I own a 90 acre farm that is surrounded on all sides of the property by pure gun hunters. Not only are they gun hunters but their definition of gun hunting is driving around the ditches at 7 am and trying to spook out anything. They also don't have much patience because 10 am opening morning of rifle a member of the orange army was trouncing around the woods doing his best impression of Elmer Fudd. On top of this my brother is a pure gun hunter but he only hunted out of a blind overlooking our Eagle beans and Milo plot. I think for the most part our properties pressure is down considerably than the other properties. How many of you guys go through this every year and how do you deal with it? Do you think the deer will ever go back to feeling unpressured this year?
The properties I hunt and the surrounding properties are heavily pressured during gun season. Our regular firearm season is Nov 15th-30th and then muzzleloarder runs until around the Dec 10th depending on the county. Daytime deer activity usually picks back up around Dec 20th depending on the weather. While they do move during the day, they are noticeably "jumpier". That is my experience where I hunt anyway.
Here in Missouri our rifle ran for 10 days and today is the last day. Tomorrow begins antlerless season and that runs 10 days. Basically, all the poachers just run the highways shooting everything they see during these next 10 days. These days can't get over fast enough.
Happens with me, the deer movement goes nocturnal real quick. I usually hunt hard first half of the season if it does not happen by then I wait until the orange army is done. I have found that after 2 weeks or so I start seeing movement at dawn a little more. Then I have another month to make it happen.
Same way in one of my home-core hunting areas.... Not a whole lot a person can do. Make a presence once in a while, so people know that they can't come hunting through the area.... Then just wait for the madness to subside.... As mentioned, the deer are considerably jumper...
