...not a creature was stirring, not even the bees.

Finished up by getting skunked this year. Saturday was our last day, and in my zone was also doe free-for-all day. I thought sure the .22HP would get a chance to bark, having seen does scampering about previously. I did get a chance though to prove the old advertising claims regarding tiger killing. I got one 350 pounder with two quick shots. Didn't kill it outright though- it ran off a ways and got finished off by a mini-van full of nuns. I would post pics, but it might give the zoo directors a lead on me.

The things one thinks of while staring glassy eyed at the trees...

That's OK Gary; I hear they sell meat in stores now.

Rod

Funny thing is, I have almost eliminated red meat from my diet. The occasional burger or steak is about it. The last deer I shot lasted me a year. Figured to turn one this year into a basket of deer baloney. In the long run after factoring in all the costs of putting my butt into the woods, 50 pounds of exotic German and Italian baloneys would've been a bargain by comparison!

Ended up same here Gary.. Only 2nd season in all the years I have hunted that I didnt bring home some venison.

Had a couple sightings of deer, but no responsible shots were presented.

Time for me to go back to the Squirrel and Rabbit game now!

dave

Worst year for me in 20 years.

Might get some meat late archery.

Maybe not...

Sorry to hear no meat, but you all are hittin' the woods, that's what matters. Especially with the surgery!

This was the worest season I can rember for seeing deer, I went out, 48 times between Bow, Rifle and Muzzleloading, think i saw 22 deer total, I have seen close to that many in one day seasons past, but did take 3. todays the last day of muzzleloader I cut wood instead of going out 41 out but drizzleing now. I realy had to work for the ones I did get. hope th winters mild this year, and better hunting next season.

Yep, no complaints there!

That's why its called hunting and not killing.

its been a long,tough season chasing the ole whitetail. The ranch here has been flooded more than half the season thus far. I've seen one deer big enough to shoot and that was September 28. 19 shootin size 8s or better on camera on 2 different pieces of ground I hunt. Plenty of dinks and slick heads have gotten a pass. I am extremely fortunate to have keys to 2,200 acres in 3 states, just cant get one to walk by. Granted I have bow hunted more than rifle this year.

But, I'm still at it after 3 months. Bow opened September 13th here, gun season closes on Jan 18. Georgia closes Jan 15, will get there a couple more times I hope. Take a duck trip after deer closes, mucho woodies on the river. Will wrap it up Feb 1 or so with a trip to Alabama, rut will be wide open there.Deer season there was extended this year until Feb 10 due to the crazy late rut. Thats 150 days of deer season, if anyone was counting.....

"Not even the bees..." Reminds me of the time we cut a tree behind a house that went down in an ice storm. It was in a swamp and had a big root fan. As soon as we cut through the trunk of the tree, the root fan slapped back into place and hundreds of honey bees came bailing out. It was 17 degrees and when they hit the air they soon went down. I never knew that honey bees move around in the hive all winter. A little woods trivia for you. I lucked out and got a doe the last day I could go out. The weather was really against me this year, and I bet it was bad for other hunters too. One day it was steady rain almost all day. My coat was so saturated that when I reached in a pocket I found out it had about an inch of water in it. Oh well, I had fun. I think?

Almost 50 years of hunting deer and this was the worst season I have seen in Michigan. Weather was not cooperative, last winter was very hard on the deer herd, and still recovering from
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD)that hit Michigan in 2013.

Have wolves been a factor anywhere?? They're pretty dam thick back home in Minnesota.

The deer seemed to have my number this season, saw plenty but no shots for various reasons.

I saw 18 does on opening day but my area was bucks only. Second day, Tuesday, (the icy forecast one) I hunted a couple of hours and saw a buck or two in some downed tree tops but no shots. Then headed home before it got really bad. The first Saturday, I forgot my license at home and as I drove back to the Game Lands parking area with it, I saw two bucks cross the road from posted ground into more posted ground. I swear they were laughing at me.

Yesterday, I saw no deer, only a couple of turkeys. Today, I looked out the kitchen window about 7:15 AM and there were 2 deer in the pasture, one turned and ran across the front yard, about 25 feet from the front porch. Great hunting, fun memories but tag soup is still on the menu so far.

I've still got the late flintlock season so I'll get out some. The last Saturday is my birthday, maybe one will offer themselves up as a birthday present.

Dale

Sorry to hear of your skunkage! I moved from Ham Lake Minnesota to Corcoran on the weekend. Gave up on the toad I had been chasing and cleaned up my muzzeloader. Where I had moved to they were having a belated Thanksgiving dinner. The men started talking about hunting and about the new 230 acre plot near Big Lake. They also wanted to talk about elk hunting at my home in Idaho. Anyways I got my self invited to hunt and on the last hour of the last day........Boom! The smokepole got meat in the misty rain. I had it perched upside down and the # 11 cap covered with a baclava. A 50 cal 460 grain no excuses in front of 90 grains fffg triple 7 putsa big hole in a whitetail at 85 yards!

Gary, I'm sorry your hunting season wasn't better but glad you were able to get out and enjoy your tiger hunt!

Lee

I feel for ya Gary. I mostly hunted mule deer with my son this season here in Montana. He ended taking a heavy-old 3x4 on the last day. No deer for me. There's been a substantial drop in the number of mule deer bucks in the areas we hunt. Saw a fair number of forkies, three-bys and small 4-pointers but only two mature bucks. One we had a good chance at but passed on him figuring he'd be better next year. The other plain-ass eluded us when we went to put a stalk on him. By the looks of things, I'd say we're missing 2 age classes of bucks, 2009 and 2010. What happened? Take your pick, winter-kill, blue tongue, lions, coyotes or the perfect storm, all of them at once.

I did get to pack my .303 B and .22 HP around in the woods for 15 days. That ain't all bad. I gotta feeling this winter the coyotes are gunna take the brunt of my frustration with the mule deer season.

An odd thing has been happening in the Wildlife Mgmnt Area that I hunt. The deer herd has been declining for years, and then a couple years ago the DNR wised up and took away the shoot anything that moves regs and made it bucks only for the first two weeks, and then does or bucks on the last day. The herd has been slowly coming back up in numbers. Most of the local guys I talk to out there are happy with the regs and swear they self-impose no doe shooting on themselves. (Personally, I was hoping for a little buck on that last day- a doe would've gotten a hall pass.) But, here's the thing- for some reason the parking lot was full of trucks with Pennsylvania tags, and every deer I saw dragged out of there on Saturday- 3 does- were done so by out of state Pennsylvania guys. Does PA not have a doe season of any sort, and these guys had such an overpowering need for venison that they had to come down here and shoot them? I wandered over to make a friendly inquiry and was greeted pretty gruffly so I let it ride. Strange goings on. Maybe they wanted to fill their freezers and conserve their own local deer herd at the same time?

Basically I can't deny a man his right to shoot a legal deer, nor would I dream of it. But, don't people exercise common sense anymore? Is the blood lust so overpowering in some that they willingly ignore obvious signs of low deer populations and wantonly fill their (legal) tags regardless- simply because they're allowed to? Have ethics taken a back seat to the "screw you, I got mine" attitude that pervades so much of the rest of our society? I drove home feeling slightly ill at ease with the implications of that. I don't know.

I guess I spent a lifetime chasing deer, happy to be simply taking part in a wonderful tradition- actually shooting one was almost anticlimactic. I suppose I shouldn't ascribe my ethics to the rest of the hunter population, but I can't help but be saddened a bit by the bloodlust that drives so many. Do some of our brethren feel less of a man if they don't kill at least one deer each year? Perhaps it's the fear of being ostracized by their buddies at the local Brew and Chew? Oh well, there's always fly fishing to look forward to in the Spring.

Wolves are on the rise in Northern WI. If wolves are in your area you have no deer. If you have deer you have no wolves.
Game management in WI has been FUBAR for the last 20 years and deer numbers, as well as hunter numbers bear this out. Both are in serious decline.

I think the wolf situation improved slightly right in my area over the last couple years and I'm grateful for that. You don't have to go far from here however to walk through an awful lot of woods with little or no deer sign. Other loggers have told me as soon as they get any number of deer around their job the wolf tracks show up soon after.

I was very happy to take a nice 3 1/2-4 1/2 year old buck this year. I passed on smaller bucks and saw eighteen deer total for the nine days of gun season. A few were probably the same does and fawns on different days. That was a significant improvement over the last two or three years for me. I think this was the first time I shot a deer here in about five seasons. I have to relish the moment because it's very likely there could be another dry spell ahead. I also carried an old rifle around and it was nice to finally shoot something other than paper with it.

I really agree with this too. It was pretty obvious that deer numbers were plummeting right around where I live a few years ago but they kept issuing antlerless tags. Thankfully it was buck only here starting this year. I understand that there is a time and place to kill some does too.

Theres hardly any deer up in my area of N.H. ,Between the deep snow last winter and the coyotes they took it hard. I only went out a few times ,i'd just as soon see the population come back up. spent most of deer season working on Restoring my Lombard Log Hauler!!!! Sometimes it pays to have more then one hobby. Don

By "pays" I presume you probably don't mean monetarily.

Seems like all my neighbors have old muscle cars as hobbies. Every time they go through another set of tires I just laugh and say, "There's another RS that would be in my safe".

I skunked out too! Second time in the 30 years I have owned my hunting property. After rifle season I saw a wolf track heading north and called a friend who has the property it would be heading towards.
He went and sat in the bush and 15 minutes later a doe came out on the run with a wolf behind it. He downed it and within minutes nailed three more wolves that followed the first one out.
Now I have all kinds of deer tracks at the property but season is over.
BillR

Wow! Did I just read your buddy nailed 4 wolves? Living large!

Those poor wolves....

I wonder how they taste ??? Good for him 4 wolves = a bunch of deer !!!

gnoahhh-- I never really took notice of where you were from. Yes, it is a sad state of affairs in Maryland (Or use to be). I use to hunt around Hagerstown (Indian Springs) 15 or 20 years back. I bow hunted and the big field for camping usually only had 2-3 trucks in it. When Maryland went to "Kill all you want system", it looked like the circus was there. I used to rifle hunt there a little bit and it got crowded with both PA hunters and locals. There used to be so many deer there that if you sat down anywhere in the woods and looked around, you could spot a rub on a tree. The last time I was there the night before rifle, I talked to a guy in the campsite that brought his grandson down to hunt. He said he killed 9, yes NINE doe during early loader season. When I asked what he did with them all, he said "I donated them to a food bank." The next day I heard 3 fast shots around 12 o'clock and one late in the afternoon. That was the first day of rifle, buck and doe open. I never went back. I still hunt in WV, but it is getting bad there too at places. When I started hunting in Maryland, it was a lottery for doe tags in the area I hunted and I believe no doe hunting at all farther west. When I started hunting in WV, there was no doe hunting at all in the area we hunt. The reason so many PA hunters suck up the doe tags out of state is because they already destroyed the hunting in their area. I am from PA and I have to admit that a lot of PA hunters are an embarrassment to the hunting world. The only good thing is that these "Hunters" usually quit showing up once the hunting gets tougher, so just hang in there. PA finally is getting the picture and cutting back on the doe tags and hunting time. Let these posts be a fair warning to people in other states where antler restrictions and doe slaughter are promoted as the "Carrot on the stick and string" for huge racked deer. Nothing wrong with doe hunting and it is actually needed, but a little moderation is good with anything. I have seen what these programs have done to Public land hunting in three states already. If you hunt Public Land, beware of anyone that uses the words "Quality" and "Deer" in the same sentence.

Gnoahh it is weird how differently people perceive things. If I was hunting in an area I was vested in and worried about the quality of hunting I would NOT want to shoot a small buck or a large doe. The reason being a big buck can only come from a small buck. A large doe is the proven seed bed of the herd. A small doe...as in yearling non proven breeder in my mind the best animal to harvest for meat without screwing up bigger buck potential. I think with the price of beef going higher higher higher the cost of outta state tags are becoming in line with an economical alternative to the super market. This is my opinion and not meant in any way to slag off or insult your thoughts; just it is what I am thinking. Merry Christmas!

GP- Thanks for sharing your insight. Suffice to say you have accurately described the situation. I too hunted Indian Springs in years past. In fact, I grew up in sight of those mountains. I now hunt further west, just past Hancock in the Sidling Hill/Woodmont WMA's. Down here where I live, deer are thick as rabbits. I can't put a garden out because the buggers will clean it out. Fruit off of my dozen miniature fruit trees? Forget it. They clean the branches before the stuff is even ripe. I have friends who own farms on the Eastern Shore and just south of Annapolis who beg me to join them and our other friends in the annual bedlam of deer shooting which is what passes for "hunting" around here. If I wanted to throw a half dozen deer in the freezer it would be no sweat. The deer herd in suburban Maryland has burgeoned to epidemic status, and I support the liberal regs that govern the hunting here. The catch is one has to use a shotgun/muzzle loader/archery- rifles are verboten due to the high population of humans. I'm sorry, but I can't bring myself to use a shotgun for deer. (As a kid, the only guys who used shotguns were poor people who couldn't afford a proper rifle. Old prejudices die hard sometimes.) Wanting to use a rifle, coupled with memories of seasons long gone when I haunted those mountains with my Pop draw me westward when I could have an easy time of it within 20 minutes of my front door. That plus I like the idea of "hunting" versus "killing". Strictly my own cross to bear.

Eastern Maryland is like a foreign country compared to western Maryland and unfortunately drives the rest of the state politically- which has no small effect on game management practices in the state. Compounding my own issues is the fact I don't spend enough time out there schmoozing private land owners with hopes of wangling an invitation to hunt non-public lands. Perhaps I should spend less time romancing a couple women out there and more time romancing an orchard owner near Hancock, ha ha!

That said, I often resort to unlimbering my Ohio-style percussion gun and shooting a single deer- which lasts me from one season to the next (or like I said earlier when the urge/need for baloney rears its ugly head). Is it a joyful experience reeking of tradition and memories? Nah. It's more akin to going to the store and picking out a sack full of meat.

I blame our myopic DNR as well as unethical game hogs for the sad fate of the (potentially) wonderful hunting in picturesque western Maryland. Will I give up on it? No, for I have too much invested in the area emotionally and can't afford to gadabout the country with Savage rifle in hand.

Thank you all for tolerating my maunderings on this subject. It feels better now!

Angus- I appreciate where you're coming from, and understand your thoughts totally. For me, personally, I rarely if ever think about the biology/genetics of deer populations. I'm too much a romantic to dwell on the mechanics of living things, I suppose. Is it a failing? Yep, but I doubt I'll change anytime soon.

My personal mantra is to kill only an occasional deer rather than strive to kill as many as I'm allowed- not, I must emphatically add, the mantra of the average Joe I run into in the woods. Not that I'm presenting myself as the paragon of hunting ethics, but if more guys followed that protocol it would balance out better in the end- without resorting to complicated evaluations of genetics and deer actuary rates.

Not being a dedicated pursuer of trophies for the wall, rack size never mattered as much as "does it even have a rack?"

I am from rural upstate NY, but I have lived in suburban SE Pa since 1997.

Here we say, "people used to go to the mountains to deer hunt, now they stay home"

What we used to think of as deer hunting has definitely changed in the past 25 years. Hell it's really, really changed in the past 100 years.

It is what it is. We live on a dynamic planet in a dynamic time in human history.

If you want to hunt deer and be successful you adapt and overcome. Dedicated deer hunters find the deer and find away to get it done. The whitetail has proven he can adapt to humans better than we can adapt to him. Plenty of deer around if you know where to look for them. My brother's house sits on 2.5 acres in suburban Philly. Kills a nice buck with the bow their almost every year.

The days of watching 50 deer run past you on the Pa game lands with a spiker bringing up the rear are over.

If it means bow, muzzleloader or spear cryin bout the old days don't change your luck.

Go without or reinvent yourself and get it done.

Edit: Not aimed at anybody, just sayin...

Gary, I didn't read the whole thread so I may have missed it, but there is a late season Jan. 9 and 10. Just checked it's in region B only. So, I'm good to go. I just got invited to hunt an old friends farm in New Market. Maybe I'll get lucky. I didn't get to go to WV so I've got the skunk juice on me too, Joe.

I could sit on my mother's garage roof and crossbow a deer. The one neighbor does have a tree stand in her patch of woods. When I still lived in lower lehigh County, I actually shot a doe from my back door the one year I could not get out to hunt. Even when I still lived there, I went up to the mountains to hunt deer. Sometimes just to walk around. Some people just don't get it. I was up in Hickory Run State Park this year and ran into two other hunters. They said that this was the first time they were at this Game Lands. I pulled out a map and compass and finally convinced them where they were. Not easy to do because they used a GPS to get there. Yeah, dynamic times.

Can't really blame a young or in-experienced hunter for wanting to get a deer no matter the consequences to the overall population. They haven't taken enough game to make that transition to a more patient and thoughtful hunter. On the other hand, I have no patience what so ever for "game hogs" that have ample experience and should know better. They're just greedy and greedy people piss me off.

In reality, there's very few of us that "need" to get a deer. I'm guessing that guys like us that have the time to punch keys on a computer and chat about which Savage we'd like to get next have managed to keep our families fed, with or without game meat. Hopefully we're able to keep things in perspective and appreciate the opportunities we have and show respect for the wildlife we hunt. I've always been impressed with the pervasive undertone of the importance of good hunting ethics I've found here. Keep it up and pass it on.

In my part of Ontario I now firmly believe more deer are shot (rifle or crossbow) next to houses where they are being fed corn/oats daily to attract them.
I recently had a heated discussion regarding this method and was firmly told that this is "the future of hunting".
Apparently shooting "deer over bait" is illegal in some western provinces. Interesting that hunting ducks/geese over or even within 200 m of bait can result in a $1000 fine.
BillR

Sorry about your deer season but congrats on the tiger!

Tough season here too and I have lots of deer on my place. I really wanted to blood a new (to me) .30-30 model 99 but could not get a shot at all.

One day it was so windy I didn't bother hunting, But decided to check the fences that evening to make sure there were no big limbs or trees down on them. I took a Marlin .41 magnum along in case I saw a coyote and walked up on a doe. The Marlin did the job but I'm still kicking myself for not taking a 99 instead.

There is another 3 day season at Christmas so maybe the Savage can get in the game then.

Wind takes away their hearing advantage and provides an edge under the right circumstances, like yours. It also drives them to cover, so it can be a wash. I love blacktail hunting in the rain, wind is tough.

Yup, When it's windy here they hole up in some really tangled up thickets and lay low.

Rain is a different story, They seem to like it and I always see deer on rainy days.

Rainy or snowy days are my favorite times to hunt.

I dont know about the rest of you but I love to eat vension, and the last 2 years times have been tough, the wife and I eat venison 80% of the time. we dont buy much beef. some pork and chicken. so I try hard to get 2-3 deer in the freezer! I still have 2 tags but feel I have enought in the freezer now. I love to hunt and be in the woods, and I do pass alot of deer. but Im not a big horn hunter. Meat is more important to me.

I'm a meat hunter myself. I admire a trophy buck as much as anyone but they don't taste that good imo.

I've got a couple of thumpers here but I leave them alone and look for button bucks and young does that don't have the "gamey" taste I dislike.

I'm hoping one of my grandsons will get a crack at one of the old big antlered boys. I remember how much I wanted to get a trophy size buck when I was younger and I would have a wall mount made for them.

One of these days boy and buck will cross paths and I hope I get to be there.