James..... TOTALLY different story here this year in MA...Acorns everywhere!  at times it was like walking on bubble-wrap to the treestand.   And that was also a contributing factor in deer movement and sightings.  they could be feeding just about anywhere in these woods.

Bill & Dave...anytime!   only problem is CT just DOUBLED the permits from $100 to $200 non-res as of October 1.  I may not even buy a 2010.   I'm exploring RI right now, cheaper and SUNDAY hunting....woo-hooo!!!  I'm tired of these arcane blue laws in MA and CT.   how many weekends did we have this year with saturday heavy rain and wind and sunday clear and calm?

Shawn I attribute the low sightings to a couple of things...1-low deer numbers, which in my opinion are a result of a very severe 2007 winter and F&G's management strategies. 2009's kill is 5% below 2008's, which was 20% below 2007's, which means this years kill was 25% below 2007's kill. That is significant. 2-A huge acorn crop, like Marc said it was actually hard to walk in some spots.....deer didn't have to go far to eat, I think Bill said earlier that deer here often bed and eat in the same place, and he's right...

Marc......WOW!  The last time I hunted CT in the early 90's it was $44.00 for an archery license that included 4 tags.  That is going to cut down on license sales I would think......it's never about the money.......it's about the money.

David

yah, it went from 44 to 100 five, maybe six years ago.  they snuck through a budget late night last minute so no one could protest raising ALL license and permit fees 100% across the board...and stated that all of the money will go into the General fund....which as far as I know is against pittman-robertson....and I definitely think it will impact license sales in '10.

our state wont release kill data until some time in January.  and I don't recall the exact figures Dave, but kill have been steadily decreasing over the last few years here as well.