new member on a losing streak...
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5
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!
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!
#2
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.
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Eastern wv
Posts: 3,649
RR
Last edited by Ridge Runner; 11-29-2013 at 05:38 PM.
#4
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5
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.
#5
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.
#6
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5
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?
#10
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 5
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.