Guys, I have access to 470 acres of private land that only a few of us hunt. It does get gun pressure from a few of the other guys, but nothing extreme. In 2 seasons, out of 5 hunters, we have yet to kill a buck. In fact, we have only seen a few over 2.5. The deer are here, the sign is here, it just seems these deer are extremely nocturnal, even the does. You have to hunt really hard to kill a doe. I think we have killed 6 in 2 seasons, including gun kills. The main problem IMO is habitat. The entire 470 acres is mature hardwood timber, with little to no thickets. It has ample acorns and probably 15 acres of food plots, including wheat and clover. Its hill country, but not extremely hilly, just typical hill country. I have better places to hunt, but this property challenges me and I guess I like that. It simply pisses me off that I cant get on bucks that I know are there. After 2 years running 5 cameras we have a good idea of what roams the woods. The deer are average in the 100-130 range with a whopper showing up every now and again. This year alone I have atleast 12 different racked bucks on gam camera and we have only seen one or two of them. Anyway, no real reason for this post, except to vent. I've attached a slide show of the best bucks over the last 2 seasons. The monster at the end of the slide show was killed last year on a neighboring property : http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v135/jcmoney2/Bucks/?action=view¤t=089896d5.pbw
DC, Are they nocturnal all the time, year round? If so, something else must be causing it (ATV trespassers?). Also, what about a water source? I don't know, but 470 acres is a lohohohot of property, and only 15 acres of food plots/field. Thats not much edge cover so you may be right. No thickets would mean no obvious safe bedding area. So you've got a really big feeding area that they may not reach until nightfall depending on the distance they travel from their bedding area. What do the neighboring properties contribute? Maybe they have a bedding thicket?? Have you checked any aerials? Just thinking out loud, Leebow
Leebow, Yeah, the neighbors on 2 sides have cutover and I believe most are bedding there, but not all. I catch them from time to time on camera on our place. Its a frustrating place!
Just stick with it. Eventually a buck will make a mistake or get jumped by another hunter and wonder on bye.
