Seeing Deer? Not me.....

[Core_Lokt]

I have not been seeing many deer at all since gun season has started.  Don't get me wrong, I know that you are going to have sits and even stretches of sits where you see nothing.  but I have seen 0 deer since 11am on Nov. 20th, when i shot a doe.  I am just wondering what everyone else is seeing....

Core_Lokt

[hang fyre]

not seeing much- small spikes and does.  was seeing all kinds of bucks cruising right up to last day of bow.  All ive seen since is one small spike  pencil thin about 2.5 inches high.  he is entertaining but I wanna see his dad or big bro. 

[fasteddie]

I sat out for over 8 cours this am and this afternoon with a break in between . I didn't se any deer while in the blind or walking . I saw 3 deer while driving the car .

[First-light]

My neighbor has been out every day for the last 7 has not seen any deer and very few tracks. Tons of coyote tracks across the area. area 8P

[Doc]

This is not something new. The deer always do their disappearing act during gun season. They really know how to pull it off, especially when there are no hunters in the woods, or on the few days the hunters do show up they just sit at the base of a tree all day and expect miracles.

[Stretchhunts]

I took the first 11 days off. I've seen 7 deer total and no I didn't just go out a few days. It was all 11 I was off I was in the woods.  11 and 1/2 hrs opening day and no deer. I know it slows down during gun that's why I stay in the woods, Just never know when or where but they will come  ;D

[nyslowhand]

This is not something new. The deer always do their disappearing act during gun season.

Don't have to be a hunter to realize this annual occurrence.

Typically "road kills" diminish dramatically after the opening weekend of gun season in WNY. IMHO.

Doesn't take a deer long to realize that in order to survive it must change its' daily movement patterns.

Especially true if they have been pressured with drives or shot at.

Also over the past few days, WNY is getting into the winter weather, so the deer change for that too.

Even with all that being said, the thing that has me baffled is the lack of buck sightings during gun season.

Usually see them cruising even after the initial round of breeding and haven't seen that at all this year...?

[bubba]

I know my opinion is null because I live north but I see few deer every season. I have seen probably 30 deer since mid october when ml season started.  I am sure some of them are for the second or maybe third time.  I would also compare the weather patterns to previous years and also the unusual rut.  Has anyone seen what they would call a hard rut?  In other words can you really say you saw sign to definitively say yes the rut is on?  Lots of windy days when deer do not move.  Lots of bad weather in the way of rain. At least here, the swamps are flooded, and that changes deer patterns.  The moon phase is a big factor also.  Chalk it up to a bad season and move on.  It is not a personal reflection on you as a hunter for not seeing as many deer as usual.  The deer have not vanished, it is other factors.  Today is the last day for rifle season in the north, then another week of Ml in my area.  This week, when I have been able to get out, there seems to be more activity. There is about 3 inches of snow here now and it shows that the deer are there, they just change patterns.  When it gets later in the season, after the rut, mid day hunts seem to be more productive.  That is why I am sitting here right now, as I am off in an hour or so to take my place in my stand.  Good luck to all.  If what you are doing isnt working, change it up a bit.

[fasteddie]

I have done some sitting in blinds and also the walk and stalk and havn't had any luck other than opening day ..........

[Gthphtm]

I have not been out that much since my accident the end of the first week of Bow season.After that just scouting could not hold a bow with me left hand and could not draw with my right arm.I saw a nice basket racked 6 pointer with a doe,that figures.Opening day of rifle season I sat in one spot all day,there were 5 does bedded down 75 yards from me from 7:00 am until 4:00 pm they just stayed in one spot,had no bucks visiting them.

Yesterday I saw 12 does again no visitors and today I saw 8 does and no bucks.It seems they are starting to heard up but are not moving.

[Doc]

Opening day of rifle season I sat in one spot all day,there were 5 does bedded down 75 yards from me from 7:00 am until 4:00 pm they just stayed in one spot,had no bucks visiting them.

What you described is the deer's number one defense. Once they detect the hunter invasion (and it doesn't have to mean being shot at), they figure out that it is much safer to hunker down and stay put and just let hunters walk on by. Also, I have seen situations where you almost have to kick them in the butt to get them to move. I remember one buck that I got a few years back that thought he was pulling off this "sitting tight" defense technique just perfectly. At 30 yards he was kind of hunkered into a grape vine and brush tangle. What he didn't take into consideration was that we had just had the first snow of the year .....  ;D . He thought that just like all the other times that he just laid there and let hunters just walk past, it would work just nicely one more time. It probably would have except apparently he didn't realize how totally silhouetted he was against the snow. Not a real swift thing on that particular day, but he did tip me off to how these deer appear to be swallowed up. Since that time, I have learned the proper use of binoculars in examining every square inch of what is ahead of me as I move into the wind at a painfully slow pace. An antler tine, that distinctive pattern of a deer muzzle, the outline of a tail, an ear, they are always visible to a hunter who is moving slow enough and constantly scanning every lump and bump that's out in front of him. Of course those that simply hunker down at the base of a tree and sit all day will swear that there isn't a deer in the woods. My gun season stands are used only on opening day or any other major hunting day when I expect hunters and deer to be moving. My gun hunting philosophy is to do exactly the opposite of what I expect most of the other hunters will be doing. If they are walking (or driving), I sit. If they are sitting I walk.

Doc

[erussell]

I have been hitting the stateland hard the last few weekends and have been seeing a lot of deer. Most of the hunters I have seen are only 200 yrds off the road or closer. No one wants to get lost so they play it safe. Most of the deer i am seeing are a mile back in the thickest crap you can find plus the tracks are night tracks and they are laying up all day because no one is pushing them around because no one is going in after them. Pic below is of a tree I killed on a 150 yrd shot on a group of bedded doe. There were 6 of them and they were 1/2 mile back past all the human tracks. Was kind of suprised when she got up and stood there then all of them walked off as I reloaded my front stuffer. If you look just above the stump of the tree you can see where my bullet hit. The tree fell on her and the bullet must have blew her right out of her bed 

[the blur]

I hit the survey too soon.

Deer in the woods, or deer crossing the roads ?

crossing the roads since opening day, 13.

deer in the woods,  ZERO.

[First-light]

I guess as the season wears on we have to change tactics. We are creatures of habit and would like to see deer from our comfy zone all the time. Getting out and still hunting will definitely at any time of the year run you into deer. Here is the  equation: less hunters/sitting in the same old spot=zero deer! Break you habit and bag a buck!

[bubba]

Hmm I think I read that somewhere.

[First-light]

Bubba,

You talk about the swamps being flooded that is the one thing my neighbor talks about all the time. He has never seen the swamp with so much water. I guess that keeps them out if it's too deep?

[bubba]

They will still go in the swamps, it is their nature.  My point was they are in the areas people will not go as much.  In the past, deep in swamps was where I did most of my hunting.  I would be in water halfway to my knees on watch.  This was state land.  The hunters would hunt the ridges and move the deer to the sanctuary of the swamp, where we waited for them.  If there is pressure, they are back in the swamps where people can not get.  Less pressure, they are hanging on the edgesto avoid the water. When the pressure starts, they vanish to the safe place.  They will come out at night to feed.  At least this has been my experiece in the past.  When the water is high, you do not see as many deer, unless you go in after them. 

[First-light]

So they are in there but movement is limited because of the water level, correct?

[cynthiafu]

yes i believe that they go were they do not smell man and that is the thick brush they will go in there and lay down and not move till you step in there . or they go to the swamp and sit on the little land bogs in there .they are smart animals .

[the blur]

It was so windy on sat;  I doubt there was any lingering trace of orange men in the woods,  or if so, it would have dispersed really fast.

still no deer.

[UpStateRedNeck]

Saw 10 total on Sat, 4 in the morning 6 at least an hour before dark.  With the wind they were REALLY skittish, jumping at shadows.  Friday morning, nothing, but I've given up on that stand, it's just in the wrong place this year.

I'm seeing the most sign and activity on the side of the hill, about 1/2 way down in places where absolutely no one ever goes.  Buck sign.  Hard to get close to them though when they aren't moving and/or the woods is so friggin noisy I can't hear a squirrel 40 yards away, didn't hear 4 doe running in on me until they were 30 yards away. 

[steve863]

And that's just another problem hunting on windy days.  I am sure that even if deer do move, many of us will miss seeing them unless they come real close.  Our senses get overly distracted with the noise and all the movement of everything swaying back and forth.

[bubba]

quote author=Burt link=topic=2638.msg30499#msg30499 date=1291633621]

So they are in there but movement is limited because of the water level, correct?

If they are using  a certain path in and out, and that path is flooded, they will change how they ge tin and out.  If there is pressure, tey stay in where no man can get to and move after dark.  It requires some scouting to see where they are moving, and when.  What worked last year may be way off base this year.  If you go out and sit and hope others move deer to you, it may not be the most effective method.  Look around a bit and see where movement is.  For example I have a stand up on an edge of  swamp where I hunt.  It was a great place to shoot a deer in the morning as they returned to the swamp.  Now bear in mind we do not drive deer at all.  Thi syear, the area is flooded out.  300 yards down form my stand, they are using to come out of the swamp to go feed.  A totally new behavior.  All I am saying is they change their patterns as need arrises whether it be pressure, changes in habitat, or any reason.  You need to get creative. 

[Gthphtm]

The biggest deer I ave ever seen in person was bedded down in a frozen swamp in a clomp of high grass.Talk about buck feaver,I miss juged how far it was I thought about 100 yds.<my brother in law said 200.It was a wide ,high tined 10 pointer.Took 3 shots at it it just layed there a and crawled out to the outher side of the swamp then ran like  hell when it got on solid ground.I know of 5 other people that had shots at it and never hit it.What ever happened to it know knows or will say.       

[Santamour123]

I have hunted 5-6 days per week since September 27 and only seen 12 deer. And I have yet to see one all alone. 3,2,2,3and 2 Around 65-70 days of hunting and seen deer 5 days.  A long season.  10 years ago before the "herd devistation" permits I would see 10-15 per sit on the same land.