Thanks for the tips, all. I don't have a bow yet (next season, hopefully!), so for me it's muzzleloader and general firearms. Muzzleloader starts 10/29 (too late!) in my part of Virginia and firearms starts two weeks later. This will be my first season with a muzzleloader, so I'm pretty excited about that.
The area I hunt is fair sized...not sure how many acres, I'll guess around 1500. I've gone as deep as possible on the weekends (which is doubly crowded since it's illegal to hunt on SUNDAYS) and still encountered people. I've also gone during the week when it's significantly less crowded and still have trouble seeing deer (ANY deer). I think they get spooked pretty bad by the hootin' and hollerin maniacs that frequent on Saturdays.
