Bronko...

Save your gas $$ bud... it's no better up here. I hunted Sat. morning and afternoon. Saw nothing in the AM, saw two in the afternoon but Mama saw me before I saw her and well...you know how that goes. Hunted again this morning from my stand in the brush lot near the house. It's usually a good stand by late season (I've killed four deer from that stand since I put it up 3 years ago) because the deer start honing in on the standing corn the neighbor leaves through the winter and they pass through there to get to it...not this year. Last year the deer hit that corn like rats, this year we see an occasional deer go in or out of that field. I would blame it on a bumper crop of acorns if that were the case locally, but the crop here in the woods I hunt was scant at best. There are some good hayfields around my place, but I'm not seeing deer come out on them like I normally would with the mild weather and no snow like it has been.

I passed on every doe I saw during the firearms season because I'd rather take one with a bow or flintlock than a center fire rifle but now that I'm gettin' hungry for venison it seems as though they've disappeared. I saw a total of 11 deer on the opener of regular firearms season this year. Not long ago, I would have saw that many during the first few hours. I never heard a shot fired throughout the valley I live in on opening day until after 8:00 am, and that's really unusual considering that the management unit I live in is either sex and I'm only 2/10 mi. from NY and their season was still open. I'm praying for colder weather at this point so I can go ice fishing... maybe I can at least catch some fish.

BPS