sproulman

what county are you in.

E.P. Scott

Did any of you stop to think that maybe you are hunting the wrong areas....areas that are commensurate with the weather, moon phase, preferred food source, and rut phase?

I have my favorite hunting spots as well...and from time to time, they go completely dry....because the preferred food source changed in conjunction with the weather. I hunt the edges of swamps that butt up against standing oaks. This year, the acorn drop was horrible yet I chose to waste a few days sitting in my old favorite stands because they usually produce good action during the rut. Once I confirmed that the deer were honed in on a different portion of the swamp that actually had acorn producing trees closeby....I was rewarded with some of the best hunting I've had in years. The action was just incredible....and all it took was moving my stand about 1,200 yards east.

Deer just don't disappear fellas....food sources do. Move to where their favorite food is in accordance to the weather. Low temps require high calories.

livbucks

The same one you mailed that picture to me at Sproul....Allegheny. I know it is not like where you hunt. I'm just relating what my experience was. I'll be up near Kane next week. I'm sure it will be different there. We have done very well up North in the last few years. Just hoping we see some deer this year as well.

pick00l

The older / bigger they get, the harder they are to find and shoot no? I like the challenge.... as long as I consistently see signs, it's only a matter of time.

BTBowhunter

A bust? Not here!

Only hunted PA till Oct 27 so I pretty much missed the rut and health issues kept me home quite often before that I but managed to find 8 quality shot opportunities at AR legal bucks that were all 2.5 or younger but not what I'm looking for. A couple of does in the freezer takes care of the families need for venison.These bucks were passed were in WMU's 2B 2D and 2F.

So far it's been a good season but there's still a lot of time left between regular season and the late season. My two best PA archery bucks have been taken in regular gun season or late archery with the bow. It aint over just yet guys!

longbowman2

I ended up having 32 buck in to my stands and out of them only 3 were legal (4 pts. to an antler) and none of them offered a shot. I never thought I'd be envious over somebody bagging a scrawny 6 pt. but it's getting there!

sproulman

i bet half of my friends are heading to BUTLER,PA to get their doe next week.

its hard for me to believe that they will go that far and spend that kind of money to get doe meat.

sproulman

what county are you in?

sproulman

here in WMU2G, we dont have deer but i agree with you ,deer were near water/food this year but i sat in same spot for 47 years.


NOW, here is where it DOES NOT work.

after bear season here in say clinton county.

deer get to point they are hiding more than staying near food.

soooooooooo,bucks will take the ESCAPE ROUTES,not the water /feed route.

so, hunt those areas where you have for 47 years because the buck will return to those areas the FIRST WEEK on gun ,then back to FOOD/WATER route as you mentioned.

but, i agrre, in archery you have to be able to move, not sit like i did for 4 weeks and see 1 buck and 2 doe.

this was worst season i had in 47 years in clinton,food was not reason 100%,it had factor and a big one but LACK of bucks and less doe had bucks walking GREAT distances to find a doe.

i had 3 bucks in my yard.

when rut started i was down to 1 buck, we seen 1 of the other bucks over 1 and 1/2 miles away.

we feel he was chased away by the bigger buck.

you used to have say 10/15 doe in that mile or so area.

you would have 4 buck that would stay with herd of does..

they seemed to not chase each other away..

NOW, do to lack of doe, bucks are chasing away each other and traveling a long ways to find a doe.

its not unusal to see same buck 3 miles away.

i think penn state did study and a buck went over 9 miles away for doe.

rybohunter

Well you better warn your friends that 2D is one of the units closed to doe hunting the first week. That meat will become REAL expensive if they get caught.

Sometimes I wish it was that easy. Every single property I had access to had no acorn production this year, and I covered every inch of all of them. At that point there's not much more you can do.