I hunted 18 days this year in Maine's rifle season. To put it bluntly, northern Maine has been pitiful the last 2 seasons and I don't see it getting any better. Hunted all of weeks 3 and 4 (Monday-Saturday) from dark to dark. Spent my time still hunting as I never found anything that made me want to sit. During week 3, I saw 4 sets of tracks and week 4, 2 does and a spike. This was the first year in the 2000s that I did not kill a buck.

My question, when hunting in areas with extremely low deer densities, how do you stay focused? Along about Wednesday of week 4, my mind was wandering and I was just going through the motions.

If I'm not into it I go do something else.

Never could figure how a "low deer density" equaled tag soup.

Maybe I'm missing something....but I doubt it.

I think of cats - they just sit there, waiting. In reality, I think you did a fine job. That is very frustrating, and of course your mind will wander. All the same, I bet you did not miss much. It is what it is, and sometimes we lose.

Hunted all Monday thru Saturday daylight to dark and only saw 4 sets of tracks! That is some serious low density. I'd take the time to travel elsewhere with a better deer numbers. I know it's nice to hunt in your own "backyard" but if there aren't any deer there its time to move. I know that isn't what you asked, but it would be hard to stay focused in those conditions.

Guess I am missing something. Care to elaborate?

Lonny

While we certainly can't hunt it all, the area that we hunt is the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Pretty big back yard.

I know how ya feel,,, very few deer here in our Mnts. I saw 3 bucks this year in 9 full days of hunting hard and only 4-5 does,
got a cowhorn spike opening day, passed on a small 8 about day 6, and got the best deer I ever have on day 9 while still hunting in the afternoon.

No way I could stay on a stand and stay focused, I have to stalk/stillhunt, I go to areas with great scenery up high and isolated,,, and even mix in some midday trout fishing while up high and back every now and then. Saw a couple bears, a great horned owl, and to many other critters to mention this year. Take alot of photo's as well.

take one of those hand held video games with you, or text some of your friends, or take a long nap, it will help you stay focused! Of course I look at birds and such with my binocs instead of the video games but thats just me.

Bust into a hell-hole thicket with a few beagles. Long legged hounds will make some music as well. Then spend a couple hrs rounding them up. It will knock the edge off of a boring hunt!!!

Even when the hunting is good I can only stay focused for a week or a little more. If I'm still out hunting after that, then what I'm doing is a lot more like sight-seeing.

That's right. I felt like an armed hiker after a while.

Thanks everyone. Looks like a long drive next season anyway. Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife estimates the deer density at <0.5 deer per square mile down from 2-5 several years ago. Less than 90 deer were tagged in over 3.5 million acres. Less than 150 in the county I live in.

However, I figure I can't kill a buck from my couch.

Do you hunt moose?

Yes by permit only.

2009 Bull (as subpermittee)

Wow! Bullet or arrow?

308 with a 180 grain Partition.

It's a simple equation really.....

If there's no critters where I'm standing, then I go to where they are, and shoot one.

Hint, maybe......

Spoken like someone who has no clue yet thinks he does. Mores the pity.

At the start of the season I try to focus constantly and if I do it long enough, wear out as you mentioned. Eventually you just go with it and relax. In my experience I then start seeing the little things that may make a difference. Relearning to turn it on and off for me is important.

Fortunately I have more deer to look for.

No, I'm just a caustic prick.......

Didn't mean to offend your elite hunting prowess, though I can't feel your pain.

Prayers sent.........

Rare form.......................

Do hunt an area with low deer density in MI.

If it starts feeling like punishment, I go to a new spots to still hunt or scout, and cut lanes/trails for next year.

Congrats on the nice moose. Those stats are interesting and I find it somewhat surprising a season is even held with so few deer. But I guess when numbers are that low, you can't really harm the population much anyway.

Thanks again everyone. I know I'm going to have to travel long distances to the south for good deer hunting in the future. IF&W has pretty much written off the deer herd in the northern half of the state.

I suspect we will see some major changes in 2010.

I have met a number of Maine hunters who come down here to to eastern NC to fill up freezers each year. One pair of Maine-iacs even had a freezer in the back of their pick-up - pulled an extension cord into their motel room each night when traveling home! We have lots of does to bust down east, it is no problem finding them to hunt.

Help me out here: How come Northern Maine has so few deer? I'd think the place would be crawling with them.

Now thats funny, but smart

I think this sums it up nicely.

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2009/12/10/maine-hunters-are-mad-and-justly-so-for-many-reasons/

I hunt a couple of areas with low deer densities and low kills.
Rule No. One is to find the deer, or the bucks, depending on what you are hunting. Most of the range will have almost no deer in it. When you find where they are, you hunt there. Or, put another way, inside what you think is their home range.
The way I find them is to look for tracks and pellets. No fresh sign, no deer. Doesn't matter what else is there or how you feel. No fresh sign, no deer.
Biggest mistake you can make is hunt areas w/o deer. That may mean you'll have to coiver lots of ground looking for them, but that's why it's called hunting......
Be warned that they will change their habits with the opening of the season. But if the pressure drops off, they may revert back to where they were and how they moved.
Frankly, I'd much rather hunt very low density areas with a couple of exceptional bucks in it than an area with with lots of deer but very few bucks over 2 yrs. of age. The presence of an exceptional buck can keep me coming back for a very long time. E

i don't worry too much about staying focused. if i get comfortable and sleepy, i take a nap. if i get bored, i go for a hike (if i can do so without messing up somebody else's hunt). sometimes i carry a book.

it's just not always that important for me to kill something. it's important for me to get out of the house, in the woods, or to the cabin. sometimes hunting is just a great excuse to do that.

I think this sums it up nicely.

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2009/12/10/maine-hunters-are-mad-and-justly-so-for-many-reasons/[/quote]


For any Pa. guys/girls out there you should read this. We are just a few years away from the same situation and in many parts of the state we are there.

Many of the same issues, a Game Commission that is no longer independent of politicians, a GC who is increasingly concerned with non-hunting non-consumptive users. Game Wardens whose background does not always come from hunting. One who is financially strapped for reasons that are not hunting related.

We also have a growing coyote and bear problem which is elevated by hunters who continue to shoot does which are becoming dramatically fewer in number especially in our Northern tier.

I'm concerned that the same my be occurring here.

I think the glory days of hunting in the lower 48 in general ARE GONE. While there are a few good pockets left overall hunting is in a state of decline for some obvious reasons.Loss of habitat, over hunting, bad weather(global warming my a#$)predation, unsound management( imagine the government screwing something up). I have heard this same story from friends all over the country. regrettably the current hunting population is going to have to make some sacrifice in order to provide a future for those coming up. And the powers to be need to make some policy changes , When i was younger I never would have supported limited seasons or areas closed off all together. However , I am beginning to see the future.... and it does not look good. I am watching hunting becoming the privilege of the wealthy, we are getting back to the days of the "kings" animals. sad.

Lots of things have changed. Posted and leased land-I'm on a lease out of necessity-have made it difficult for many who don't live close to public hunting land to easily have a place to hunt. When we were kids and finally were cut loose we didn't have a problem finding a place to hunt. Today most kids have to make a big effort to find a place to go. They are the future and if it becomes that big of a hardship they will find something else to do.

Then we are our own worst enemy. i.e. I've got my place, the hell with you and your kids. The hunting channel has not done us any favors. I don't care what PR good feel shows they throw at us, in the long run they have a negative impact on the future of hunting by emphasizing big Bucks and purely trophy hunting. Oh they will talk about culling smaller bucks for the better of the herd. However many think they are going to make their farm, woodlot, etc another Bucks of Tecamate and the heck with the future of the sport.

It's the death of a thousand cuts.

I know what you mean. Been hunting Maine for many years. What works for me as a still hunter is I try to mix up locations and terrain almost every day unless I'm cutting some big tracks and I can stay on them.

Do you use many maps? Maybe you can pinpoint some natural funnels, or some other feature that might help reduce the area they travel. Hope that helps.

CLB

One of my favorite ways to hunt blacktails is still-hunting; just moving very slooowwwlllly through productive areas, glassing with my binoc's, etc.

If I'm not seeing anything, it can get very difficult to stay focused, especially after a few days... and if you aren't focused, then still-hunting is worse than a waste of time; it's actually HURTING the area.

JDK, for what it's worth, wildswalker lives and hunts in a VERY high density deer area. Can't see how that applies to hunting a very low-density area- at least when it comes to busting balls on the low-density hunter!! He's just being an a-hole.

Jeff

Everyone contributes something. Like I said in another post, I'll listen to anyone that consistantly kills mature deer legally.

You might note J.O. that I'm not the one of us who has entire threads, on multiple websites, dedicated to my rampant incurable dumbphuckitude.....

You easily assume I know nothing about a low density area, or ever hunted one...whatever floats your boat, but you're wrong.

You easily assume that it's hard to hunt such...simply because you can't, and that much is beyond obvious.

Not surprised turning a tag into a dead animal baffles you.....

WW,

Why don't you cop to the state and unit you hunt? You know... the one that you get tons of tags for... the one where you and your sons stack so many deer in the freezer... the place with no meadows, only pastures... you know the one! THAT one!

Where is that, more or less? Let's look deer density numbers, shall we? And success rates? My Google-fu is up to it. Cough it up.

The state of Oregon has issued me 24 deer tags. I've turned 22 of those into dead deer. And one of the ones I didn't fill, I didn't bother hunting because I had so much elk in the freezer.

I've failed to fill (1) tag that I wanted to fill.

Some of my deer hunting has been in an area of relatively high deer density. Some of it hasn't. Hint. I've tagged out in the low-density areas, too.

I'm not claiming to be an uber-hunter (that'd be YOU), I get my deer through sheer stubborness half the time. But to hear YOU lecturing guys on how to hunt low-density areas is a laugher.

As to threads on websites... you mean like the website that banned me when I showed up to fight back a little? In like two hours? That one? That chicken$hit site, where there's an 87-page thread dedicated to bashing on people, but if a person bashes back, they get banned? That's the place you are so proud of?

Laffin'.

Handing out specific AO's via open forum on the www is what dumbphucks do, figured you being such an Old Wise Man would already know that......my bad.

It matters not where I live....but where I hunt, and where I have hunted in the decades past. I've lived, and hunted, in a LOT of places, and for more than a few decades.

My assessment of your skewed assumption still stands..........

So your infinite wisdom is based on 22 deer huh.....funny, I recall when you signed on here acting all timid and hunter dumb, seeking advice, claiming to have only a handful of kills under your belt, and THAT included an ass shot or two. Now you are an expert.

You've come a heap big way in three years, ain't ya..........

I hunt via entering a critter's habitat with the wind in MY face, seeking him out, and killing him....fairly simple equation that never don't work, ANYWHERE.

It matter's not how many of "him" there are as a single tag is only valid for a single animal. Always figured it wasn't that hard finding one single deer to kill or 22, such defines a hunter from a do nothing bitch.

I'll give you much credit though, for the Gift of Gab, hands down, you got that in spades..............

Jeff,
I live in the same "unit" as WW. There are deer here but we don't rank anywhere near the top 20 in the state. I'm not sure what the success rate is and don't care. It's the same people who kill the deer year in and year out.

There is much wisdom in this quote. There are very few that live or hunt here that have the success of WW and family. Some people know what they're doing but most don't.

Marc...

Lunch is on me next week, my turn to buy.

Mid week, you pick the day........

Sort of sorry I brought this up.

Nice to learn that none of us in northern Maine know how to hunt deer.

In north central WA there are a few guides that have leased all of the good private land and there's a lot of animosity. Higher state taxes, higher license fees, and shorter seasons are all signs of...? FYI if you come to WA for a guided hunt: skip Jerrod Gibbons. (sorry, personal hunting experience talking).

So far, failure just breeds determination. I get up earlier, look harder, and stay out later. Hunting or fishing, I know that if I keep going, I can wear one out of the woods or water. Sometimes the season cuts me off before I'm ready to quit though.

Honestly, I keep going just because I enjoy it all. We do more big sky country, as opposed to deep woods stuff where quarry might only be yards away. There are really only brief periods where I truly hunt with cat like intensity. Most of the time it's a passive endeavor and I'm thinking of a whole array of things. I spent a sh-tload of time in college and took classes on herpetology, ornithology, dendrology, agrostology, botany, mammology, entomology, geology, ichthyology, plant/animal ecology, and animal behavior. It's really hard to get around out there, because there's too damn much to look at and listen too.

Doesn't seem to distract you enough to keep you from harvesting something nice most trips, from your pics!

I don't. The woods is a great place to take a nap. I've seen me do it!

sounds to me like alot of states are doing the same thing that va. is. they issue more and more tags every year,til sooner or later they hurt the deer population. in some parts of va. the deer are very hard to find due to many doe tags or the lack of mass crops. and then there are those damned coyotes. thing are changing fast with insurance companies putting tons of pressure on the government to thin the the deer out. most of the over populated areas near me are in the city ,where you can't hunt. if they allow hunt its doe only. i can't sit in a stand and let the big bucks walk all the time. some one said the killed 22 deer legally,theres something very wrong with that.

I'm guilty of this too.

The desire to kill a nice buck keeps me focused, otherwise, I would do something else with my time.

JM

I was sound asleep on opening day when a buck rudely woke me up. Made me so mad I shot the SOB. Focus is for wimps

Well, you could hunt all them wolves in Northern Maine that is obviously killing all the deer.........




Casey

That's the spirit!!!.......... A man after my own heart......



Casey

I didn't hunt from a stand at all this season. But when I did last year, I would try to ID every sound I heard and every movement I saw. Was it a robin or a cardinal? Was that sound an armadillo or a turkey?

You wouldn't believe how sharp your senses will get in a morning hunt.

But If the deer aren't moving, I can't sit in a stand like that anymore.

Hoot, you in a FL lease, or out of area?

Its located on the east coast near cape canaveral. total of 52,000 acres. I hunt about 17,000 on the south end.

You can check it out at Miamitracthuntclub.com

tc.

I always aim at squirrels with my rifle, and try to follow them as flawlessly as possible. Gets your senses up, I have also resorted to sleeping. But that didn't seem to fix anything haha. Just don't resort to drugs to stay concentrated.....!! No matter how boring it gets