You got it... For some reason we didn't see the numbers we saw in the past....Last year it wasn't rare to see 15-20 a day and we also took and bumped a couple nice Bucks. Which was the usual...This year I saw around a total of 40 Deer....hunting moving and sitting....and hunted every day but 2. Coyotes have been seen more often this year...so that may be an issue.
This year the Bucks were few....Bud had a couple decent ones on camera and the guy with the crossbow shot one....This has nothing to do with making any point, but he didn't find him, unfortunately it happens....He later shot a small 7 in rifle season. The others saw some small fork horns...I bounced out an OK Buck that I would have shot, but he beat me out....but glad I didn't....he should be much better if he makes it till next season..
The final answer for my feeling on the State of the herd on that 1200 acres, is we are well within what it can feed in winter....If we have any issue at all it would be our Buck to Doe ratio is way of of kilter...I say that not because of what I know, but what the guy who owns the place knows...He essentially lives there....spends part of his day in the morning having coffee and reading the paper in his vehicle at different points...Then he does pretty much the same in the evening....He likes to know what he has on his place..and says for some reason this year the Bucks went away close to when rifle season opened. Why?????
As far as total numbers...Many places have more and many less....from my view we are OK. But if I don't see the Bucks show up next year, I'll be hunting someplace else.....
