Ive seen 3 deer from stand in 8 or so sits. Im getting crushed. However, Ive jumped deer right next to my stand sights 3 times. So I am in the game, just not when I climb my stand. Hahaha.
I have not been out yet but plan to be out in a couple of days. My son has been out twice and has seen 5 deer. 4 does and fawns and one small buck. He had shots he could have taken at 4 of the 5 including the buck. The hunting here will start getting better very soon.
with the rut around the corner it should do the same here...temps are going to be warm though...this week we have several days approaching 80.. next week will cool down to the 60s. where I hunt I never see herds of 4-8 deer at a time. usually 1-2. that's just normal for me. I have not had an opportunity at a doe yet. could have shot a small buck. I always like to try to get a doe or 2 before late Oct, but it seems it takes until then to get a shot...it's crazy... my county kills over 3k deer every years collectively and I can't seem to get a single doe in range!!
2018/19-24 hunts, 22 bucks and 54 does =3.2 per hunt 2019/20-30 hunts, 21 bucks and 56 does =2.6 per hunt 2020-3 hunts, 2 bucks and 4 does =2 per hunt But it's not like I'm keeping track or anything...
Sits were varied and few deer seen. No buck. One area had afternoon only and these deer came off the neighbors bedding sanctuary. I have hunted only one half our property on one side of road. This is where most ag. surrounds us. The other side is lined by more hunters and swamps. Narrow and even steeper. I hunt it when I can take shoulder hits with gun or the crossbow. Crossbow here opens at rut ,Nov. 7 to end of early bow. Then in late bow and through gun season. One area during gun I can only use a bow due to distance restrictions. Anywho sightings have been down.
yeh I sure wish I had more time to hunt!! I get some Friday afternoons, every saturday and an occasional Sunday morning or afternoon sit. I do manage to take 1-2 days off during the rut. so I am doing about 10-12 total sits a season.. I remember the days in my 20's and early 30s when I had land withing 5 mins of my house, I was getting in 25+ sits and deer sightings were higher...it's simple math
5 sits so far and I've seen 19 deer. Granted, 11 of those deer were all during one sit in a field. (17 doe - 2 buck /3 different hunting locations)
I have sat three times with the bow and shot three deer. I shot a doe the first sit, saw deer the second sit, but did not shoot, and shot an 8pt and a doe the third sit. I sat with the rifle twice. Saw 21 deer the first sit and six deer (running from a neighboring club's dogs) the second sit. Sent from my SM-G973U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Hmm. There a variety of factors that come into play every time we sit a stand. Perhaps coyotes came through (which happened to me last evening) and blew the deer out. Perhaps people were in the woods logging,trailing,squirrel hunting before you got there. Perhaps an oak tree started raining acorns on the other side of the property. Deer density,food,water,pressure etc can and will influence what we see. Years ago, I tagged out early so devoted the rest of the season videos my X bowhunting. On film, she passed up 44 bucks. When I kept track of this stuff years ago, I passed up 66 bucks one year and 100's of does. But..., I had prime private properties spread over many miles and sat many times a year. There is no way I could expect those # with what some of you people have to go through to even find a place to hunt. I will say, I don't go balls too the walls like I used too but feel a bit dejected if I don't have a deer within 20 yards everytime I sit. Just do the best you can with what YOU got. Some of us are/were blessed with golden opportunities.
Lol. Where I hunt, it mostly riverbottoms. I grew up making drives late season to fill tags. Had several times when 50_100 deer would come by. Came out with an empty quiver a few times Those days were FUN
I grew up hunting our 1500 ac farm and I got used to seeing deer almost every sit... well the farm is gone and i had to go elsewhere to hunt and it ain't the same. I live 45 mins away, single father, and now have limited time to hunt, so that affects what I see from the stand simply because I don't get as much time. But, it is what is, I do what i can. i have been blessed to kill 64 deer with a bow and a few great bucks, I can;t ***** too much. The property I hunt now is vast and there are plenty of deer and really good bucks.. deer in general are hard to pattern here because of all the bedding and lack of acorns.. but the challenge is immense and it's making me play chess instead of checkers
I hunt mostly public land, where the primary food source is acorns when available. My bucks are mostly nocturnal until at least the pre-rut. Secondary rut in early December you will see a few bucks moving in daylight. Doe will travel fairly consistently through primary corridors. So to answer your question, worst case I can go a couple days without seeing a deer, especially bucks. But normally I will see at least a couple doe during a 2 day hunt.
Went to check my cams today. Found a new scrape 20 yards in front of the cam on my clover patch. It's 3 days old with lots of deer activity bucks and does alike. One buck looked to be 130's. I looked outside just before dark and watched 5 does come through the clover and into my beans. They kept looking back and eventually that 130 came out and followed the does. They were trying to keep away from him. Tried to get pics very blury. Neck is getting big. Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
