Coastie

I don't know how long the season is there in PA. but the guy said 15 hunters over the course of the entire season, not at one time. I don't know if that includes an archery season or only the gun season either so don't get down on him too hard for the number of hunters involved.

Deer here in Georgia this year have been extremely non-cooperative, not due to any fewer animals, but to the distribution of naturally occuring foods and strange weather patterns. It has been; too warm at the wrong times, too wet during many of the management area hunts, full moon at the worst possible time etc. etc. I have noticed that Bucks in particular this year, while fewer, have been of a better size both in weight and in antlers, when the rut kicked in (finally) it was good. Signs now are indicating the the secondary rut is upon us and I am looking forward to some good hunting over the next week or so.

duckwhacker

I think some of you guys misread my post. There are 15 hunters and 202 acres. Heck if there were 15 hunters on 30 acres I'd be wearing Kevlar!

rockytop

In my opinion, 15 hunters on 202 acres will send your deer to the midnight food galleries. There has been 3 people hunting 150 acres behind my house for 6 years and we have seen and taken plenty of deer. This year, 8 more hunters were let in by the owner of the land and the deer disappeared in the daytime. We still see their tracks but no deer during daylight hours.

jeg3455

We lease out five thousand acres and we only have 9 hunters on our place. Not trying to bragg just think that maybe you should at least cut your number in half maybe make everyone double up and buddy hunt.

duckwhacker

Those 15 hunters are usually on the first day only. After that if we have 6 hunters on the property it is amazing. Most people show up for the first day and the two Saturdays. Even on the Saturdays we only get about 8 hunters at the most. Maybe 2 hunters during archery and that is it. We do hunt it for small game and fall turkey but again that is about 2 to 3 hunters and it is not every weekend prior to deer season. And believe me the State Game Lands that borders the property gets hammered.
During fall turkey and small game we flushed or saw some real nice bucks on the property. Last year we only took 4 does on the property. maybe we need to take out more does?
I was going to plant food plots this spring and fall but now I am wondering if I maybe doing more damage than good. I did prune fertilize the old apple trees on the property and they started to produce fruit again. There was eight salt blocks on the property throughout the spring/ summer.
I do believe it was the unharvested corn that changed everything this year.

justhrowit

Too many hunters out there for sure!

Also, get the corn out of there!!!! I HATE HUNTING CORN. Never had luck when corn is up around the fields I hunt. Beans are another story! Hunting fields with beans around it is much nicer. Deer find their way into corn an stay there. They can find good cover in there from wind, rain, snow, etc. They can also hear ANYTHING coming near them or approaching them! Corn sucks! Good to eat, bad to hunt in.

bushmaster_5bko

Try hunting the edge of the corn may catch them coming in and out