new member on a losing streak...
 

Hello all,
new to the forum, but not to hunting. I hunt in Illinois on a nicely divided odd 80. see picture included. I am having a severe drought! I haven't seen or heard a deer in 3-4 days! I'm getting pretty discouraged as I can hear everyone around me banging away on shotgun season and archers dragging them out if the woods on my way home. in the map included I have all the stands marked as "A 1-10" and there are two half acre food plots with everything you can think of in them. I spend my mornings on the east side of the river in A5,7 or 8 and in the afternoons i'm in either A1 or 4. This property had heavy woods to the north with an open area in the middle then to the south and east similar. More heavy woods and a couple houses to the north east. The weather has been clear and cold in the mornings and cant seem to figure out why the deer are not moving. IM out there and in the stand by 6am till 9 and I come back in the afternoon from 2-5pm. and still nothing. Can anyone give me some input of some tactics that I may need to change or maybe try something else?
Thanks in advance!

First off, welcome to the forum! Next, I believe I'd start by staying later than 9am. Too many deer are killed between 10am and 2pm to warrant leaving at 9. Are you playing the wind? Just hang in there and keep trying.

listen here, If I could only hunt 4 hours a day it would be 10 till 2 if the rut is on. I've taken a handful of bucks at daylight, dozens upon dozens in the above time period

RR

Thanks for the welcome VA! Id stay longer but I am damn froze by 9. I have good gear and its still not enough to stand up to 10*C at 85% humidity that feels like 0*C the last few days. I play the wind to an extent. There has been no wind except for a 5-10mph breeze today from the SE. Hence the different stands for morning and afternoons. Also, I typically don't call for them unless I see them so they don't circle down wind to early.

Maybe the deer have you patterned? Change it up a little and try hunting later in the day. Sleep in and get on your stand about 9 and try to stay the rest of the day. Maybe the lunch crowd will move some deer your way when they leave or come back from lunch.

Thanks...that's what I was thinking. I could use a morning of not freezing my a$$ off! :lol: Shouldn't have a problem staying the rest of the day as day time temps are near 35-37 and expecting to warm up a bit over the next week. Now the question is...which stand should I position myself in for the "lunch crowd"? around the plots or should I go for the bottle neck on the east side of the west half before the river?

What are you going to do if the weather gets cold if you can't stay out any longer than you say you are when we aren't even having any cold weather here in the midwest yet!!!

Severe drought???

I'm also in IL, I killed a 10 point 11/15 then had a really slow week and killed a 16 point on 11/22......didn't see a single deer between the 15th and 22nd.

when that happens I have to go to my coveralls and heavy jacket and they are not camo but dark enough that it resembles the tree bark color. its mostly my fingers that determine how long I hunt. I think that I need a better pair of gloves

95% of the time I tag out on first day of every season with a respectable deer and I wont shoot anything younger than a 2-3 year old buck or doe. Deer are usually plentiful enough I can be choosy but for some reason not this year.