Can somebody help me understand my hunting property

[iowabucks]

Hey everyone, I'm having an absolute terrible year hunting. Just haven't been seeing anything. That has been the norm the last couple years.

Every year it seems like after the first week of November the deer activity just shuts off...completely.

I have two properties i hunt. One is a 250 acre farm. I only hunt about 125 acres of it because it is split by railroad tracks and the other side has some property in the city limits (4 stands). The other is a very small piece, 40 acres of corn, with 5 acres of timber(1 stand). Dave Reisner and the Drury brothers themselves own land all around where i hunt. Some within a mile. While both of these are good properties and i always get some great trailcamera photos, hunting results prove otherwise. I never, ever, see any of the bigger deer in the photos. Very seldom ever see a buck with a doe, let alone chasing one. Or any other rutting activity.

I don't know if i put too much pressure on these places before the rut even begins or what seems to make these deer dissappear. I have been out an awful lot this year. 34 times so far. Usually try to sit at least 3 hours at a time. I may try to wait until the rut starts before even trying next year. That will be next to impossible, but i may have to try. I'm pretty anal about scent control and i always hunt the wind. The surrounding properties don't get hunted that hard around me until shotgun seasons. I have been bowhunting for 20 years so far but don't consider myself that good. I did take a 184" buck 2 years ago, but think that was more of a fluke.

I get pretty disgusted and frustrated that this seems to happen every year. Almost ready to hang it up for the year. I was seeing plenty of small bucks and does up until about the 4th of November. Since then i have probably had more times seeing no deer than some deer. Only seen one deer over 110" this year. Tons of bigger deer on trailcamera photos.

I had this pretty well thought out in my head how i would explain this but now it doesn't sound so good. Does it sound like i'm hunting this too hard, or what other ideas would you guys suggest?

I need to find more places to hunt next year. And to top it off, i almost hit a deer on the way home tonight (after seeing nothing). Must be Karma.

 

[zvholk]

I’m not a pro by any means, don’t have much land to hunt. What I do is hunt public early on is the season then when I start seeing more hunters then deer move to my private spots.

 

[Daver]

My farm is in SE Iowa too and I think in general deer numbers are down in our area v. 3-4 years ago. Don't get me wrong, there are still deer in the neighborhood, but other neighbors have the same opinion too FWIW.

Apart from that I feel as though a really big factor is food plots. In years where we have decent plots we "see deer" and in years when the plots don't pan out, etc, it can be a rough go for sure. I think this is because others in the neighborhood have really good plots and if we don't have good plots then the deer slide a few hundred yards away and it all of sudden looks like no deer in the timber, etc.

Other factors that I feel affect my farm that may affect yours too...

Free running dogs - say what you will about "SSS", I still have a hard time shooting dogs that I know are my neighbors pets, even if they are rangy and mangy! I know for a fact that our deer "get run" some and since I don't live right on my farm and I value the good relations I have with the neighbors I'll just say that I have passed up multiple opportunities to "solve" the problem.

Predators - we have shot 4 does now this year off of our place and for sure three of them have been "singles" with no fawns. I find this peculiar, where are the fawns?? I am now beginning to suspect that the fawns are being killed while very young by coyotes, dogs and/or bobcats. Other than that, I am at a loss as to why we so often see barren does, when that was a rare sight just a few years ago.

Winds and hunting conditions - this year has been overall fairly slow and again others that hunt within my general area have reported the same. Corn still standing in a lot of areas, generally warm temps and crappy SE and E winds don't help either. While things have been subdued overall this year, last Saturday was a day that makes you forget about the slow times. They were hopping all day! :grin: As far as temps go, I don't think I have seen my breath yet this year, which is crap for late November!

Other thoughts...
Perhaps someone is tresspassing your area, even after dark if they are coon hunting, etc.
Be careful not to overhunt, hardly any truer words have ever been written than the best time to sit a stand is the first time.

Hang tough, it can all change quickly!

 

[sep0667]

Perhaps those good bucks that you are seeing on trail cam call your ground their summer home but move on once they shed their velvet. I think Daver may have gave a good opionion with the food plots. You said that the Drury brothers have ground near you. I'm sure they have plots so perhaps the deer move over there for the better eats this time of year.

 

[Windwalker]

Need some yr round feed like alfalfa nd a safe bedding area

 

[Cornfed]

Iowabucks,

This is just my opinion.... if you are getting good trailcam pictures then you know the deer are there... at least early on.

With that size of parcel... if you have been in there 34 times then you have likely alerted the local doe herd and they are no longer viewing your land as a sanctuary.

I would not consider my current property top notch hunting ground (approx. 125 acres).... however, I do not enter my best stands until the first week of November. I hunt the fringes on the outskirts of the farm a FEW days in mid October and a totally different area early October. I do everything I can to create a doe sanctuary.... come early November if generally pays off with some quality buck sightings. Once late October and November rolls around the bucks are naturally going to gravitate to the doe bedding areas, doe food sources, etc.

I know every year someone shoots a great buck early to mid October somewhere. But in my opinion that is NOT the norm. Smaller parcels need to be hunted with a sanctuary mentality..... does need to feel safe and secure there to ensure the 'bait' sticks around for the rut. :way: