Took my Flint out today.
 

I had all intentions of bowhunting today. The wind and cold didn't allow it. I drove to a spot on Clearfield Mountain I frequent during f.l. season and occasionally during rifle.
What I saw in the snow were deer tracks GALORE. It would apper that the hunting season didn't do much damage to the deer herd andthe deer did their usual good job of avoiding the rifle hunters.(And me today)
I was in a relatively small area (75 acres)compared to the size of the DMAP area 305 I was in.
I crossed no less than 10 trails while hiking the access road to my spot.
All the trails had multiple tracks on them. Considering it snowed 4-5 inches yesterday and last night, I knew they were all made this morning and this afternoon all heading the same direction. To a bedding thicket of laurel.
I think we needlonger deer seasons.

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

Sounds like you've got something to look forward to. Fresh sign will get your heart pumping in a hurry this time of year. Its amazing how deer to seem to come back out of no where after the gun season.

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

Yeah Ryan,
They're there. I just wish the weather wasn't so bad.
I saw the same thing in Treasure Lake 2 weeks ago..HINT...HINT

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

a few deer make a lot of tracks.
do to the frozen ground those few deer are eating browse more than acorns,thats why you are seeing tracks but could be made from only few deer..

we seen the same thing here in clinton/potter county.
a few deer are walking a lot covering area,you would think a herd of deer is there,thats not true.

its same few deer ,day in day out .

i was grouse hunting,i saw 2 tracks cross road, i hunted that area for grouse..
at 1 spot it looked like 10 deer were there, it was those those 2 deer..........
those deer when they find a good spot will bed close by and feed all day long, on and off in a good spot ..

this only happens in weather we had here,FROZEN ground etc.

its like the story i told before on hunters seeing 16 deer in 1 spot..
i watched the same 4 deer run by the same hunters in hollow at least 4 times all daybeing pushed by other hunters 10 yrs ago..

when i met those hunters at trucks, i asked, HOW MANY DEER DID YOU GUYS SEE.
almost all said,16 DEER................

even if you see deer, you can see most hunters count wrong,same deer over and over..........

i have 10 deer left on my property, i had 18..

i wish you could see tracks on that 100 acres, you would think 50 deer are there..
do to frozen ground, deer are tracking up area looking for browse,more than acorns and causing a lot of tracks........

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

sproul,
You missed some of the info. in my post.
It quit snowing late last night. The trails I crossedhad FRESH tracks from this morning and this afternoon. They weren't filled in. The trails/tracks all were coming out of a field edge and heading up hillto a large bedding area.
I don't think "those 2 deer" ran circles all morning before I got there to throw me off.
MANY,MANY DEER my friend...

And noone was pushing them. I was the only one there.

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

Oh, there's more to it than that!

I heard from a guy who swears that Unified is conducting an investigation to exposethe insurance companies who have been secretly breeding and stocking coyotes that have been genetically engineered to have feet with only two toes so they can leave tracks everywhere that look like deer tracks!

I hope you actually saw those 10 "deer" you still have on your property;)

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

Not sureI agree that we NEED longer seasons.
I will agree that there are still alot of deer in some areas.
I don't care about how many deer I see, all I want to see is one nice buck. This time of year, it can be tough to do that.

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

was this area near privateland?

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

NOPE

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

i have one really good question??? if you live in T-lake then why are you hunting anywhere else?? i know your not aloud to but if i live it there i would...i know guys that have hunted in there... you can get back in some place i don't think they would find you... i have done some work over there

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

First of all , I do hunt T.L. and it's Archery Only. i said it was too cold and windy to archery hunt.
Secondly, I'm on the Wildlife committe that set up and enforces the archery only hunt.
I would be breaking therules of the board of directors and the rules I help enforceif I ML hunted T.L.
I hope I don't run into your friends sneaking around the Lake, hunting w/o the proper permits. It's trespassing at the very least.
I hope DougE doesn't find them...He's a BIG boy.

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

Took the flintlock out Saturday in the ANF and on timber co property that's open to the public and even has a DMAP program. Was a bit under the weather so it was a short hunt but we saw tons of fresh tracks in a very short period of time in select places. Other areas were completely devoid of sign. Thats the nature of late season hunting. The deer are heavily concentrated in small areas based on where they find food and cover.

BTW, heard a whole bunch of coyotes ( at least 6 different ones) while on my evening stand. My buddy, a mile away, heard several as well,

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

Treasure lake has been open to bowhunt and dmap'd the last two years.So far this year,8 bucks and 76 doe have been checked in.

Why does sproul only think there's deer on private land?I killed just as many deer on public land this year and every other yearas I did in Treasure lake and did it in less than half the time it took me in Treasure lake.Every piece of private property I know of gets far more hunting pressure thanmost public land in 2G.I did two small drives for a buddy of mine on the first saturday of rifle season this year on public land.He saw 18 deer.I sat for one drive and killed one of three doe that snuck up behind me before he even started to push.My buddy waited there while I went back to my truck to get a cart and he saw 5 more.This was all before noon in an area of public land that has no deer.

The deer are moving more in search of food because there simply isn't enough browse in 2G.

RE: Took my Flint out today.
 

Gene,I'd probably look the other way if they were actually in the woods hunting.I may even give them an ada boy if they kill a few doe.That most likely wouldn't be the outcome ifI catch them roadhunting however.Those kind of guys make me come unglued.I saw where someone killed one from the road on the last saturday.The day after the season ended,I was showing your co-worker Randy some places to go and we founda drag mark in the snow coming out to the road.There was no gutpile.Just a pool of blood and one set ofbootprints goingin and one set coming back out to the road.There's been some progress made with slobs this year and the rest will have their day.