This is my first season of hunting too. I thought I saw a pretty good number of deer this year (around the rut - nothing since). Although everyone I talked to did say deer numbers were down due to weather. All in all, being my first time out, I was overjoyed to see anything! My son and I managed to see some does a couple of times, and I was lucky enough to see about 3 bucks this year. I did alot of hunting and I have nothing to compare it to. Not entirely sure if this was a slow year or not in Ohio.

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BobCo,

Carthage Ny was the same. Never saw one till a week after season. Know they are running on the 119, but around Fort Drum, everyone says the same thing. They were there but the weather and other factors kept the harvest down!

In ND numbers were good, hunting presure was light after opening weekend. Seen bucks everyday.

Here in SE Minnesota, activity was a little starnge as well. The rut, which normally is in full swing during the middle of firearms buck season, didn't appear to kick off until a few weeks later when the doe season was on. I'm sure the warm weather played a big part in this, but something else was strange as well: the visible buck to doe ratio. It seems as though we were seeing many more bucks than does, unlike in previous years. I just hope our mild winter provides us with a nice large, healthy herd for 2002.