas get the same pressure deer all of the sudden they disappear.  Then they come back after everybody has dissapeared.  Smart little creatures.