Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Are you seeing more or less deer this year ?

I hunt in S.E. Wisconsin and N.W. Wisconsin. In S.E. I think it is the same but I did see 4 bucks in 16 sits and 7 deer in those 16 sits . I saw deer a total of 4 times in 16 sits. I avr. about 1 deer every 4 sits so this yr is average. It will get better for me cause I am getting to know the land a lot better as the years go on. In N.W. Wis. I only sat for gun season for a total of 4 sits and my son Chas sat 4 sits also . He saw nothing and I saw a bear. No deer at all. It is so poor that the second week we sat for the last time of the year and Chas said Dad, lets just go grouse hunting. We kicked up 6 in 3 miles of walking . He saw 2 while deer hunting and I kicked up 3 while going to my stand 100 yds from the river. A total of 14 grouse were seen in on day . The bear numbers are high and so are the coyotes. Wolves come and then are gone in a day or so. I am sure it is all the over baiting down the road from where we hunt. They put out corn with their ATV's and you can see the deer walking towards them for the corn.

Early season it looked to be greaT. Saw 15-20 deer on a few hunts. The past two weeks ive seen maybe 4 total. No good bucks on cam

I hunt an area of the Huron National Forest here in Michigan. I have hunted the same area for over 25 years. I don't ever recall so few shots both close and distant on any rifle opener as was the case this year. Deer numbers in this area are way down though there are not a lot of deer in this area to begin with but certainly huntable numbers and always some nice bucks.

This area has had near limitless antlerless tags for years as part of a management plan to contain or limit the spread of tb which is prevalent in the area. This part of the Huron National Forest is on the fringe of the more concentrated problem area for tb. We have had 2 consecutive years of poor to nonexistent acorn production which further affects the deer numbers.

I hunted hard for 6 days and saw 2 deer. As alluded to by efw Michigan had some very poor weather conditions for the rifle opener which compounded our lack of deer sightings. There are also a lot of coyotes in this area. We hope to take out some of those after the first of the year when the deer season is over.

We hunt in North Central Wisconsin and overall saw fewer shootable bucks(3.5year olds) than any other year I can remember. I would up with a 2.5 year old in bow that had a a dislocated shoulder from getting his tail kicked and a doe in muzzleloader but only saw small bucks with the rifle or muzzleloader.
The weather didn't help us this year and normally the colder weather years with snow help a lot. The corn was off but the second rut was real slow.
There were more coyotes than I can remember and we will be adressing that.
Overall fewer hunters in the area and fewer deer seen but don't tell that to the DNR.

BTW, the bow buck took 4 calls to register and the muzzleloader doe took 6.

Fewest deer I've seen in the woods on opening day, in years. Usually have a half dozen or more doe scooting around me at first light. Not this year. Shot the only deer I saw early on opening morning, a small buck.

Plenty of deer around the area spring, summer and fall. Lots of nice bucks and it was a good spring for fawns, so deer numbers aren't the problem with not seeing many come hunting season. Just not as much hunter activity moving deer in firearms season this year, as there once was around there.

I.have heard the least ever shots this year ever .I think it's way less than 40 shots heard at deer .It use to sound like a war opening.weekend .The people across the street have 3000 acres and have not seen a deer in.three years now .I think the deer find bunny huggers where I.hunt and stay there all season .I am going to clear some food plots to see if that helps .I am not seeing many tracks either .I tried to put out some feed and it just rotted.I am going to try on.The river after Christmas and see if that's where they are .I know I.have seen vert few road kills too .It's crazy and gets old just watching squirrels .I do need to.kill off some turkeys I.have tons of them they eat all the acorns .Hopefully timber goes up so.more people will select cut .We just lost 200 acres of woods above me they cleared into.pasture.I think burning off runs
Deer off for years the state does it too much.here on public land and there are no deer there either .I.see the end of deer season coming here in my.life time .The fish and game can.shut it down.when the population is below 10 per square mile .It's below 5 per square mile in the mountains where I live and you.never see Deer or deer sign.there !

Saw very few deer so far. Still got a buck and a doe. Hopefully I start seeing more because they are here.

I heard less shots on opening day than i can remember but saw more bucks than does and took a nice 8 pt. This was WV where typically folks around where we hunt shoot the first legal deer seen. On the property we hunt we have been trying to let em grow. Not sure if this is helping or not.

In my part of Eastern Colorado the deer numbers are dramatically lower. Probably the smallest counts in the last 30 seasons. I think the primary reduction factors here are the plowing out of the majority of Conservation Reserve Program grass acres and an abundance of coyotes. My family and friends still filled 5 of 6 licenses and all our hunters were happy with their deer ( 3 bucks , 2 does--2 WT & 3 Mulies), but the animals are few and far between. I don't think we'll even try to draw licenses here at home next year.

Very few, central IN.
Let em all walk so far.
Of course the guys around the corner didn't.

I have seen more deer this year after years of decline. Maybe we have turned the corner? I sure hope so!

Didn’t see much this weekend.

Seen far less deer numbers this year in southern middle Tennessee... Not sure if the predators or a heavy crop of acorns is more to blame? Thankfully disease hasn't struck our area yet.

You saw all the deer that walked past you dead hanging at the neighbors? Thats amazing.