Yep, I am just giving up bow-hunting for this season [&:] The deer movement has been TERRIBLE around here! The first two or three days of season were awsome, it was cold, and there was a good bit of der movement. Since then, I have had ONE day where I saw deer, thats it. I don' t know what the heck is going on, I know the whole October Lull thing, but it has never been this bad.
This evening, I headed out to a hillside that is PACKED with deer, tons of fresh scrapes around one single oak tree and rubs all around that general area. There is no place for a treestand in this area (it looks like Texas brush country not like the typical Pennsylvania woods) I found a nice area to sit on the ground in wait. There are three cut trails about 4 feet wide that intersect at the tree with the scrapes surrounding it. These trails cut through the middle of all this brush and these are the major travel routes of deer. Well, I am patiently waiting and at 5:00 p.m., I hear a whistle. I didn' t know what the heck it was, well, I keep hearing it and it keeps getting closer and closer. Well, then I see it, a group of guys who are going through the brush with bird dogs (it isn' t a great place for grouse, actually, I have never seen a grouse in that brush). Well, they walk past me at about 15 yards and I knew that nothing was going to move through there considering there were about 4 guys and about 4 dogs right there. Well, I decided to pack up, hurry up and get to my house, get my climber and get down into my woods. This brush they were in is on a hillside and it funnels down into my woods. There is nothing but open fields on the two large sides of the brush. Well, I got it my stand and figured that these guys would drive deer down through the funnel behind my house and into the large section of pines in my woods. They were still a good 400 yards away from my position when I got in stand. It was a perfect evening to be out, but, did I see a single deer?????? HECK NO!!!!!!! I sat there watching a army of dang squirrels making all kinds of noise [:@]
I have been hunting HARD, VERY HARD, but, I have also been hunting smart. I havn' t been pressuring a particular area too much and I have been making sure that I enter and exit my stand with as little noise and scent as possible. Heck, from my back field to my stand is only about 65 yards and I spend about 20 minutes walking from the field to the stand. I make sure not to rub up against anything and not to break any branches.
I have tried just sitting in my stand and waiting, I have tried just grunting, I have tried just bleating, I have tried grunting and bleating, I have tried grunting and rattling, I have tried grunting, bleating, and rattling.
I have tried acorn scent, I have tried Still Steamin Doe Urine, I have tried H.S. Tarsal Supreme, I have tried no scents at all.
I have been keeping my clothes scent free, I have been taking scent killing showers before I head into the woods, I have been spraying my clothes with a heavy dose of scent killer before I go out, and topping that off with a light spray of earth scent. I have been using scent wafers, I have been wearing rubber boots, ect....
I have been hunting funnels, watering areas, field edges, bedding areas, stageing areas, scrapes, rub-lines, trails in thick brush, ridge tops, creek bottoms, open hardwoods, thick pines, ect......
I just can' t seem to find these dang deer [
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I got so many buck pics on my game cam' s this summer, but, they have just seemed to vanish.
Like I said, this is the hardest hunting I have done, so hard infact that it is hard just to get motivated to go in the woods. I keep telling myself that I am not going to see anything and that I should just stay home and do something else, but, I force myself to go out anyways!
Also, another thing to remember is that most of the land I hunt is off-limits to everyone but my bestfriend, my family, and I. My best-friend and I are the only ones that have been out in the woods this year!
Have any of you other Pennsylvania boys had it this tough lately?
Do you guys have any suggestions on what to try, like stand placement or anything. I know it is hard to try and help someone without seeing their land, but, any general info will help, I am desperate here
P.S. Sorry for being so long, I just had to vent a little bit