You see some guys who will see more deer in 1 day than I will the entire season. What can I do to increase my hunting success?
I hunt in the Poconos in PA and do not see many deer in a given season. Lots of land, hard to pattern, deer are spread out well. Now..two hours from here in the more populated areas of PA, if you have some land to hunt...you can't go two hunts without seeing a dozen deer. Location is everything related to numbers.
Location is the biggest factor. Where I hunt, I've seen 12 deer in four sits this year. For me that's fantastic, but I know some guys that would be poor Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Last season I saw 5 deer the entire PA season on Public land. 2 were bucks and I killed one of them Nov 14th. But I see that many in 1 or 2 sits in OH at my buddies farm. Also when we hunt private land in PA we always see a lot of deer, but that is land that is hard to get permission to hunt, that is Pittsburgh suburbs. Now days I am more about quality than quantity anyway. In the 1980's I used to see 20 or 30 deer a day, but you never say anything but small does and 1.5 year old bucks. We would shoot a spike or 4 pt and say "I got my buck" and be happy. Now I might see a fraction of that over a whole season, but the bucks are nicer (usually), and you can be choosy if you want to take a doe. Anyway I am rambling. If you aren't seeing deer, scout and try to find what they are eating and where they are bedding and get on a trail between the two. You can't hunt where you want to be, you have to hunt where the deer want to be.
scout scout scout.....makes the biggest difference.... you will see some...just find the trails...find the sign and set up on them according to wind and food sources...you will see deer
With limited time to hunt, limited access to land...I don't see a ton of deer either. When I hunt a friend's farm, I can see 2-10 deer every time I go, but with limited places to put a stand, it's extremely difficult to get them in bow range over a feild. I don't hunt their often because there is too much pressure for liking and I don't like seeing deer at 60+ yards away all the time. With that said, I prefer to hunt a smallish piece of state land that has less pressure the the farm, probably fewer deer, but when I do see deer, the chances of them being in bow range are much better.
Ur stinky take a scent free shower. Haha just messing around man on a serious note maybe try a new stand location put up trail cams and maybe the proporty is just not so hot Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
Best thing to do at that point is scout with trail cams or buy a climber stand you can move around easily and try a different spot after getting skunked in one particular spot. I don't know what your view radios is in your hunting areas, but I normally hunt the timber where I can't see 70-80 yards in any one direction, so sometimes moving 50 yards from where I previously had my stand can mean seeing 20 deer a day instead of 2 or none. I'm actually in the same boat as you when it comes to hunting in the afternoon.. I've hunted in 2 of my 3 spots so far (All day sits) during the 3 days I've been out and both spots were great for the morning about 10 am, after 10 am I'm lucky to see a deer at all until I get outta my stand and start walking through the edges of soybean fields to get back to my truck at dusk. When I originally picked my stand sites I thought for sure I picked spots that would produce good morning and evening movement because I thought they'd still pass through those areas to get from their day time bedding spots to the fields to graze in the evening. But all I'm finding out is the deer aren't cooperating and I'm getting sick of seeing more deer walking back to my truck after it's almost dark than I've seen all day. What I'm hoping for is that the property owner chops those soybeans soon so the deer start looking for other food rather heading for those soybean fields every afternoon. I'm just really surprised the deer are avoiding the acorns in the evening and heading straight to the soybeans.
well an old timer had this saying and it stuck with me and my success has definitely turned to the better. " If you like how things are currently going then keep doing what you are currently doing. if you don't like how things are going then you better change everything you are currently doing." and that goes for everything in life.