My theory...

C

camper4lyfe

New member
I spent Saturday morning sitting in my tree stand (opening day for gun in NY), and saw nothing more than 1 single squirrel and 1 hawk. This just seems really strange to me. No birds or anything. Then, since I had nothing else to do, I got to thinking...if I'm only seeing 1 squirrel, then that would mean that there's no nuts for the squirrels to eat. If there are no nuts for the squirrels to eat, there's no nuts for the deer to eat, and therefore no reason for them to be in those woods, which is why I didn't see a single deer.

What's your take on this theory? I know I'm getting discouraged from my lack of hunting success the past couple years (last year doesn't fully count because my wife decided to buy a house in the middle of hunting season), and trying to figure out what my problem is.
 
hi pal...
why not sack the tree hide and try stalking them..
leave the gun at home one day and do some recon..
take some spotting scopes and look for evidence of activity....
look for scratching,norings on branches,broken branches and non human made foot paths....
creatures mainly are animals of habit...find the evidence then you will find your deer..:)
 
guy said he had a crummy day hunting. sat in his tree stand didn't see a thing all day. friend asked why he didn't try another spot, guy said because my tree stand is over there.
 
churchill said:
hi pal...
why not sack the tree hide and try stalking them..
leave the gun at home one day and do some recon..
take some spotting scopes and look for evidence of activity....
look for scratching,norings on branches,broken branches and non human made foot paths....
creatures mainly are animals of habit...find the evidence then you will find your deer..
Click to expand...

That's also part of the problem. I've walked around/scouted and see next to nothing as far as sign. My dad's got a trail camera set up and has a picture of 2-3 deer, and that's it, one doe and one fawn, and the butt of another one that can't be identified.
 
I spent Saturday morning sitting in my tree stand (opening day for gun in NY), and saw nothing more than 1 single squirrel and 1 hawk. This just seems really strange to me. No birds or anything. Then, since I had nothing else to do, I got to thinking...if I'm only seeing 1 squirrel, then that would mean that there's no nuts for the squirrels to eat. If there are no nuts for the squirrels to eat, there's no nuts for the deer to eat, and therefore no reason for them to be in those woods, which is why I didn't see a single deer.
Click to expand...


Could be just a fluke. Was there a lot of shooting around you? A couple of guys in our group didn't even see a deer, while I saw 3, my dad saw 9 or 10 and my uncle shot an 8-point and saw 2 others. We were all within a few hundred yards of each other.

That said, if this is consistently happening then you need to find another place to hunt. There is GAZILLIONS of acres of state land available in NY, some of it is hard hunted and by "crazy city folk", but some of it is virtually untouched. If you have the money, there are also many tens of thousands of acres of timber company land available for lease, usually for $3-10 per acre per year.

Short story: Don't waste your life hunting where there's nothing to shoot.
 
There's not a lot of state land around me (around an hour away, or more). Plus, I've hunted state land before, and it was the scariest thing I've ever done, especially on opening day.
 
Hunting public land is best done during the middle of the work week, seems like. Far fewer people...

I've done night surveys with a good, strong flashlight, looking for eyes. As with night hunting for varmints, it's not a bad idea to let the local sheriff's office know why there is a light shining around woods or pasture.
 
Animals have to eat, and they have to drink.

In your area, figure out which is more scarce, and find it.

Here it's water; in NY it's likely the food.

Figure out where they're eating. If there isn't any nuts in your area, then find another area. Look for crops fields, and other food sources that the deer prefer.

Learn to recognise the trees the produce nuts that deer enjoy. Look for apple orchards, or anything else they might want to eat. Once you find a food source, circle it and find the trails leading to and from them.

If you don't have permission to hunt near the field, then focus on surrounding areas where deer might bed down and/or travel through on their way to a bedding area. Keep looking 'till you find a place you can hunt, and that also has what the deer need to survive.

And once you find such an area, check it before you hunt next year to be sure it's still a place where deer like to live.

As mentioned above, deer are creatures of habit. I've seen trails leading to water that were going through an open field. If you can find a place where two or more busy trails intersect, consider it hunter's gold.

And like any other gold, you'll have to do some hunting to find it.

It isn't usually easy to succeed at deer hunting (or any other), and those who succeed regularly usually put a lot of effort into it.

And after all, it makes that deer roast taste all that much better when you get it.

Daryl
 
After many years of hunting I can tell you many, many trips are unsuccessful. Many are just so so, but some are absolutely great. This is the reason its called hunting and not killing. Any day in the woods is better than a day at work.
 
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