Better season next year ?

[bkln]

With the winter being technically non-existent so far at least for the down part of the state, do you think we should have a better deer season next fall? More deer will survive this "winter" with ease, what does it mean for the fall of 2012... let me know your opinion.....by the same token 2011 season sucked where I live, is it because the harsh winter we got last year...??? Just wondering....

[Four Season Whitetail's]

The good newz is if you had any deer last year you will still have deer but if you had no deer last year you will still have no deer. Winter cant kill whats not there. This winter is going to be a blessing for all the animals thats for sure. I think the turkeys will be the ones to thrive this winter.We have dozens of them pickin away in the cut bean fields everyday. They are lovin it!!!!!

[Doc]

I'm expecting a lot of fawns this year if things keep up the way they have been. In fact even if we pick up with a normal year from this point on, the deer have not been winter-stressed at all so far, so fat reserves ought to be in good shape. Look for a lot of twins and even triplets this year.

[GreeneHunter]

On the last day of Gun season - southern zone - I filled a Doe tag . I had in front of me 9 Does from which to choose , so naturally I picked the biggest . From the looks of this winter so far I think there should be a decent herd next season , if the coyotes don't have their way !

[Geno C]

i had a great season this year, most buck activity ever. i saw shooter bucks on 80% of my hunts i passed a few looking back might not have been smart but could not close the gap and get the right angles on a few. im predicting this season to be better, gotta think positive! weather aside... but since it is so mild i do see it being better for the herd forsure. But who knows tho, mother nature has its natural ways for weeding things out so i wonder if all these deer hitting the same food source is a good thing or if in some places if there is even enough forage for them considering the acorn crops were low this year. only one way to find out, and i will let you know come this season! lol

[G-Man]

I think last years season was hard on a lot of hunters due to an abundance of food!! apples are still loaded with a forest of frozen ones on the ground! lack of food makes a deer move! as well as hunting pressure! Face it most of us now watch the wind and go to a stand and sit on our backsides! Oh and dont forget to leave as quiet as possilbe! Deer pattern us you are never scent free even withall the helpful products out there! Lack of cover as woods are maturing throughout the state also makes deer move to seek a place to hide maybe less than 200 yrds from where your stand is just over that little rise. There is defineatly deer in nys. but the way we startrd hunting in the 80's due to posting of properties, and the everpresent media. has limited our abilities to the point that if we don't see deer there are none! in our opinion. Believe me there are a lot out there you just need to find/try different methods to get them! I'll give you a great example that happen to me.

A permant stand was a proven producer for about 15 years then slowly it stopped producing deer. i like the area though and decided to put up a stand about 30 yards away. imagine my surprise while looking past the permant stand up the hill behind it watching deer poke their head over the rise in the hill to see if the stand was empty. seeing it was the deer would come over the rise and walk right under the old permanant stand 20 yards from me in the portable!! tell me that isn't patterening!!

[NYbuck50]

• Basically no snow for the season in Central NY, im hoping it will balance out the herd, as last years 200 inches of snow im sure hurt numbers slightly. From what i can see in my scouting, the deer have ample food, are looking very well nurished up here.. If nothing else, im hoping it helps the bucks grow bigger racks, as the years after a hard winter, they have to replenish body weight before growing antlers.
  

[phade]

I also think there will be some nice scoring bucks taken during 2012 - I'm not necessarily saying more...just that scores will be a bit better.

Late winter can be a tough time for deer, but it seems like as long as there is not a significant snowfall (ie 100 year storm) that lasts a while, then they'll make due this year...even if we get some good snow.

Antlers are usually the last thing that nutrients go towards for bucks. Because bucks were able to recover from the rut easier than normal here with more food and less winter stress, it'll help them get through the whole winter. And, since they will be coming out of winter ahead of the game with our current weather, the nutrients will go towards antler growth earlier and faster.

Another farmer's tale is that this type of winter usually means a wet late spring and summer. During years of wet summers, buck scores tend to be higher than in normal or drought summers.

So, I think this is going to result in some unusually high scoring bucks being taken.

[Doewhacker]

As long as we have a good spring too Phade.

[bubba]

I would think it would help hunting in a couple years unless you want to blast all the fawns this coming fall.

[growalot]

A permant stand was a proven producer for about 15 years then slowly it stopped producing deer. i like the area though and decided to put up a stand about 30 yards away. imagine my surprise while looking past the permant stand up the hill behind it watching deer poke their head over the rise in the hill to see if the stand was empty. seeing it was the deer would come over the rise and walk right under the old permanant stand 20 yards from me in the portable!! tell me that isn't patterening!!

That right there is why I have so many stands and ground blinds...and why I group them according to the compass...N/S/E/W....they have a difficult time pattern me..and I see deer all the time...not always ones I want to shoot but I still see them

[Lefty]

I am getting a lot of pictures on my trailcams of deer that made it through the hunting season many are does and with a good buck to doe ratio i expect to see lots of fawns this spring but then we can take away a portion

of them to coyote kills .

[Skillet]

We had a great season in Naples (8N). Looking forward to an even better one in 2012. The turkeys should be all over this spring.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Skillet