BJohnson
Well-Known Member
I know there has already been a lot of discussion about dropping deer numbers but this past week has elevated my concerns even more. Over the past couple weeks I spoke with every shotgun group I interacted with about their recent season observations (I have not hunted the slug seasons now for a number of years but regularly check in with people I know who do participate). Almost every person I spoke with confirmed their group saw less deer than in most previous seasons, some significantly less.
Since last Monday, I have also spent a decent amount of time driving in an attempt to observe if any deer were coming out to feed in any of the fields adjacent to the timber tracts that I hunt, some private and some public. Over that week, I have seen very few deer at all. I realize that this is just after the gun seasons but also realize that this was during some challenging weather systems also that I thought would prompt some feeding activity.
Last night I sat over a 120 by 200 yard standing corn plot on some public land. This plot was immediately adjacent to about 250 acres of public/private timber but close (within a mile) of over 1,000 acres of timber. I got skunked. The "skunked" part was not all together that surprising but the absence of any significant amount of deer tracks coming to this plot was astounding to me. I was shocked by the minimal tracks that I observed surrounding this corn plot during my 1/2 mile walk into and out of this area.
I hope I was merely unfortunate enough to have picked the wrong place to hunt last night. Otherwise, I am getting very worried about the true level of deer numbers in my area. Anybody else been surprised by their late season sightings, or lack thereof, so far ??
Since last Monday, I have also spent a decent amount of time driving in an attempt to observe if any deer were coming out to feed in any of the fields adjacent to the timber tracts that I hunt, some private and some public. Over that week, I have seen very few deer at all. I realize that this is just after the gun seasons but also realize that this was during some challenging weather systems also that I thought would prompt some feeding activity.
Last night I sat over a 120 by 200 yard standing corn plot on some public land. This plot was immediately adjacent to about 250 acres of public/private timber but close (within a mile) of over 1,000 acres of timber. I got skunked. The "skunked" part was not all together that surprising but the absence of any significant amount of deer tracks coming to this plot was astounding to me. I was shocked by the minimal tracks that I observed surrounding this corn plot during my 1/2 mile walk into and out of this area.
I hope I was merely unfortunate enough to have picked the wrong place to hunt last night. Otherwise, I am getting very worried about the true level of deer numbers in my area. Anybody else been surprised by their late season sightings, or lack thereof, so far ??
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