Newby here
 

Hunted whitetail deer 30 years ago and now am getting my son into hunting deer. He saw a deer on our 4th hunt that was out of range ( shotgun). We have been 4 times since and haven't seen one. I don't want him to lose interest in hunting. We have only 9 days left in the season NC. We are hunting on an 8 acre block so there isn't much room/ I guess we are gonna just keep on keeping on. Any tips? Thanks for having me.

try looking for a new place to hunt, as them 8 acres,. you might be scaring deer off the land with too much pressure

or start really paying attention to wind and how your getting in and out of the woods so they do NOT know your there
scent can last as well as travel into deer bedded and scare them without you ever seeing them!

start trying some trail camera's, most kids enjoy seeing them, setting them up, seeing pictures of what is there

and again, maybe time to find some more places to hunt, , new lands can add new hope and interest, as well as make for more memories!

have to also instill in kids, that hunting isn;t all about a KILL< its also about enjoying being outdoors, accepting the challenges of TRYING to get near wild animals that have better skills and senses than we do!
only a small percentage of hunters actually KILL a deer every yr!
magazines and hunting shows, seldom point this out!

those are some suggestions from m,e for now

Ditto on the game cams. I hunt a private ranch where the game is used to smelling people. If you're driving a pickup and feeding cows, you're classified as not being dangerous by most critters. If you walking along in stealth/stalking mode, it can be a different story. With game cams, you can figure out where and when the animals travel on the property. If you figure out the wind, you can avoid projecting your scent forward onto the property. Does your 8 acres have lots of cover or feeding areas? Is it surrounded by fields and pastures or housing?

We have a stream running west to east. Woods and houses on the outside. Wind has been from the north the last 3 hunts, which is from the river-woods side. Saw bucks and does on the camera in October. Nothing but does in Dec. and during the night time hours. Area is half swamp as it has not fully recovered from the flood of 2018. And then we got 10 inches of rain mid Nov. I think someone is hunting on this private property. No fields. There are lots of hickory and oak trees. We are hunting from a tree stand. Has been some good bonding so all is not lost. Thanks. Forgot to add. We are entering the tree stand from the south.

you have to keep in mind that food changes from Oct to now, as does leave cover on tree's
so, what was once maybe safe cover is now more open and as such deer will use/be there in the dark
food will also steer them else where, as what they ate in Oct odds are is NOT what there eating in mid to late nov and again changes as winter sets in
wind can help hide your scent when on stand, but it also, will be left behind when you leave so deer learn quickly where hunters sit
this is why most folks save there best stands for when everything is close to perfect to not ruin there set up
and why, most hunters won;'t keep hunting the same stand over and over
it just educates the deer doing so!
in area's with prime food and higher deer numbers its NOT as big a deal, but for most places, pressure can be from just hunting a same stand a few days ina row, and will force deer into nocturnal patterns
there not DUMB< they know its always safer at night to wander about
deer are IMO way better at patterning hunters than hunters are at patterning deer LOL
SO, again, I would strongly suggest trying to find a few other places to hunt, , it can be a lot of fun to hunt and see new terrain for a kid, it also gives them a chance to find places they like best to sit and hunt,. to test there skills at finding sign, and finding deer/game on there own, over just being taken HERE or THERE
the more involved you let kids be in something and doing it there way(as long as safe) the more likley IMO< kids will stay with a sport

MAKE them do it your way or they see same things over and over, they get bored
KIDS today seem to have much shorter attention spans that in the past, due to the modern era of almost everything RIGHT now, push a button, there growing up in!
this can be again another reason to get into maybe MORE trail camera's, as they have many with cell plans that are getting better and better and cheaper plans and camera's

I been using many camera's in the 40-50 dollar ranges that come in bundles , with batteries. SD card and camera ALL for under 50 bucks(wildgame innovations and stealth cams' the stealth cams I DON"T recommend in the cheapo's they work, don;t get me wrong but picture quality as to the wildgame ones is a huge difference, even on higher MP versions from my experience, but for the price there fine)

and they have been working flawlessly for several yrs now, 24/7/365, winter cold, summers heat and all in between
and I keep adding more as I see them on sale!
as fact just checked 3 of them today(2500+ pictures in a week)
so, cam's can be great tools to keep a kid interested as well as finding deer!

Thanks for the tips.