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1st season sightings...

iatreehugger

iatreehugger

PMA Member
There was a lot of talk about the lack of deer numbers during the archery season...I was just wondering how this played out during 1st season gun (what were the numbers like, and what was the quality of your hunt during this first season). FYI our group (5 total) hunted today like we have many seasons past, and no one could believe how quiet everything was around us...we fired a grand total of 3 slugs!
 
iatreehugger said:
There was a lot of talk about the lack of deer numbers during the archery season...I was just wondering how this played out during 1st season gun (what were the numbers like, and what was the quality of your hunt during this first season). FYI our group (5 total) hunted today like we have many seasons past, and no one could believe how quiet everything was around us...we fired a grand total of 3 slugs!
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From the gunners I know! Did'nt sound good!! Gee !!! That 's to bad!!!!!!!!!!!:D:D:D Sorry! I'm a bowhunter!!!!!!!!!!! And it sucked too!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: Get all those nasty does!!!!!!! :D
 
Real slow for the neighborhood according to my ole man as far as shots go. Everyone else I talked to werent seeing much at all. It seems like though most people around where we are dont drive hunt anymore so that really limits the movement.
 
Deer were not moving much unless pushed. That being said, heard LOTS of shooting all around. Between two of us sitting we saw a total of 20 deer, 0 bucks! Saw way more than normal that's for sure. p.s. on the way out saw 12 deer in a picked bean field standing out in the open, 100 yards from the timber we hunt.
 
We hunt in southern iowa. 23 guys for 2 days only 26 deer. 3 big mature bucks, 2 small bucks and the rest does. numbers are down. our group usually kill +40 deer.
 
Out this morning til 1100 hrs. Completely different than yesterday. Cold and not one deer sighting, oh well that's hunting. Still heard shots but not near as much as yesterday.
 
Our deer population wasn't that large to begin with, we were all brainwashed into believing that we had unheard of amounts of deer. The deer population is down 29% from its peak in the late 90's and early 2000's, but I'm only seeing 10% of the deer I saw back then, this weekend was no different. Enjoy it while you still can.
 
I went out with Muddy opening day, and I think we saw 6 or 7 deer total, but we were out in the middle of the field all morning taking pics with a red pickup parked next to us, so that had to be a little insane to come by us.

But before shotgun season, that particular farm still seemed like it had ample amount of deer on it. Still would see the regular 15-20 doe's and fawns, along with a bunch of young bucks.

One thing I have noticed this year, among any other year I have hunted in Iowa, I have seen more young bucks (2 1/2 years old and younger) this year, than I ever have in the past.
 
Agree with SEIowaDeerslayer, couldn't count the number of times I heard guys saying something like "doing my part and killin does, thinnin the herd.....". The same rhetoric you can read in the paper everytime the DNR talks about deer population. Sometimes if you hear it enough you end up believing it.
 
Sighted at least 30 deer yesterday, shot one buck at about 8:00 am from a tree stand in a timber that was chased up from one of us going to our tree stand had a total of 5 guys. Later that afternoon we had two people posting and has three people walking a draw and scared up six deer and one decent 8 pointer that was put down from about 40 yards while jogging. Deer numbers were good. Today was a little slower but still saw 20 deer. Saw an awesome 10 point buck, but never got close enough for any of us to shoot. Out of five people ended up with two bucks for the weekend.
 
Some areas are loaded, some areas are very thin. I'll check with folks around here to see what they are seeing and report back. Probably a lot lower than in the past based on what I see driving around. I can tell you though I only heard a couple of shots all day today where I usually hear a ton opening weekend.

Just my observations but I know in years past back when numbers were "thinner", huge party hunting drivers in our area would kill uncountable numbers of deer and repeat it year after year with no decline in population. Now the number of deer hunters in drives are declining and still we are seeing a decline in population. Granted archers are taking a few more deer but other factors are raining in on declining populations. The last 3 years have probably seen a decline in fawn survival due to heavy rains. An increase in the number of bobcats will do it as well. Drought years will get them by EHD/Bluetongue and other diseases.

Mix natural mortality with increased harvest even if it is slightly more than years past and there comes a dramatic decrease in population. Did I see less deer than in years past, YEP....but they all looked so much healthier than the skinny ones in years past and the fawns were good sized as well.

If hunting you are seeing less deer, go easy on the skin heads, if they are a dime a dozen, knock a few down. Good luck and be safe out there.
 
This is the first shotgun season in a long time I'm not really pumped up about. The group I hunt with (which is a season I never hunt) killed 11 does over the Thanksgiving weekend from the same land we hunt 2nd season. I'm really not expecting to see much. I'm just getting 1 doe tag for 2nd season and getting my any sex tag for Late Muzzy. If I don't shoot one during 2nd season, I won't be disappointed..
 
We were hunting in southern Hamilton county, and the deer numbers are way down it seems. Saturday I saw 4 does, no bucks. A guy in our group shot a nice 10pt on some public land.

Today at some private ground, I shot two, a small 8pt and a HUGE doe. I saw twice as many deer today than I did this year and last year. We shot, as a group, 4 today.
 
Our group hunted Harrison county in the Loess hills. We saw more deer this year than we have in many many years. Saw two great bucks harvested, both of them were taken by out of staters. Our small group took 4 deer, one of those was a decent 10 pt and the others were does. My son got his second deer ever, a shot that was about 3 feet away! That was pretty cool.
I only had one shot at a deer and my old Federal shell went pfff. Dang dud!
 
We hunt 8-10 different farms during gun season. 1 drive each. We hunt probabily +2000 acers total. 26 or even 40 deer is not alot of deer for that amount of area.
 
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