Just thinking about the number of deer I see, not only hunting but driving around. According to the State DEC here in New York, I live in an area that has .5 bucks and 2.5-3 deer per sq. mile. That's not a lot of deer. What are the numbers where you live/hunt. I guess that's why I never see a buck......I'm looking for a whole one....lol! :dunno: Let's hear what you have!
I hear ha. It's not very high here in pa either. I will go weeks sometimes or more without seeing a deer I have gone entire seasons before during bow and only
Seen like a dozen. Now I hunt all public land also. It has seemed to be a little better for us the past two seasons though. About 4 years ago man was it rough. It's bad when the first day of pa rifle and you have doe and buck combined and barley hear any shooting. I am defiantly jealous of some of the other hunter on this site and the places they live or have to hunt.
I had always got frustrated trying all kinds of stuff after seeing posts about this and that. But finally came to the realization that I'm actually a pretty good hunter and it all has to do with where I live and the massive amount of hunting pressure and low deer populations. So I don't beat myself up and more and have actually stopped trying so dang hard. And enjoy myself in the woods a little more. I'm also under the mind frame that I am there to kill stuff not just sit and take in the scenery. Don't get me wrong it's all part of it but my priority is to put game down.
lots and lots and lots. LOL. I have no idea as to the actual #'s but our unit and the one next to me increase bag this year to 4 does and 1 either sex tag. while most of the state was reduced to just one deer with just a few exceptions were 2 is the limit.
The state reports that our county has 2.69 bucks per sq mile. Our neiboring county has 3.66 bucks per sq mile. Again, there focus is on bucks and not total deer. We have crazy number of does and I think we should curve their numbers for the overall health of the heard. I have seen the number of antlered bucks going down in our area due to Hunter education and attitude of the hunters. They still prefer to shoot a buck of any size.
Ron, I would hope that the bucks that you have in your area would be better quality.
Night Stalker, you would think so but that is not the case. Do to lack of deer numbers any buck seen is a buck taken most times. Poaching is a real problem also.
I wonder what a ".5" buck looks like? :dunno:
... mike ... :D
Ron-there are about 28 deer per square mile here in Michigan, in the county I live. I see them all the time because I live in the country! Not sure of the buck to doe ratio, but I'm sure it's out of whack, as in most places here in Michigan. I see some nice bucks here every now and then! There are a lot of coyotes here too! I hear them every night! Thanks.
Kenny :bigsmyl:
Before the days got short(daylight) and I was getting home right at dusk I had counted a group of 16 in the top field.
They disappeared from a lot of the surrounding bean fields and are in the woods cleaning up the White Oak acorns. After last winter, it is amazing the number of deer being seen.
Good Hunting,
Craig
I heard recently that the mule deer population here in Colorado is down 30% in the last ten years...I believe the mountain lion numbers are up...anyone else hear that ?
Ive sat 6 sets here in michigan and have seen 1 4pt and. this past weekend it was 38 in the morning frosty and i saw 0 snd this is hunting on a bean/corn field
I live in Wyoming. 'Nuff said.
In our town, the police are authorized to kill 75 to 100 deer in the city limits to keep the population somewhat in check.
I have an aspen in my front yard that is the third one we put there in 7 years. All have been destroyed by bucks rubbing them. This morning, I found the same scenario repeating itself. We frequently have deer that I have to shoo out of my yard, and that often bed in the yard.
Yesterday, out stumping and messing around, I probably saw 50 deer in an hour, and I was not trying to be any kind of stealthy.
We have a mix of whitetail and mule deer, but many more whitetails than mulies.
Big buck whitetails aren't very abundant. I have killed a few that just miss P and Y, but have yet to put a tag on a real stud. I have hunted one for the last two years that should exceed P and Y by a good bit, but he, like most big deer, didn't get there by being stupid.
The new place I have to hunt now is ridiculous, in 2 days of hunting we seen 28 deer between 2 fields, the property has 7 fields...
However it looks like I need to move to Wyoming lol
QuoteOriginally posted by mcgroundstalker:
I wonder what a ".5" buck looks like? :dunno:
... mike ... :D
IDK... I bet he is tender.
Ron, I'm very lucky with the deer, hog and turkey population. I have no clue on the number per square mile but usually there's around 3-10 deer per stand unless the hogs come by.
Ron, What part of N.Y. is Tribes Hill in? That is a pitifully low almost unhuntable number of deer.
I'm in eastern Pa, near Allentown and numbers where I hunt are way down down from 10 yrs. ago due to the almost unlimited number of doe tags issued in this zone (5C) However there are still a lot of deer,although mostly on private land where the majority of hunters can't get to them.
Far too many!!!
Generally,if stand hunting, I have had a shot opporunity virtually each hunt. Many hunts offer more than one opportunity....generally pass up a buck every 2nd to 3rd hunt. Generally takes this inept deer hunert 30+ hunts/yr or three years to have a shot opportunity at a bonifide book buck.
Note: one banner day during the early rut, I had 30 deer pass within bow range by 9:00 am.
Have been restricted to ground hunting since 2008. Opportunities for me, due in part to my incompetence and hunting public ground, have been limited me to one shot opportunity in approximately four hunts.
The deer numbers are far to high in my zone. I have had collisions with nine deer in the last 25 years. So far,and only good fortune.
While primarily a turkey hunter, I would like to see the population, while good, still triple. These criiters have continuously maintained the upper hand in handling me. When I harvest one, I feel the accomplishment was more luck of the roll of the dice. Unfortunately, I sometimes times believe that i am trying to roll a seven when using a single dice.
Deer numbers r pretty high in the area of Kentucky I hunt. A hunter in my zone can only harvest 1 buck...but an unlimited number of antlerless deer. I usually see deer on every trip to the farm.
Ron I hunt letchworth 8m stats for 2013 are 3.9 bucks taken per sq mile and 9.1 deer taken per sq mile.
Still have plenty of day where we may only see one or zero all day and hunting pressure is pretty crazy but we welcome you to our neck of the woods!!!
Just go to letchworths website and print out a permit for archery and come on down, I'm there most weekends and could point you in some ok directions if ya wanted.
Numbers are good in all places I been hunting.
Been hunting here in the san gabriel mts. for 50 years.Use to be lots of deer but now you would be lucky to see one.Mr. OBAMA just declared the mts. to be a national monumet.What is that going to do to my hunting?
Dale in Pa......I'm in the middle of the state in the Mohawk Valley.............just south of the Adirondack Park....The tpo of region 4 bottom of region 5........Kopper1013.....I have hunted Letchworth Park several times, saw a few deer but with the antler Res. never saw a legal buck, just spikes and does. And as you know seeing a few and getting a shot are worlds apart. Plus it's like 3 1/2 hours from home!!
Seeing lots of does. Have only sat in my ground blinds three times so far, no bucks other than spikes, and none close enough for me to take a shot yet. On the bright side, not busted, either.
Last year seems like little bucks were the norm, this year it's does. Had 13 in the field behind my woods one evening.
Seeing lots of does. Have only sat in my ground blinds three times so far, no bucks other than spikes, and none close enough for me to take a shot yet. On the bright side, not busted, either.
In the area around my house numbers are high but in the Southerntier the numbers have been very low the last couple of years. I have my camera on an apple tree and am lucky to get one picture a week five years ago I would get a 100 pictures in week.
For the last couple of years the numbers have been low in the part of NE Kansas where I live.
This observation is based on time in the field, on the road at various times and also talking with other hunters. We had a couple of dry years and that seems to have had an effect on the population around here.
I have not seen a deer this your in Indiana, but I am told they are still over populated.
I could harp for days and days on the deer numbers in Iowa. Most people think of us as a deer haven, but since the mid 2000's our numbers are drastically down. We're to the point that the NW part of the state is only allowing bucks to be taken (no does). We have little public land to start with and most of them had tons of does taken during the various hunting seasons. Hunting went from excellent to mediocre at best. Like any state, there's still pockets of deer on managed private land, but for the majority of us hunters on public land or non managed private - we're experience a big time drop in deer sightings.
I average seeing about 30 deer per season in my part of Illinois. This area is very intensely farmed and there is very little habitat and consequently low deer numbers. Last year I hunted 8 times before I saw the first deer. That is normal around here. Going out 6 or 7 times without seeing a deer happens frequently. The good thing though is occasionally you will run into a really good buck. They can get huge here if left to mature. I think I want to try Wyoming! Good luck guys!
It stinks out here . But we got lions in the city limits. And more coyotes than dirt. I think its one buck to thirty does right now. Numbers are way down.
We had a rough winter but in the areas that I hunt and live the deer sighting seem about normal. :archer:
there are about as many deer as "honest" politicians on the mountain i hunt....
QuoteOriginally posted by mcgroundstalker:
I wonder what a ".5" buck looks like? :dunno:
... mike ... :D
its a one nub nub buck. Mike! Great scoring system.
Hey Ron, as far as deer numbers, you know where I live....
If I were to drive an hour north or south, numbers increase drastically.
Your not that far from me Charlie and I have to a lot more than an hour.
just an update to my previous post ; according to a spokesman from the CO. Division of Wildlife ; mule deer population is down state wide 36% since 2005....we see quite a few deer but they are mostly in private subdivisions or in town...
Idk what my county has but I can kill 10 does and 3 bucks! Never got one with trad yet though .
We had a disease take a bunch out I hunt an area in trinity co oaks and open meadows but few deer a lot of the mast crop still on the ground barren does too many mountain lions one got to within 50 ft of my partner and let him know he was there.
accordng to my personal records here in PA this season. - there are no deer.....
Between posted property, large hunter numbers, depleted state game lands, my season isnt looking to promising....
No deer in my area Ron ;)
:saywhat: yea Jim........and I'm handsome......
We got hit with EHD in Michigan two years ago. The herd has bounced back pretty good in the Southern half. I'm in SW Michigan and saw 15 deer from my stand last week. 3 of these were bucks. Two 6pts. and one 4pt.
Not near as many as there used to be, but I'm not complaining. Good healthy balance I would say. I see deer year round pretty much. I don't know what the stats are Ron, but there are enough here for me.I never try to kill more than two deer a season, and I haven't tried to kill a doe in 6 or 7 years. That will change this year if I can be so lucky.
Ken, I'm sorry you have no deer at all on your mountain. LOL :laughing:
Yea, Ken and Handsome Ron are in a tough area for deer, but you go an hour south, and it's a whole lot better!!!
Takes a bit more than an hour for me. But I agree south and east is a big improvement. I have been hunting a bit in the bow only zone near Albany and my sightings have gone up......shot remain the same.......lol! The bow zone only is about an hour away. Due south would be Scoharie County, about the same numbers as here......at one time it was fantastic, now not so much. An hour north put me in the Adirondacks and that just get worse if that's even possible.
QuoteOriginally posted by Knawbone:
Ken, I'm sorry you have no deer at all on your mountain. LOL :laughing:
I think Ken has a better chance of finding the honest lawyer yup there lol.
He killed the only buck last year :laughing:
The parts of Texas and Oklahoma I typically are both having sever droughts and all wilkdlife numbers are down. Oaks have not produced an acorn crop and the lake levels are below 20% I am so looking forward to spending Nov 10-15 in Ohio!!!!
I live in Central Florida. What's this deer you speak of? I know we have dogs with antlers running around the woods and if you see one your extremely lucky, especially on public land.
WI really varies depending upon where you live. Overall buck harvest numbers from last year list anywhere from less than 1 to 6.3 per square mile. The area where I live is mostly forested, some farmland, and it's at 1.6. it seems to have gotten worse the last few years with coyotes and wolf populations.
QuoteOriginally posted by Paul/KS:
For the last couple of years the numbers have been low in the part of NE Kansas where I live.
This observation is based on time in the field, on the road at various times and also talking with other hunters. We had a couple of dry years and that seems to have had an effect on the population around here.
Same here. Still have some deer, but a far cry from what it used to be.
Coyotes are bad around here I can't imagine dealing with wolves also!
Zone 11 in Mass we are loaded up I have many pics and videos of deer standing all around the house and I'm not really considered to live in the sticks.
I think the numbers are coming up, and I think it has alot to do with Mass opening the coyote season 1 day before deer season now instead of in February which they did for years,,, fawn bleats bring in coyotes and they quickly get shot leaving many fawns to survive .
Deer in zone 8 are on the decline due to the coyote population. You best recover deer the day it is shot. Coyotes in many areas are running in packs.
Worked on the Vineyard last year and they are claiming something like 27 deer per square mile. I believe Nantucket is up there too. Both islands are mostly scrub oak. Asked a bowhunter on the ferry years ago how they hunt deer in the scrub oak. He told me they set up right by runs on stepladders.
Ron, I live in Saratoga County here in New York. Not too sure what the deer numbers are however, we do have a lot more does than bucks. My guess is that we probably have the same buck ratio as your area. I've seen an average of three doe every morning or afternoon I hunt but so far I've seen one small 6 pointer.
We have bunches,but you won't find too many P&Y.We have a city hunt every year and this year you're allow 7 just in the city,the first one has to be a doe and only 2 bucks can be taken in the city and the season opened 2 weeks before the regular season and those don't count against your tags..I'm not even really sure on a regular license with all the extra tags, cause I really don't gun hunt.
Odd, I'm noticing a trend that the more rural the area the less deer we are seeing :confused:
QuoteOriginally posted by Hermon:
QuoteOriginally posted by Paul/KS:
For the last couple of years the numbers have been low in the part of NE Kansas where I live.
This observation is based on time in the field, on the road at various times and also talking with other hunters. We had a couple of dry years and that seems to have had an effect on the population around here.
Same here. Still have some deer, but a far cry from what it used to be. [/b]
I can tell no difference in our spots from years past, plenty of deer turkeys and other game. If anything the numbers are up tons of does with triplets on all of our spots this year. I'm pretty close to both you guys and found plenty of dead deer during the blue tounge outbreak so I don't know what the difference is.
We run a bunch of cams, lots of night scouting but dang I can't drive around anywere from Topeka to KC and not see bunches of deer everywhere like normal in the fields. I saw bucks all summer out in the middle of the day eating soybeans once they came on.
Tracy
I know you have a ton of deer down your way Tracy and I see them along that corridor as well. But get north of the Kaw and up my way and things have been slim for a while now. Mike Horton started noticing it a couple years ago too.
Weird... :confused:
Still lots of deer in East Mississippi, but not nearly as many as there were 10-15 years ago.
Deer numbers are down drastically in this particular area of S. Il.
I use to come up here as a non-res. and hunt for about a month each yr. and the area was loaded with deer. I'd see them all times of day in the fields along the roads in yards everywhere. So I decided to move up here. First yr I got here EHD hit hard and numbers have been dropping every yr since for many reasons.
One morning several yrs ago I had 55 deer come by my stand all coming from the same direction..didn't count the ones coming back. Now I'm lucky to see one per hunt..have seen deer 3 times from my stand this season and hunted almost every day since the first.
Other areas of Il. population is still good..spotty in lots of areas.
About 10 years ago back when deer hunting was really good throughout Ohio I told a buddy that it was just a matter of time before the Ohio Division of Wildlife mismanaged it to the point of the rabbits (we have had very few rabbits around my area in central ohio due to farming practices and limited habitat along with a ton of hawks, owls, cats, and coyotes. Well they have allowed a hunter to take up to 9 deer per year across the state and continue this this year. We are a one buck only state so if someone takes 8 does they are eliminating 16-24 deer from next year's woods. It is also very easy to obtain nuisance permits in our state. I am not surprised that I have seen 0 deer from my stands in my area---I hunt almost every evening and have not had difficulty being successful in the past. I have hunted in other areas of the state this year and have seen deer, but not like it was 5 or 10 years ago. I would guess that farming and insurance company pressure is winning out. I read in the local paper that the "Division" said that deer numbers were approaching their "target" number---I really have a hard time believing that. We had a very healthy herd 10 years ago with no problem with there being enough food for them.
Now this year for the first time ever they are allowing the use of rifles ( including 45/70 ). They must think that since the state is now more populated than 40 years ago we can lift the shotgun only restriction. There may other areas within the state that still support decent numbers but I am disheartened that the hunting which used to be so good around my area is to the point of actually seeing a deer is a rarity.
55 deer by the stand in a sit.....lol! When I was a kid I remember hunting with my Dad. I sat behind him and counted 44 does walk by all at once. That was many years ago but I also hunted that same area as an adult.......hunted the whole season and never saw a deer. Funny how things change......or maybe not so funny. :dunno:
QuoteOriginally posted by warbird:
Deer in zone 8 are on the decline due to the coyote population. You best recover deer the day it is shot. Coyotes in many areas are running in packs.
Worked on the Vineyard last year and they are claiming something like 27 deer per square mile. I believe Nantucket is up there too. Both islands are mostly scrub oak. Asked a bowhunter on the ferry years ago how they hunt deer in the scrub oak. He told me they set up right by runs on stepladders.
yeah you need to shoot every coyote you see every time until we started doing that in our areas we had the same problem now coyotes sightings are very rare because they realized they are a step down on the preditor chain and they can eat themselves for all I care I know I feed them coyote meat every year,,, honestly the ruffed grouse population is gone they must be almost extinct by now because fo the coyotes.
I have alot of spots in Plymouth with heavy scrub oaks,, I like pit blinds or just a pit under a scrub oak just inside the edge,, that scrub oak holds many deer and during the rut you find a section with the wind blowing into the oaks and put scents down just past where your set up and watch for them,,,7 of my bucks came out of the scrub oaks where there was no way to get em,, 4 from trees and 3 from the ground.. with the scrub oaks there usually are scattered medium sized oaks mixed in with them so a low stand is possible but you need to trim some lanes.
QuoteOriginally posted by ron w:
55 deer by the stand in a sit.....lol! When I was a kid I remember hunting with my Dad. I sat behind him and counted 44 does walk by all at once. That was many years ago but I also hunted that same area as an adult.......hunted the whole season and never saw a deer. Funny how things change......or maybe not so funny. :dunno:
That was the most by far that I'd ever seen while hunting and actually it was a lot more than 55. I just stopped counting at 11:00am and got down. More came by after I quit.
They were all does, fawns and occasional little 3 or 4 pt that would be with a group...probably early fawn that hadn't got run off yet. All were in groups of 5's to 12 and steady waking in single file.
I couldn't draw on them due to so many and all looking ahead and not feeding, although.. I did manage to miss one of the little bucks.
They were headed into a big corn field to bed. The field got cut a day before I hunted the spot again and I saw nothing.