One for the record books
 

But not in a good way.
Our rifle season ended yesterdady. We have two weeks with 3 weekends.
I sat in my blind from sunup to sundown all three weekends plus a half day on 2 Fridays.
Except, yesterday morning I hunted off the deck of my sister's cabin and last night I hunted from my camper.
That's about 70 hours total.
I did not see a single deer this year. Not one!
The guy I hunt with put the same amount of time in but he saw half a dozen deer over the course of the season. All does and fawns though.
Finally yesterday he hunted at my cousin's field and got a big doe in the morning.
We have always gotten deer where we hunt. Almost always anyway. But we SEE deer every year. I don't know what happened this year but it was very odd to see NOTHING.
Oh well. We got one for two and...
It's only about 350 days till the 2020 opener.

Minnesota i assume?

Winter kill? Wolves?

When I'm not seeing deer I get up and find them. My patience is usually pretty short when it comes to sitting still.

Hopefully next year is better. I know we always say every hunt is a success, and getting one is just a bonus, blah blah...
But it sure is nice to fill your tag. Hopefully next year is back to "normal" for you.

-Jake

well I can imagine many reasons
from low deer numbers, or the fact, deer learn over time and well, food changes over time
so, sitting in a deer blind that deer know is there, after the first day when shooting starts, many deer any more go nocturnal and smarter one's avoid places they know humans be at
all the more so folks cabins and decks and campers!
just cause a spot was good for a while , doesn;t mean it will be good forever!
things mature and alter again food sources and patterns of deer
pressure changes there movements

this is why its called hunting, you have to some times HUNT for the best places to find them at!

also keep in mind, OTHERS in your area might be adding food plots or other things drawing deer OFF your area and into there's!

one farm I managed ,it was nothing to see a 100 plus deer in its field and plots
BUT
go a mile down the road, and you couldn;t find a deer TRACK< never mind a live deer!

food is a powerful thing in the worlds of wildlife!

I heard there was a monster buck harvested a couple weeks ago. 27 points I believe. Any Information on it or know anything?

What part of Zone 1 are you in? May I ask.

I hunt south of Grand Rapids, myself and we went 1 for 5 this year. But that's pretty good for us, given that we started out hunting EXCLUSIVELY public ground.
After we moved to some private land about 20 years ago. We started getting about 1 deer a year. Seeing maybe about 5 all year. Mostly because my dad refuses to leave the "farm". While I move around, all season long. I still hunt the farm, but I go to the local public land as well.

Deer MOVE AROUND.
That is what I have learned after 30 years of hunting.

Area 155 - a few miles south of Aitkin. It's only about 17 acres but it's been enough for two guys.
MN DNR says only about 37% of the tags are filled in any given year. That is the state wide
average.
In the 15 years I've owned the place we have always beat the state average. Like close to double that %.
I will say my plots were lousy this year. I put rye in a year ago August. Had good forage that fall. Rye came back up this spring, had a good crop. I had intended to bush hog it off and disc the seed back in this August but missed my "window" and the seed fell off and rotted. So not much forage to draw them in.
We still SAW deer though in years before I started plotting.
Dunno. As you know, the season started late this year too. Maybe that had something to do with it.

again, things change
and if others in your area have started or now have better food than you do, deer will move there, if they feel safe there, they will STAY there
its not that uncommon
and in today's world, more and more folks do food plots to better there hunting!
you also again have to consider the land you had, may have matured over the past 15 yrs and as such, its NOT as desirable to deer


sad but true nothing stays the same,as time goes by, it takes work to keep a piece of land attractive for wildlife. I managed several properties over the last few decades sop, I know this all too well!
and hunters todayt are spending even more $$ than ever to ,make there lands better!

maybe had a local forester come by and have a look, many times this is a free service, and can help advice you on simple things to do to help bring and hold wildlife again on your lands!
they might even have or know info about surrounding lands that are drawing things away from you( also a good idea to look at some google earth aerial views of the latest you can find and see)