I' M NOT GIVING UP GUYS, I AM JUST FRUSTRATED

The weather has been getting better here this week, but, even with that, and a better moon phase thrown in, the deer still aren' t moving.

This time last year, I was seeing probablly seeing 10 deer per night on an average night. I keep looking back at my log book and it just seems odd that at this time last year, the deer were really moving, and this year they aren' t.

There are a BUNCH of things working against me this year.

1. Part of my " honey hole" was sold off this summer. On a positive note though, my dad told me today that the plans have pretty much fallen through and the bidders are all backing out due to some type of mix up in paper-work. Thursday morning and evening I will be in there for the first time this year and I am REALLY looking forward to hunting " the pond stand"

2. No mast crops. Last year we didn' t have any acorns, and that is the case again this year. Heck, the only tree that I have seen dropping acorns is in my best-friends front yard. The crab apple trees around here have produced a FEW apples and they are all gone now.

3. Weather. I will go out hunting no matter what the weather is, but, that doesn' t mean that the deer will have to be out in it. The temps have been going up and down and up and down so much that it seems to have thrown the deer all out of whack.

4. The farmers crops. The farmers around here left ALOT of fields fallow this year, probablly due to the insane amount of rain that we had this spring. Those farmers who did plant had it grow slowly, but, the kicker is that they have ALL cut down their corn already. Yeah, about 3 weeks all the farmers around my area cut the corn. I am not sure what the reasoning behind this was, but, they did it. With the corn being planted late, I don' t think that many of it matured, and then they cut it so early, so, I don' t think that there is much corn laying in the cut fields for deer. I think that this is probablly the major reason why things are so bleek this year.

5. WIND. It has been incredibly windy around here lately. Swirling 30 mph winds are almost expected now. The deer don' t seem to wanna move since there senses are less effective in the wind, plus, it makes finding a good stand area very hard.

I have been using so many different stand locations because there have been so many different varitions in weather and winds. On the hot days, I will try to hunt water hoping that deer will come in and get a drink. On windy days I try to hunt deep bottoms, and with the wind direction changing, I have tried to get a bunch of stand set-ups in a certain area to allow for me to hunt any wind that mother nature is giving me

The deer have been very un-predictable. Heck, the deer that I did see this season seemed to be just wandering around. There are some MAJOR trails through one of my stand sites. The deer I saw in that area were not moving on the trails and they weren' t entering the funnel or exiting it where they normally are. The funnel in my woods has a " brushy hillside" on the south side of it, to the east is my back field, to the north is the big woods where the " big pines" are, and to the west is a huge field that was corn last year but is fallow this year. Now, when you are in the funnel, on the west side there is a THICK row of brush that divides the funnel from the fallow field. There is one spot where a old trolly line use to exit and there is no brush there. That has ALWAYS been the area where deer would enter or exit the funnel as the brush on that side of the funnel is so thick. The deer never go through my back field and they won' t cross the fallow field as the highway can easily be seen from that field. That is why this funnel is normally a hot-spot, but, the deer that I have seen in it aren' t doing their normal routine.

Another thing that is frustrating is that the buck were really chasing does at the beginning of the season, they were running doe, grunting constantly, and fighting, but, then the full moon came, and even though it is gone, the bucks just aren' t as fired up as they were earlier in the season.

But, like I said, I am not giving up, I was just venting. I will be out there in the woods every chance I can get, but, it kinda gets to me when I am out there in areas that I had scouted extensively, and I don' t see a single deer. I don' t really care that I havn' t shot a buck, and I am not frustrated that I havn' t shot a buck yet, it would be great to stick that big 12 point, but, that isn' t what has me down. I would just like to see some deer walk by me