awful season thus far

B

bamaranger

New member
Well guys, I'm here to tell you that so far this year, I have had the most awful deer season of my life to date. Not killed a deer yet, ..........now that has happened before this late in the season. But the big issue is that I am not SEEING deer either. In years gone by, when I was still "deerless" this late, I was at least on deer and getting shots. Heck, one year I had tackle issues and missed a dozen or so before I wised up and made corrections. (field points v. broadhead issue) But this year, I am not "on them". I went 3 weeks in November and did not see deer from a stand.

Hunting as smart as I know how, but its been tough. Had to leave town for a week, and that has botched up this month (Dec.) to date. I did do some scouting before I left (since I wouldn't have had time to butcher if I killed one) and hope that some "new" trees I've picked will pay off.

Still have about a month and a half of hunting to do, (seasons about half over) but I am not used to such poor results and low deer sightings.

Will keep y'all posted.
 
I feel you Brother. Here in Mid Georgia we are not seeing them either. Talking to folks we believe that it is the weather and the moon that got us. We had a full moon at ther same time we usually have the rut. And we are having hot/cold days here. One day 55+ temps and then below 40 temps, it is crazy. The worst part, early in the season I let 4 spikes and a 6 point walk (we manage the property), only saw 3 does, laid one down, one did not give me a shot and the last did not look big enough. Now nothing, perhaps with the second rut knocking on our door, things might change......:rolleyes:
 
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I had a bad year here also.... Got my first deer with a bow three days before gun season. Got a 7 point on opening morn at 8 am...and thats pretty much the only deer that I have seen all season.
 
I'm in the same boat. I have yet to see a tail. Hoping once the doe season starts up, I will be able to get some meat in the freezer.
 
We had good deer movement in SC up until Thanksgiving, after that, they went nocturnal. The full moon and the end of the rut hit at the same time and shut things down, I was hoping the cold weather would get things kick started again, but so far not much. Hopefully the deer will group back up and start moving again soon.
 
Bad years happen. I just finished my second season without a shot. Last year I saw exactly one deer, a small spike on opening day and that was it.

This year, I saw a couple of bucks and does but they were in thick brush and I couldn't get a clean shot. It sucks, but it happens to everyone.

Good luck on the rest of your season.
 
Its been a great year for me, perhaps my best. Started Jan 2. with a nice little 7 point here in Alabama. Nice 3pt mule in the Sierras last week in sept. Oct was my elk and antelope in Idaho and a brown in alaska. Didnt get a chance for moose this year but I hardly ever get a chance to hunt them anyway.

Ive seen a few deer in Houston, Coffee, and Geneva counties lately, but I havnt actually checked out any of the hunting areas yet.

This may have been my last year of the Ak hunts. The cost is just getting too much.
 
It has been bad for me up in PA also. We haven't had the deer up there this year. One property we hunt always produced lots of does. They just aren't around. Saw 3 about 60 yeards off opening day of archery. Went back up late October and saw a bunch 6 does and 4 different buck, an 8 or 10, a 7, a 6 and a spike. The spike was the only one that came in close enough for a shot but it was just at the very end of the day. He had sppon horns and I couldn't tell how many little points he had on the top of the spoons so I had to let him walk. Gun season opened Monday after Thanksgiving. Saw 2 doe second day with 9 minutes of shooting time left @ 200 yards.

That is just the bad deer hunting.
 
Hate to hear ya'll are havin such a crappy season,Its hard to wait 10mo.to hunt & get skunked been there got the T shirt.But it aint over yet it only takes a sec. for things to change,You know he's still out there & you cant get him from home.GOOD LUCK guys keep glassen he's on the way.:D:D
 
I finally scored on a doe on Saturday around 2:00 pm, three hours before the end of PA's regular season. I hunted several days in Central NY and never saw a buck ... missed a doe at 80 yards with my Mossberg 500 (don't know what happened there--haven't checked the gun, so gotta blame myself). Anyway, came home empty from NY for the first time in several years.

Opening morning in Western PA, saw two non-legal bucks. I'm in a "must have four points on one side" area. First buck I saw was a scrawney three-point; he was probably a six, but his left antler was completely missing. Saw another early afternoon. Good body size, and obviously at least a six point, but even with my binoculars I couldn't make out if he had brow tines or not, so had to let him pass. Second day out got busted by six doe that came up behind me; never got a shot. Then didn't see a thing until the last day of the season.

Dropped my doe at 2:00 pm; she was the larger of a pair that ran past my stand. First deer I'd seen all day. 30 minutes after getting back on stand after field dressing her, saw another pair of doe a bit farther off, then two singles ambled by before 4:45.

That was it. Never saw a buck in NY, which is rare in my experience, and never a legal-sized buck here in PA. I was worried that I'd end up dry, so am thankful for the opportunity to take that last day doe. At least there's meat for the freezer.

And I still enjoyed every day afield!
 
We been doing well on deer, neighbor shot one bow is a keeper scored real high, he also shot another keeper muzzleloader scored high. Not sure how many killed in my area, but I have seen several huge bucks with great racks. Still second shotgun, muzzle next and bow.

I read in Iowas game mag a guy from Fla came up and arrowed himself a keeper scored real high, he had a religious sort of thing with his Dad having just passed away. Was a good read, I felt real glad he came up and did that, on our public land no doubt.
 
Bama

Where are you hunting? I've taken one trip to Skyline so far, with my son and daughter's boyfriend. Didn't see any deer, but had the good fortune of seeing lots of extremely fresh sign.

Was gonna put a stalk on a real fresh set of tracks, but the boys didn't want to go into the thickets. This weekend, I'll be back there, except on my own.
 
location

I'm hunting Freedom Hills WMA and also some leased land in the same county.
Mast crop is largely a failure. The food plots sown by the WMA took a beating in the drought preceding bow season, and the WMA did not plant till late and very limited planting done on top of that.

The lease has plots that are drawing deer,but there are only so many plots, and it turns into a race to see who will make it to certain fields, and I want no part of that. Many of the fields do not have trees to climb for bowhunting, and so my options on the lease are limited.

Found a little spot last week that seemed to have some activity on red oaks and I hope to hunt it soon.

Work and holiday obligations are cutting into hunting opportunities at every turn. When I am off, it seems to rain. Plus, bamaboy has not killed one yet, and due to his age, I need to "escort" him as well, which is a treat, but definitely limits my bowhunt opportunities.

I want to take a deer w/ my bow, but will dust off a rifle soon if things don't start looking up.
 
I am in danger of ending my buck streak. I have taken one or more for the last 24 years. I have one more day that I can go with the old smoke pole (this coming Sunday). I am seeing deer and even passed two spikes early in bow season. I haven't seen a buck since November hit........all doe doe heads. I filled both my public and private land antlerless tags so, I have meat. Still have that craving for horns. Good luck to me and all you guys for the rest of the season.
 
Got a call from my buddy up in PA last night. He still isn't seeing a lot on the properties we hunt up there. This other guy that he knows hunts one of the properties. He was out 3 days after I was there with another guy and they saw the 8 pt I was hunting. The first guy missed at 60 yards with a shotgun. The guy we know then missed at 30 and 20 yards with a shotgun. (not a guy I like to hunt with but his dad owns the property where we park, next to the property we hunt and that is also how we got on this property). I found out the nice 7 pt I saw in archery was taken on the Game Lands that are adjacent to where we hunt. I also found out that the real nice 10pt we knew was out there was hit by a car a month ago. Wondered why I hadn't seen him.

Good thing I have Ft. Belvoir (once I figure that place out) and another property I just picked up here in VA. I can hunt antlerless until end of March here on both of those spots.

Good luck to all of you
 
Glad to hear it isn't just me

Through multiple hunts in regular rifle season and several hunts during doe season, I have yet to see a brown hair this year.

To add to my woes, on the opening evening of rifle season my neighbor's 7 year old killed the big 11 point that I been hunting for 3 years now.

I have excellent bedding grounds on my small place and normally I can see the deer moving from beds on my place to feed on neighboring properties. This year this mast crop is excellent and the deer aren't even touching the grain fields, just staying in the woods and eating acorns.

But, we have a big cold snap right now and Sat is the opener for muzzle loaders so I should get several more chances to at least see some deer.

P.S. When they took the 11 pointer to the taxidermist and he checked the teeth, he said the old boy had to be at least 9 years old....... well at least I got to see him several times just never had what I thought was an ethical shot at him. I guess that's why they call it hunting.....
 
Well I finally broke though this season. Got 3 ducks today. We had them wanting to dump into the decoys 3 minutes until shooting time. Those were the longest 3 minutes ever. We got 5 between the 2 of us.

Now if I can just get a couple deer. Got a weekend in PA and until March here in VA.
 
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