Deer sightings this season
 

How were your deer sightings this season? Worse, better or the same.

Please state the difference.

For example, I hunted two states this year and as a whole, my deer sightings were down. What really stood out was my lack of fawn sightings!!??

Hard winters, Coyotes or both?

Thanks.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I made the switch from climbers to hang-ons this year and it's been a great move with respect to seeing deer. But maybe that just shows a previously incompetant(sp?) hunter??

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

Our hunt group is probably off 30-40% in total sightings this year. There is alot of corn that never got harvested and we are guessing that played a role in the reduction.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

This was the worst season for me, as far as deer seen during Bowhunting .......by far!

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My deer sightingswereway down, still feeling the effects of EHD.[:@]

Welost alot of deer last year.:(

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

Mine were up in a big way. I'm on new land with a larger population.Getting them patterned and getting a shot were a different story. Tag soup this year. Tagged out next year!

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I've seen more deer this year than ever before...

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My sightings were WAY down in MN this season.

It wasby far theleast ammount of deer I have ever seen and this is my 15th season bowhunting.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I'm down 35% for the # of sits. I tagged out early so I didn't hunt that much. I did sit out with my wife for the rut but that was non existant.

In my part of WI I think the wolves and the bears had alot to do with it.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I'll go with better than usual...

The best season for deer sightings for me was 29, and this was 2 years ago.
This season was 23 deer sightings.
This does include the possibility of some deer being the same ones (obviously).
I call it a "sighting" if it's a "new sit" or a "different day".
I wouldn't call it a "sighting" if I saw some deer and then an hour later they came back, while never leaving my stand.

In years past (10+ years) I would be hard pressed to see 5 or 10 deer in a season, a dozen deer was a milestone!
However, I attribute the last handful of successful years, due to me changing my tactics and have seen much improvement all the way around.

I believe I am maturing into a better "deer hunter" verses a "hiker" with a gun / bow![&:]

You, along with many others on this site, have given me food for thought and I am slowly digesting it with success, in my eyes.
My season ended Dec 15th and have already been scouting a few new areas with good results, with many more new areas to research and gain an understanding of.
I look at my personal deer hunting goal as a 5 year plan and I'm very happy with the results for the first year of my plan.

Happy Holidays Greg, how's the boy mending?

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

Deer sightings were up from previous years, mainly because of more time in the woods

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My favorite farm, where I killed my buck, my sightings increased ten fold....I think I can blame smarter hunting for that though.

Like Grizz said, other places are still hurting from last years EHD.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

The number of deer I saw this year was about the same. I did see more young bucks than normal this year so hopefully that means good things next year. We'll see.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I was expecting this to be a horrible year. All the rain we got here in Illinois meant that there was a lot of corn planted late. This was the first year I can remember hunting in Illinois and having standing corn up in November. However, I had one of the best seasons ever this year, both with the number of deer seen and the quality of deer taken. I think the key was I knew this spring I was going to have crops in the field, so I scouted planning on that. I did not rely on my normal "go to" spots because I knew the patterns were going to be way off this year.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I saw 3 bucks and around 15 doe last year only and I hunted hard.

I hunted about the same amount of hours this year and have seen 15 bucks and 18 does. Off season scouting paid off for me.

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My Doe sightings were down big time, bucks were up big time. I hunted a new area this year 75% of the time!

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

Better than usual

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

Excellent tip right there!

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My sightings were way up, but I attribute that to smarter hunting and a little more knowledge of my spots.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My place near town were WAY up. Typically I would see two or three a season, I've now seen 5 diffrent bucks, the same group of four doe (I think) and a Doe and her BB and doe fawn

As for my place thats 5 hours away, seen about the same amount of deer but a lot closer than last year:D

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My sighting in the stand were way down this year however I still saw a good #. My trail cam was a different story I took way more pics than ever this year. I think the standing corn that is still up wasa major part not to mention for some reason the deer were more nocternal than ever which could also be in part due to that fact they knew the good food source was rightin the back pockets and they didni't need to travel far.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I put better then usual and part of it had to do with me and the lone wolf
being mobile. Another factor is I hunted 2 properties that I don't usually
hunt and I waited to do this later in the season. As for next year
I have another piece of property that I could not hunt that was
next to one of these. Ihave since gained permissionand the big boy
that I was watching hopelessly better watch out.
Oh I should alsohave a new spot in Ohio next year so
hopefully more sightings to come.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I saw a total of 10 deer this year with at least 50 sits, maybe more. Lat year with a little less sits i saw around 30 deer.We had a terrible winter last year with estimates being around 60% of the deer pop killed off. I hunted a couple of new places where I didn;t get to scout at all, but in my areas I scouted I saw much less deer.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My sightings were up slightly, but you have to consider I spent 300 plus hours in a blind or a Tree.
I had over 40 bucks in bow range this year, and many more just out of range.
I found through the years the more time I spend hunting, the Luckier I get;)

Dan

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RE: Deer sightings this season
 

i had by far the worst season of bow hunting i have ever had this year. i saw a total of three deer and they were all does.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My "honeyhole" spot was way down. I rely on the acorns, and there were absolutely ZERO acorns this year, and no crops anywhere nearby. I did score a decent buck there, but only because he was cruisin for chicks!
Also, the weather was screwy. Colder than usual and lots of very windy days. The wind made the deer move less, and the cold made me hunt less :(

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

I had a good season as far as sightings were concerned.

Shane

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My sightings actually went up from previous seasons. But I was hunting a totally different area than I usually hunt. And from what my neighbors said, the sightings were way down from what they are used to seeing. If this is true, I can't wait till next year.:)

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My deer sighting were down. At the beginning of the season things were smoking hot. I was seing deer everytime out. Until the early muzzleloader season and then they all disappeared.

All the real nice bucks I was seeing disappeared and I just could not locate them for most of the season. I was able to harvest a nice 9 point but overall it was a below average season.

The one farm that I have been hunting for years was terrible this year. The farmer had nothing planted that was really attracting anything. There was one corn field and it ws in the wide open not leaving much daylight movement. I believe that the deer moved to the next farm over that had standind corn up to three weeks ago. I may give the farm another try in the late season.

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My sightings while actually huntingwere the same as last year which is to say fantastic. I had seven eights and two six's in bow range. I came to full draw on four of the eights and let them walk. I also saw a few that I would have taken but didn't have the shot.During hunting season I take the back roads home from work and usually see 40 - 60 deer coming outinto the fields.

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ive seen more deer this year... i think its because i did considerably more scouting

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PT said it for me! At least here in Pa.I have to say that the rut activity that I saw/experiencedin Alberta the last week of Novwas beyond anything I've ever seen in my life. It was unreal!

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

Does were about the norm. I saw more (and passed on more) 1.5 and 2.5 year old bucks then I probably have in the previous 2 seasons combined. It became comical towards the end. I'm just hoping a lot of those 2.5 year olds survived.

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I saw way more bucks Way less does and fawn. Up north in 227 hr on stand I saw 9 antlerless of whick 3 were fawn. It is going to be a tough year next yeatr. To many years of 5 tags and way I mean WAY to many twolves.

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THis is the second year to bow hunt but compaired to last year i saw quite a few more deer, but i also only hunted 5 times this year.

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I chose different areas this year and doe sightings were average but my buck sightings were up considerably.

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My sightings were up, but so was my time afield and the quality of land I was hunting. I will need next year to get an accurate reading on where we are heading.;)

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deer sightings were equal, with mature buck sightings down

we had a REALLY hard winter last year and i found 2 bucks dead who had already shed their antlers that looked like they had some thick bases

RE: Deer sightings this season
 

My early season went very slow.... I haven't saw that few deer through first three weeks of October since I was cutting my bowhunting teeth...

Last week of October through November was not bad, big buck sightings were way down though but overall buck sightings were good. I saw 3 shooters, 2 in Ohio and the one from PA.

I do not personallyknow anyone locally who shot a P&Y this year.

It was a slow year for big bucks foreveryone I know aroundhere.