RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

Pennsylvania boy here too, down in Huntingdon County. So far only skunked one morning, but nothing to show for what I have seen either.

Their movment this year is all skewered. They just aren' t moving, we have acorns and good hickory nuts around here, and they are not moving much at all in the evenings, I have watched them and they feed their way to the fields, but it takes them forever to get moving down the mountain to where I am. In the mornings they are coming off the field way early. This past saturday, they were moving past me a shade before 7am, and the saturday before that, i was walking in at closer to 6 something and I looked in front of my for my bright eyes and found a set of deer eyes looking at me......that was the morning i saw nothing. As far as does go, there seems to be enough of them but many many younger fawns, and as far as bucks, I only have one completely confirmed and one other possible that could have been the one I am seeing or a totally new one.
I feel for ya, and it isn' t just you, take a little comfort in that.

Sidenote: the landowner drove the area i hunt last saturday for early muzzleloader, and they got skunked, and in fact they got skunked for the entire day, not even a shot fired.

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

Sit down, Take a deep breath, and relax bro, it' s a long season still to go and the best hunting is around the corner.

I used to go all out like you the first couple of weeks of the season, full bore intent on dropping that first deer, by the time the third week of the season rolled around I was all burnt out before the rut kicked in. Now after adding a few years to my age :D I have learned better! Just take a deep breath man, don' t worry about all your buddies who have tagged one already and rubbing it in, it' s not a competition, it' s about being out in the woods and experiencing the outdoors.

I' ve posted this quote in another thread, but will do it again as I see it fits this one perfectly. This is from one of Greg Miller' s whitetail books " Temper your enthusiasm with a little common sense"

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

Hark, hark, I do believe I hear the unmistakable sound of violins!!![:o]:D Mooooon riverrrrrrr la di da di da. [:-] Wait till November grasshopper...all will change. If it weren' t for the rut most guys would never kill a deer.

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

Magnet , Dont give in man , We all have slow times , Remember last year the thrill when your buck was coming to ya , and how good you felt when you found him on the ground . There now get you but out there and stick you one .

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

That' s why we call this great sport hunting and not getting. If it were easy, it wouldn' t be fun. I know that there have been threads on here about just getting out hunting, no only to hunt, but to be in the wilderness all by yourself and just taking in nature and thinking about life in general. I can understand why your so frustrated. I' ve been out many, many times and not seen a dang thing except for some pesky squirrels and chipmunks and it' s kind of boring. It may sound goofy, but bring a book. Something to pass the time and atleast your still out there hunting. Best of luck to you.

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

Magnet, that doesn' t sound like you. My numbers show that I do not have alot a posts but I have been around a couple of years reading everyone elses. When I read yours I got the idea you where a very motivated person. To hear that your giving up is a bit of a shock. Take a little break from your stand for awhile until the weather changes or something that catch' s your attention. A little break and you will be refreshed to hunt during November when the bucks forget everything and start chasing the does. Good luck.

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

Actually I' m glad you made this post. I' ve been watching a huge typical & non-typical since August and even had rubs on August 31st.! The first Monday of the season the typical was right under my feet 15 mins. before good shooting light. Since then I' ve had 3 doe into my stands. I hunt every morning before work and every afternoon after work. I' ve managed to take a bunch of deer over the past 38 yrs. of bowhunting but I' ve only had a couple of seasons I tab as " RUDE" and this is one of them. Hearing that there are others in PA that are experiencing the same strange movements gives me heart that there' s better things to come in the next couple of weeks. Like others have said, keep plugging away and the best hunting of the year is yet to come! Your lucky if you have acorns this years as my area has none. I got so used to hunting them that I actually got a little lazy about hunting other types of sign and now I' m being forced to change my habits which probably has something to do with why I' m being so slow in making the right adjustments. Keep your head up and hunt.

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

There IS such a thing as overhunting a spot.[:' (]

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

Maybe you need to stop trying so hard. It sounds like you expecting to get something after all your hard work. Nots not reality with hunting. Try to have some fun, that' s what it' s all about. Now get out there and start hunting, and stop acting like a big baby.

RE: THATS IT!!!!!!!!!! I give up!!!!!!! WHY ME?
 

I wouldn' t go so far as to call him a big baby. All of us have felt the frustration, and I would bet a good number of us have been in the situation where you get busted, or get skunked and see no deer and wonder why you didn' t take up chess or some other hobby/sport where you can see a reward for your hard work more often. I agree hunting isn' t like that, you could work your butt off every season for years and have nothing to show for it, or you could score lucky and go out in blue jeans and a jacket (see the other post that was floating around about the new monster buck) and get lucky.
We have all been frustrated with the sport from time to time, and even myself on more than one occassion.
I go out and hunt and get busted or whatever, and yeah it makes you mad and the i shoulda, coulda, woulda' s come into your mind, and you leave the woods sometimes being so frustrated with it, but like a good book I have to come back to it, I have to know what happens, I have to be out there again. I can' t not hunt, even if I am convinced(in my head) that I will see nothing, I have to go, I want to go. I think I can truly relate to what it is like to have an addicition at this point in time.

Anyway, enough of my rant, but as hard as it is, maybe taking a smal break is best, relax for a few weeks, leave the calls and scents and home, hunt the wind and wait for the rut to kick in here in PA and then go try it again.
That is so much easier said than done, I know.