Well, Opening day was saturday. and i went out and hunted my stand. This was situated about 100yds off the road, on a massive run. An old logging trail went right through the front of my stand, about 10 yards, and it is used pretty good. to my right, about 20 yards, there is a hill that leads to alfalfa fields and to my left (towards the road), there is that run, and across the road, up another hill, there is the supposed bedding area. now my predicament:

Saturday morning, I saw 3 does, 4 fawns and a spike (the spike presented many opportunities, but, i was told i cant shoot them, or some crap.) so i didnt take him. I was real Excited...Figured it was a good location....boy...

Sunday night: Rain, Tempurature change. I sat in there for a good 2 1/2 hours, didnt see a darn thing!! The same went for monday and tuesday. on sunday night, No one our of 4 guys saw anything. tuesday, my Friend saw a Nice 6/8pt, and last night, that same guy saw a spike.

I Just cant understand where any of these deer went to!? I' d figure that the trail im sitting on, being a main trail and all, would have more activity than this...Anyone got the Slightest Idea what happened!? any help would be appreciated!!

There could be a bunch of reasons why the deer dissappeared. My hunch is that if you were in the same stand 4 days straight you are probably overhunting the spot. Leaving scent in the area, noise etc. is the quickest way I know to have the deer vacate an area. Leave the spike go by the way. It' s not crap at all. He might be an 8 next year.

I guess nobody else got anything for you to chew on MD. Seems like it' s hard to get responses on this board at times. I' m not sure why. Sometimes I think the guys that have been posting to this board for a long time run in their own circle and disregard us newbies.

I appreciate it Jimimac. Did i mention that Spike was the First Buck i' ve seen bowhunting? Im a Newbie at heart Thanks for the Advice, think I' d be ok if i went in there tomorrow pm?


Also, in that Area (Alfalfa Field to be exact) 13 Different Bucks were spotted at one time, Including a Massive 11 point (12 last year), and basket Rack 9 pointer (BR 10 last year), so hopefully i can catch one of them [:-]

Again, thanks for the Advice!! [&o]

MD, I also think you may be overhunting your stand.
I can' t imagine you had the perfect wind 4 days in row,
especially with a front moving through. On your entry,
is your scent blowing the right direction - away from
where you think deer are located? Are you walking
on deer runs to get to your stand? A stand is only as
good as the entry and exit.... We try and use creek
bottoms and erosion ditches, whenever possible, to
get in and out of our stands.

Over the course of a season (100+ hours on stand)
I will only hunt a particular tree a few times and rarely
two hunts in a row. I try and keep the element of
suprise on my side. We have over 30 trees prepared
for stands, shooting lanes cut, and ready to hunt...
but, only when the wind is perfect.

Also, don' t forget PATIENCE....if it was as easy as hanging
a stand and shooting a deer, I doubt few of us would
enjoy it as much.

Hope this helps and best of luck
Two Beards

Sorry guys, once hunting season starts, people don' t post quite as much. I would agree with the above, you are probably over hunting the spot. Or, has the wind direction changed from what it was that first day, you did mention a front moved through. I' ve had spots where I saw 10 deer the first, 4 the next, 0 next. It always seems the more you hunt a spot the less deer you see. This is mainly due to leaving too much scent around. Try moving your stand around, maybe 100yds over. Good luck.

Well MD, we got a little rise out of the faithful. I don' t have much to add without knowing more about your situation. The advise from the other guys is excellent. If the property is fairly large why not move out of the area completely. It seems like you have a lot of time to hunt, so give it a shot. If you have a climbing treestand so much the better. You can quickly move in to a new spot and set up for a hunt in no time flat. Don' t put pressure on yourself though. This is supposed to be a fun thing. If you turn it into work, then you are missing the point. Set up, relax, watch the birds and the fall foliage and be thankful you are there at all. There' s lots of folks tha are not as lucky as you. By the way...That spike. No you didn' t mention that it was the first buck you have laid eyes on while hunting. Pretty cool huh man? It' s been so long, I can' t really remember the first one I saw from stand. The other thing...It' s O.K. for you to shoot that spike if you get a chance. You have never taken a deer so I say go for it. Yeah, most here try to let the little ones walk, but no one will be critical if you end up taking that deer. To really get jump started though, I would recommend taking a doe as long as you have a tag. They are plentiful and in the long run you will benefit greatly from taking that " first" deer regardless of sex. Jim

thanks for all the advise guys! I just dont understnad how the first hunt, that many deer, and the second, poof, none at all! but i havnt been in there in a while, thinking of goin tonight. The property is 50 acres of hill basically. the land owners dont want us shooting does tho...so Im limited to bucks right now. the stand i was in was a Strong Built Chain on...so Its permanent for the moment. again, I appreciate all the advice and good luck hunting!!!

MDManiac I am not sure if you all had a major change in weather up there like we have had down here, but if you had a front come through and the temps are staying colder then they were before this can also effect the deer patterns. As others have said, you may be hunting the stand to often, if you have enough property you may want to consider setting up several other stands and rotate according to the wind. The deer may have dissappeared from that immediate area, but deer have fairly small home ranges so they are within 1/2 - 1 mile from there worse case, more than likely though 2-300 yards.

I hear what your saying jimimac ive posted on here and hardly get any responses most of the time i just go to other sites where people respond, i dont know why that is...
as to the deer not being there, i have had that happen to me here in PA when i hunt a spot to much,,, i think everyone is right is saying that the deer pick up your scent and leave for awhile.... if you give it a break for awhile they will come back...
good luck..