caddo creek

I went through the same thing when I started bowhunting. I went 6 years w/out getting a deer. I was in college part of that time and got married, moved around and finally settled down and got some consistant spots to hunt. I would suggest to try to aquire as many spots to hunt as possible so not to over hunt a paticular area. This was deffinatly one of my mistiakes " made looking back" .

ButchA

Guys.....

Geoff really got me thinking. I know all too well the frustration he feels. But with me, I also get crazy thoughts about what I have spent on hunting so far, since I got started shortly after 9/11. (I spent HOW MUCH so far?!?) []

Man, I spent a little over $1600 bucks since the fall of 2001, and I get depressed thinking to myself, " ...and what do I have to show for it?" Nada. Zilch. Take a zero on this... [:' (]

Butch

PABowhntr

I cannot say that I do not feel the same way at times. We " think" that we do everything right and yet sometimes we do not see, not to mention shoot, the animals that we are pursuing. Most of the time I try to either a) move my stand locations around towards an area with more sign even if the are is not as conducive to hunting or, b) go hunting for something else other than deer with my bow for awhile. Here in PA we are lucky enough (in some regards) to have an overlap with small game, turkey and goose seasons so if I get frustrated with one then I can pursue the other for a day or two until I get back in the groove again.

bigdog02

You guys aren' t the only ones.

2 weeks ago I counted 20 plus deer on a trail.
Went there this past Friday and hunted the same trail (didn' t get busted last week, none saw me, none spooked, used the wind to my advantage) and what did I see?
Nothing. Saturday morning my alarm went off and for the first time in a while I just didn' t feel like going out. I think i burned myself ot big time in the early season with all the leaving work early wednesday and friday hunts, and then hunting hard every saturday.

Like a lot of the guys on this board, I have hunted hard this season, prolly my hardest to date, and I have one decent buck sighting, and a 5 point sigthing to show for it with does scattered around in between. I know that isn' t as unlucky as some guys on this board, for the area I am in that is relatively dismal. When you sit back and think about how much time and money you spend on this sport/hobby, imagine where you could be if you had invested that time in learning a new language, or learning to do something like painting or chess or whatever. You would be a master of it by now.

I think the thing that frustrates me the most is the fact that hunting is the only sport/hobby that hard work doesn' t necessarily EVER have to pay off. You could hunt hard for a long time and come up empty handed. A guy I know locally started hunting about the same time as me, but he started with bow hunting after hunting I think 6-7 seasons with no score (had chances, but something would always go wrong, murphy' s law) he finally gave it up, was tired of pouring money and time into something that had never paid off (meat wise that is, he loved going into the woods and seeing squirrels and just seeing the forest go about it' s daily business). It' s like playing a sport like football and never leaving the pine in 6-7 years, would you still keep doing it?

The only reason I keep going is because the pay off is so nice, when it does all come together it feels so good and at that moment in my mind it has all been worth it, and all the regrets of the season up to that point have ben forgiven. Unfortunately it will break your heart many many more times than you get to feel that feeling.

**steps of soapbox**

JeramyK

I' ve been in that boat many times. It' s all too familiar. Once the seasons overlap I take a day or two for small game or turkey. Helps keep the head clear.

Strut&Rut

You are not suffering from hunting frustration, but rather the " lack of seeing my intended quary" frustration.

If the closest deer you saw was 75 yards away, move 75 yards.

You haven' t been hunting long enough to know the delicacies of deer hunting. Get a mentor, someone who can show you how to read the woods, not the deer sign. Reading the woods is 75% of the game (the when and where), the other 25% of understanding deer sign is knowing the what & why...

Also understand your surrounding areas. Here in the Northeast, food sources can change dramatically from Summer/Fall/Winter. With the severe storms we' ve been having, the mast crops are pretty much busted. That gives you winter forage and any remaining standing crops/hay to concentrate on for food. The rut is pushing the bucks into the chase phase, so now you have to concentrate on funnels, deer highways and food sources.

And as basic as this sounds, find the food = find the does = find the bucks.

Not understanding all the sign, this is the easiest/surest way to find deer.

GeoffM24

I have a mentor, he actually got me into Bow hunting. He has already taken 2 bucks this year and one is huge. If he took does his tags would have been filled in a few weeks.

I have actually gotten 1 deer, it was almost exactly one year ago. My mentor picked the spot out for me and I got a doe within 20 minutes, no kidding!

I had hoped to build off the knowledge of last year and have more success this year. I am better but not good enough yet.

I think I am looking to much at the sign and not enough at the woods.

Belle Island

It takes time and experience to begin to understand deer and their movements. I' ve been bowhunting for over 10 yrs and I am just beginning to understand the big picture. Sure, I killed deer in beginning, but my understanding of WHY they were doing certain things was very limited. It' s taken years of hunting, scouting, watching, reading, etc to fully understand what is going on and the sad thing is I am only at the tip of the iceburg. I am just getting to the point in my life where I can go to a totall new spot and pretty quickly determine where the best hunting will be. Every wonder why the old timers seem to always be seeing and harvesting nice bucks year end, year out? It' s not luck, it' s experience. Hang in there