Overall - Good or Poor Season

[peas247]

overall this season was so/so...lotta windy days. saw decent amounts of deer. passed on quite a few baskets, but never saw a mature buck this year. put a doe in a freezer so it wasnt a total bust. not a bad year, but surely wasnt a good one either. for both of the guys i hunt with it was a poor year for them also...

[Kolo94]

The best season I have ever had. I got to watch my 15 year old son take a wall hanger 9 point then he got to share with me this seven point I scored on this weekend.

[Tim Martin]

So far I'm seeing deer just about everyday I go out. I've had two bucks, one small 4 point, and another decent 6 pointer a couple of times in range but no shot opportunity. Lots of does, just none in range, I guess they like living...lol

[13BVET]

It sucks. I think that pretty much sums it up on my end.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Well, my bow season is over, I didnt even get out this weekend, but thats ok. Id say it was my best bow season yet. Had multiple encounters with 2 very big bucks, shot 1 good one, but lost it and killed my first buck with a bow. Had a ton of almosts on a bunch of doe as well. Gonna put the bow away tomorrow and put my archery stuff away. Im thinking of setting up a range in my basement over the winter. I should be able to get 20 yards down there.

[nybuckboy]

Read my post "2 misses and finally". This was how my season ended.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Id say it was good for you then!

[UpStateRedNeck]

It was a good season for me, not amazing. Had 1 shot at a decent 6, but I've learned alot, and have high hopes for next year putting a big boy on the ground. I've taken 2 big fat mature doe, who are absolutely delicious.

[Doewhacker]

We hit our average for bow kills this weekend so I guess it was a ok season. I totaled 49 seen 1 killed. I did see more bucks this year than I have in past seasons. My sightings dropped way off when I started to stand in one spot the last 2 weeks. I also saw Turkeys, 2 Eagles, an Osprey and a few coyotes including one at 10 yards that had no idea we were there.

All we need is 2-3 more with the gun to hit our season average and things will be good.

[Rob Waite]

It has been a poor season for me! i seen some deer but no shots,and no BIG bucks yet!

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I haven't let an arrow go yet his year and I still have to say it has been a good bow season. We are all breathing and able to take part in it. On a whole I would say the sightings were down this year. I saw more bucks than does, which happened last year as well. I think our bow season on the property I hunt was affected by the standing corn acroos the street from the property. From the trails and sign I see going into the corn it has to be stuffed with deer.

The property I hunt is typically a great late season gun piece. once the soybeans are harvested they hit it like crazy once snow hits the ground....but that is different this year as well. They harvested last week and then this Friday and Saturday they plowed the entire piece under. Not much frage value left there....lol.

[Grizz1219]

Weather this year has been AWFUL... worst ever... Last week was a complete waste of time.. temps in the mid to high 60's... killed deer movement...

[SteveMcD]

For me it's been a poor season, seen a number of does, but no shot opportunities and only one buck that I've seen.Weather has been too warm, little mast crop, rut seems to be a split rut this year.

[landtracdeerhunter]

Busted wide open here past weekend. Winds have been strong and have to be played right, but the big ones are on the move. Now's the time to be out there. Breeding is in full bore. The bucks smell is very strong. Hope everyone enjoys this as much as I. Good Luck to all.

Edited November 14, 2011 by landtracdeerhunter

[QB1]

I was lucky to fill one of my doe tags the Sunday of opening weekend in the SZ with my bow so I can't really complain. I have seen deer every sit and probably 75% of the time have had a chance for a shot. Each year I have 4 tags..Bow, Gun and 2 doe tags. Ideally I would like to take a buck and doe for each season. So after my early season Doe I have been able to Big Buck Hunt for the remainder just haven't had a big buck come in. For our core group of 4 Bow Hunters it has been a down year...have seen lots of small bucks but very few shooters (120 inch minimum.) Last year we killed 6 bucks that scored 115-130 inches (3 during bow, 3 during gun/muzzleloader). Our property if just under 300 acres, I think our lack of big bucks is due to last years harvest...plus I think judging from other threads that the big boys haven't made their way out of hiding quite yet. But our trails cams this year have far less pics of big bucks compared to last year so from the standpoint of seeing/harvesting good bucks this year has been below our average.

[damore81]

We hit our average for bow kills this weekend so I guess it was a ok season. I totaled 49 seen 1 killed. I did see more bucks this year than I have in past seasons. My sightings dropped way off when I started to stand in one spot the last 2 weeks. I also saw Turkeys, 2 Eagles, an Osprey and a few coyotes including one at 10 yards that had no idea we were there.

All we need is 2-3 more with the gun to hit our season average and things will be good.

Damn where the heck do you hunt??? I dont see 49 deer in 5 years. And that is with hunting every weekend for bow through gun full day hunts. Do you hunt every single day?

[joe12]

For me in 3M i would say that it has been an off season so far. Compared to last year, I have seen way less deer. I've seen a lot of yearlings and button bucks. Last year I saw 4 or 5 bucks at this point, and would see large groups of 5-7 large does. Have not seen deer in large groups yet. First horns I saw was yesterday morning at about 8:30 - nice 7 pt at 45 yards, but could not get a shot or get him to come any closer.

I think the warm weather and full moon down here has pushed back the peak activity a little. Hopefully the rifle opener on Sat will get things moving some more.

[Doewhacker]

Damn where the heck do you hunt??? I dont see 49 deer in 5 years. And that is with hunting every weekend for bow through gun full day hunts. Do you hunt every single day?

No just weekends, I did hunt by the house in the NZ a couple of evenings early on when it was hot. I did go every weekend this year though, some times only a few hours and some times 8 hours. We hunt in and around Leeds NY, and then outside of Richmondville and of course Saratoga near home. 6 of the sightings were home and the rest were in and around Leeds. Did alot of still hunting this year and zero treestand hunting.

[damore81]

No just weekends, I did hunt by the house in the NZ a couple of evenings early on when it was hot. I did go every weekend this year though, some times only a few hours and some times 8 hours. We hunt in and around Leeds NY, and then outside of Richmondville and of course Saratoga near home. 6 of the sightings were home and the rest were in and around Leeds. Did alot of still hunting this year and zero treestand hunting.

Wow that is some great results. I am just north of you outside of Cobleskill. I hunt private land and I usually have 3-10 sightings a year and most of the time I see the same deer over and over.

[Doewhacker]

Wow that is some great results. I am just north of you outside of Cobleskill. I hunt private land and I usually have 3-10 sightings a year and most of the time I see the same deer over and over.

I rarely go to Richmondville because we don't see much there, but there are some nice bucks. I haven't seen a deer in the last few times that I have gone there, but that is spread out over a couple of years. Seems to be more deer in the Leeds area but then again this year was poor in our main spot because of the flooding, it knocked all of the cover down and made things tough for us. I'm sure some of the guys out west of us have seen more than I have.

[Fletch]

Any hunting season is a good season. If I am out I am happy.

I would say this season has been one of my worst in the last 6 or 7 years for sightings. I have been in stand for 67.5 hours up to this am with 11 buck sightings and 9 flat head for 20 sightings total. So 1 buck every 6.13 hours in stand and 1 deer every 3.3 hours in stand. The 3.3 is over twice my usual and the state average of 1 deer sighted evey 1.54 hours on stand last year. The buck sighting is about normal. Out of the 11, 10 were 1.5 year olds.

I would say it is a good year for me. I missed a shot at a doe that was too close! I should have got a shot at the one mature buck I saw and I did take a small buck last week. So I have had my chances.

And to tell the truth I think this week Thursday and Friday are going to be the best days of bow season this year. So it is not over yet.

Edited November 14, 2011 by Fletch

[Nomad]

All deer seasons are good ! As far as deer seen and freezers filled it was good. Took a doe my first hunt on oct.17th. Had 3 weeks off during bow,hunted a lot enjoyed it all.

Saw 12 -15 differant bucks, would say i "passed" on a bunch of young bucks but the farm is mature bucks only so not really a choice.Did see 4 'shooters" and one I called in 400 yards but he hung up at 60 . I also saw a very nice buck 2 out of 3 mornings cross a Timothy field in the same spot. I'll be there with my ML on Sat.morning ! But that'll be his day off I figure....

But I'm still off till after opening week end of gun,and with seeing 4 bucks in the first hour today I still got hopes of a big one walking under me the next few days.A guy can hope can't he ?

[5.9cummins]

All i am going to say is i am going to try like hell to make sure i never sell a house or have to move during dear season again.

[jpastor1759]

bow season was lousy for me

[orion]

Well i saw one deer still hunting. 7 pt I shot at 20 yards. Other than that I haven't seen a deer from my stands in 2 years. With the exception of 4 deer I saw on the other side of the hill about 1/2 mile away. Saw them constantly.