atlasman,

What townwas your brother hunting in? Iactuallylive about 11 miles north of Bath, but have never really hunted around there. I truely believe that we have some of the finest deer hunting in the state here in Steuben County. We've got alot of deer out here andhuntersget some really good bucks in the area every season.However, we probably have some of the highest concentrations of hunters in the state too and the deer see unbelievable amounts of hunting pressure. For the most part, last fall was the poorest deer season that we've ever had in these parts...it seemed like everyone was crying saying there were no deer around. I saw some bruisers in the area before season so I know that theywere around but they just seemed to disappear. Maybe a bad year around here is like a great year in other parts of the state...I don't know? As I mentioned, I do mainly hunt private land but mostof the landowners don't care who hunt thereand pretty much anyone who wants to hunt it can. My family owns several hundred acres in that I hunt too, but I have a really large family and everyone hunts so the area never really gets a rest the entire season. On the other hand, one of my uncle hunts exclusively on hisfather-in-laws 1,000 acreQDM managed farmseveral miles from Bath and he's gotten a130"+buck for the last several seasons. Only 3 or 4 family members hunt the propery so the deer don't get pressured nearly as much as they do on neighoring properties. He has nice bucks feeding in the fields across from his house even during open season(after he's already tagged out). He killed a beautiful 135 class 11-pt. with a droptine last season and watched a monster 145 class 22" 8-pt.feeding in the field only 200 yds. from his houseeveryeveningduring the last weekof season.Like you mentioned...theamount of hunting pressurethe deer seeon a given piece of propery definately determines how "hard" the hunting is. Anyways, hopefully one of those bruisers in your photos will venture out in front of you this fall. I can't wait until October 15 to get here. Good luck this fall.

Here's a couple of nice Steuben County deer taken in 2002 ontwo different farms that I hunt about 2 miles from my house.

This one I believe was the highest scoring buck in the state that year.

This one was the #3 or #4gun typical in the state.