No luck yet.

[shedhunter8]

Jason, usually the first few days of late muzzleloader are tough, the deer have been run hard in most places for several weeks. After about a week they will calm down and start being pretty visable again. Pray for cold weather, the colder the better. You still have plenty of time to locate a nice buck.

 

[Daver]

Jason - if you are hunting a timber that had a lot of huntre traffic in the last few weeks you should expect not to see much natural, daytime deer movement until the cold forces them to move to feed early. I did see a decent buck on the move this morning at 7:15A, he appeared to be moving of his own accord, but was not in a traditional setting.

Look for brushy fencelines, out of the way spots that orange-clad folks would bypass. The deer are out there, usually just a bit out of the ordinary spots right after the slug season though. Good luck.

 

[jason]

I hunted this mornging untill about 11, with out even seeing a deer! I did hear a shot not to far away from me, but that was it. Im debating if I should meat hunt, or just keep going after antlers. This is my first muzzle loader season, I didn't think it would be this tuff because of shot gun season.
I'll be going back out soon, so hopefully I'll at least see something.
Hope to hear some of your guy's success stories!

Jason V

 

[hunt-m-up]

I second what was said about deer being out of their normal patterns. Many will go nocturnal, only moving to feed after shooting hours for the first week. This is the only time of the year when I hunt known bedding areas. Play the wind and stillhunt during morning/midday, creeping slowly into these areas. It doesn't hurt to set up just short of these bedding areas and use soft doe bleats to try to bring them to you. I would also try driving around the areas you have permission to hunt and glassing them right at dusk to get a feel for feeding patterns and going back the next afternoon once you understand how to set up on them. On the meat vs. rack issue, my vote is for a resident 1st time hunting a particular weapon/season, take the first mature deer you have a killing shot on. It will help you understand the capabilities of your weapon, etc. and you'll do much better when you get the chance with the Big Boy in your sights. Just an opinion.
Good Luck.