Troubling trend in Minnesota, 2020 the number of deer taken was down 25% this year the number is down 10% more. Weather or people not hunting?
What used too be a sea or orange has turned into absolute dead sea. I don't think I've seen 20 people out. Not one youngster seen (sad).
everybody and their 3rd cousin is hunting in VA, everyone has a xbow/bow/ML and they all have 50 acres somewhere
It seems about the same here as it always is in Idaho. Archery elk seemed like less people out this year, but I attribute that to the public land closures from high fire risk. Less access and many weren't willing to walk into their spots when they couldn't just ride their SxS to it like normal. The next two weeks will be a better measure for whitetail, many don't get out after their deer until the rut really starts kicking.
The state forest where I hunt in CT is a ghost town, as far as other hunters, and has been since I came back hunting there in 2016. North central CT has the lowest deer population in the state. It has always been this way though. If you see a deer, you have had an amazing day.
Same mixed reports this year as far as word of mouth goes. Slow here and on fire there. Havent checked the actual numbers for Illinois yet but knowing this state they wont post 2021 harvest intil 2024
They just are not killing as many deer in Minnesota, I know hunters up north got sick of competing with the wolves.
It will be interesting this weekend how many vehicles will be on the public land, last weekend it was warm and windy this weekend it will be 30 degrees cooler and snow on the ground.
Southern MN has been very tough. Seems to be a lot of hunters out but not as many deer shot, but the 65* and sunny and windy days didn’t help last week!! It’ll be mid 30’s here for a few days now but the damn wind is still kicking up in the high teens and low 20’s with gusts up in the 30’s.
Not seeing any change in NY. Too damn many people. Once gun hits it's like Nam every morning until December In Venatione Veritas
bad moons, trickle rut? In MI, seen as much to maybe more pressure than usual. Haven't seen any actual kill numbers, but there was a crapload more deer dead on roads than normal, I can tell you that. Tells me they are more active at night than usual. That would actually be an interesting stat that some biology student could do a study on...easy to get deer collision numbers year by year and compare that to moon phases.
NY sucks, CT is slightly better. Too much pressure even during the bow seasons. Plus our season structure(28 days of rifle season during the rut) and out bag limits suck( two buck limit archery/mz and regular season) New York is terrible. We have a terrible ass backward hunting culture as well. Just about any Midwest state is heads and tails better.
Temps have something to do with it for sure, but not as much as pressure and moon. JMO. Would be interesting to see all the variables laid out.
It is the firearms season in MN, shotgun in my area. Lots of the orange army out!! Tomorrow is the last day, then muzzleloader starts the Saturday after thanksgiving.
Well its been firearm season for at least three weeks now. But I've seen more deer this season than I did last year. I feel that may be because a lot of people have left the wma and no one wants to hunt it due to the difficulty. During bow season i think i saw maybe 3 or 4 other hunters this year. Once firearm hit it increased to about 20-25 other hunters. Though I didn't see to many hunters today.
