Deer tracks

[Doc]

On the way into town today, I saw some yards and fields that looked like a barnyard. Even if the same deer spent the night circling around several times, there still had to have been an awful lot of deer in these spots. It's obvious that there are some places that don't even get touched by hunting season.

[G-Man]

Yep..you should see the amount in the cornfield now..you wouldn't think we took 16 deer this season..by what the tracks show...

[Gthphtm]

I have them all around my bushes all around the house looking but not eating yet.Time to mix up some hot pepper,egg and some olive oil,one lick and they do not touch them again.

[nyantler]

I have always said that there is no lack of deer.. just hunters lacking the ability to see them... I was with a bunch of deer hunting friends at an annual gettogher we have last night... we discussed how stationary hunting (treestands, blinds.. etc) which is probably the most popular way off hunting today... may be the reason some hunters don't see the deer they use to see... not all treestand hunters spend time scouting or even changing their treestand locations during the season... as I'm sure many have already learned.. deer patterns change like we change our underwear... to continue doing the same thing day after day and complaining that there are no deer..in most cases is just a product of not doing what needs to be done to put yourself where the deer are...

I have hunted days hard from the ground even... where I just didn't see a thing... it is only natural to start thinking that the deer just aren't there... only to show up the next day with evidence of many deer.. noticable by the vast amounts of tracks in the snow... all it says to me is that I just wasn't on my game the day before... I try never to blame my inability to see deer on the deer population, but rather on something that I need to change with respect to how I'm hunting.

Every day is different, every season is different and every hunter is different. The population of whitetails continues to remain rather consistant.

Edited January 15, 2012 by nyantler

[Larry]

ever go though medonponds park that needs some thinning

[wooly]

Every year about this time we (I) see a whitetail highway that leads right out of town from the higher elevations. I'm talking what appears to be every single set of tracks from individual and smaller family groups of deer that converge on this migratory path towards the valley like spokes on a wheel over a few weeks period.

To look at the amount of activity on a daily or nightly basis does not appear all too impressive. Considering the constant direction of traffic, and distance traveled through some of the toughest terrain ahead that doesn't take the path of least resistance...well, it's pretty easy to see we get non local whitetails that may be filtering through from several towns over.

I've actually hiked this super highway for the last 4 years now with 13 miles being the max I've covered of it without ever reaching a deffinative end. It truely is something to see, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that all these "tracks" were any accurate indicator of how well the deer population survived the hunting seasons locally.

Obviously, once you get in your buggy and take a ride through the valley it becomes obvious where all these deer are going, but to those not farmiliar with what has happened, it may appear that deer #'s in this wintering area were unaffected by hunting.

[Geno C]

i went to my property yesterday and the drive up didnt see many tracks in areas where i thought there would be when i was driving. i did see alot near some standing corn fields. When i got to my property i was surprised, there was tracks EVERYWHERE. i also saw a few yote tracks and 12 deer beds within a 50 yard radius... great sign. they seem to be hanging around the property. i was pumped! lol

Edited January 16, 2012 by Geno C

[WNYBuckHunter]

Ive been seeing a ton of tracks and a bunch of deer. Some of the hay fields and winter wheat/rye fields are covered with tracks, marks where they have dug through the snow, beds, etc. Typical for this time of year.

[Skillet]

I live near the city, and it's funny, I see tracks in areas where I would never imagine a deer. No idea where they come from or where they go. I've even come up on a doe and 2 fawns on our street in the middle of the night, walking down the sidewalk. Looking for shrubs to kill, probably.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Skillet

[ants]

Same here. Seems like there are tracks, or deer in most of the fields by my house. I went to the woods the other day to grab one of my climbers I left out there and there is sign everywhere. Might take another look today since I forgot the key to my stand lock and have to go back anyway

[Doc]

Most likely, it is all food-related. As soon as the snow buries everything green, they have to cover more ground looking for food. I did notice a lot of areas where they are pawing through the snow, and have to work off some calories just to get a bit of calory intake. The way this year has been, this is pretty much the first time they have had any extended period of snow cover (at least in my area).

[nyantler]

It is true that an area can be affected short term by taking too many deer.. but as the deer numbers get lower.. the amount of habitat for other deer is opened... new deer move in... remember the ones moving in have no idea why the others aren't there.. it only knows that there is less competition for food in that area. Continued hammering of a piece of property might make it take a bit longer for the population to regain itself, but if there is food and shelter they will come... at least thats what they have been doing for thousands of years.