Archery Hunters what are you seeing?

[dipper]

build it and they will come. I've got the dump of does because neighbors don't shoot them, and I have everything deer want. Mature bucks don't prefer the company of doe groups. I'm attracting the doe groups right now. Once they are reduced I'll be attracting and holding the ole bucks. At least that is my strategy at this point.

 

[OkieKubota]

Saw 18 feeding in my plots 60 yards in front of my house as I drove away to work this morning...

It's game on this evening and weekend up on our 80 :D

 

[Daydreamer]

Would have loved to have been out last night. Rain stopped about 45 minutes prior to dark. I was lined up to go out but was pouring out when I had plans to leave. Was kicking myself about 6:15.

 

[BJE80]

I wish I could go tonight at the lease down here. Corn was freshly cut. cool. Rained this morning. Wife said no... too busy.

 

[biglakeba$$]

build it and they will come.

I keep hearing that, but until our neighbors have a change in mindset, the only thing that is going to help is a 10 ft fence and baseball stadium lights around the property. :)
And I sure wish building it took as much time as it takes to build a hunting shack.... We have done oodles of things on the land, now its going to take some time to get to the end result. Biggest hurdle is waiting on all the trees to grow..... If anyone has a fast track on that I am all ears. :)
I have the only food plots for a long ways in all directions. Granted that doesnt do much in early to mid season as there are scattered crops in the general area.

Lessrice,
The property we have is SE of West Battle about 8 miles. not sure if you ever got to Inspiration peak, but we are just north of that.
We have tremendous rifle pressure in the area. If you dont see deer on the first 2 days of the rifle hunt, you best count your blessings if you see another deer.
Last year in 4 days I saw 1 deer total during rifle season... A spike that walked by me at 10 yds. That was it. My son saw zero deer in the 2 days he got to hunt on opening weekend of rifle season.
Thats downright sad.

Our wildlife manager tells me things are fine. The population model is doing its job..... Maybe it is over a 694 sq mile area I guess... Then again, maybe its not either.

 

[Deer Kar]

One of my spots is in SE. Ottertail county have seen a bunch of deer on every sit. The acorn crop is the best I have seen there this year. The bucks at least on my spots were still in the bachelor groups and were vacuuming up the acorns like they were going out of style!! The bucks are starting to figure out who the boss is. It make for great viewing!!! I have not been out since 9/23 they may have disbanded since then. I plan on hunting the RED OAKS not whites which is the opposite of every thing I read. My neighbors a mile from my place tell me there are no deer and I belive them!!! They don't have the Reds that are drawing them in for some reason this year.

 

[LessRice]

Our wildlife manager tells me things are fine. The population model is doing its job..... Maybe it is over a 694 sq mile area I guess... Then again, maybe its not either.

Deer Kar brings up a good point with hard mast but if you have plenty of oak it's got to be the hunting pressure. If you are really laying off harvesting the deer someone nearby isn't practicing the same trigger control.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Trigger control is no doubt a big part of the puzzle. As long as the DNR allows triggers to be pulled people will do it.

There is no doubt there are deer in the permit area. But the fact that our harvest is down nearly 40% in permit area 240 in 7 years is troubling.
Shoot 40% less deer and it would sure seem we should be overrun with deer....

In 2006 we went from zone 4 which was a split season consisting of 6 total days, and you had to pick either first or second weekend to hunt with rifle. All season licenses came along and you could hunt both weekends, but those sales were limited. So we went from 6500 hunters in zone 4 previous to 2006, and the pressure was split between 2 weekends of hunting.
Then along came zone 2 in 2006. Now all 6500 hunters are able to hunt the entire 9 day period. Logic says that the vast majority of those hunters moved to hunt the opening weekend.
Add onto that, we now have 9% more people gun hunting the permit area since 2006.
So now we have not only more hunters in the woods, we also have lengthened the season, and those hunters are all in the woods at the same time. Talk about pressure increase.
And somehow with the increased hunting pressure we cant seem to shoot the same rough number of deer that we did in 2006, but I am told by our wildlife manager that models suggest the population is the roughly the same comparing 2007 to 2013. BS. No way.

oh crap.... sorry....... got sidetracked on the topic.... I am done... Off to ND duck hunting, see y'all next week. :)

 

[bwoods11]

BLB--We have noticed the increase gun pressure (longer season) has dwindled the mature buck population + add in the 16 day muzzleloader and it is tough for a young buck to avoid all the gun pressure. Our does were getting hit hard too, but they backed off the tags a bit and it has helped.

We have 25 days of gun season (from November to Dec) in our zone and we wonder why our hunting is terrible compared to our neighboring states??

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Only saw 5 tonight, 3 little bucks!

 

[PRK]

I'm seeing does and fawns. Buck pics are night time but I am getting some pics closer to shooting hours.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Hunted yest ev an saw 11 total 4 bucks an 7 doe's. Couple of small bucks were nudging doe's. Passed a nice 3 yr old with 7 inch brows! His neck is already swollen like crazy! Fun hunt till I got winded an feild cleared

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Saw 9 this morning, out of what is now called the Jordan Selsor stand next to the Peas and Oats plot! One 6 point, 8 does and fawns! All feeding on acorns. Saw a couple of new scrapes made in the last 2 days as well! Pretty fun and successful hunt when you don't get winded by all the doe's!

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Saw 9 this morning, out of what is now called the Jordan Selsor stand next to the Peas and Oats plot! One 6 point, 8 does and fawns! All feeding on acorns. Saw a couple of new scrapes made in the last 2 days as well! Pretty fun and successful hunt when you don't get winded by all the doe's!

Tks John! Except you killed that monster 146" out of that stand already! You should prolly call it killN tree or freezer fillN tree haha. Be allot cooler than Jordan Selsor;) You gonna go hunt that hidden clover plot in Allendale this ev? Steve says go kill a doe. I say go kill that 140 with stickers!!!! Right before I shoot at a deer I always tell myself mentally "you are the most lethal sniper in the world" even have "sniper" written on the riser of my bow so I do t forget.
May sound stupid but it puts me in the right mindset...

 

[MoBuckChaser]

That tree name always changes. It used to be called "The Tree Craig Missed the Big Ten Out Of" Because my good buddy craig missed a 145" ten out of your stand at the base of the ladder. :eek:

That was opening day 2013. So it will always change to whoever has an encounter next!:D

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Would have loved to have been out last night. Rain stopped about 45 minutes prior to dark. I was lined up to go out but was pouring out when I had plans to leave. Was kicking myself about 6:15.

Yep should have went! Deer poured out right as wind an rain quit!

 

[Buckly]

I was out last night for the first time this year. Steady wind with some pretty strong gusts gave me a little motion sickness in the tree. I saw 4 tom turkey, 3 doe with their fawns, 7 total antlerless, a bachelor group with a 2 year old 8 point which looked pretty good and 2 yearling bucks. Also a button buck that just felt the need to run at full speed all over the woods. I've seen button bucks do this behavior before for no apparent reason. Just ran all over the place. Lots of activity but, nothing big moving around in daylight yet.

 

[bat man]

We have been seeing deer on the plots, average is down to 2 per sit now, but in my ag deprived area the numbers build as the season progresses and sloppy neighbors drive them my way.

My 10 year old has this guy at 15 yards but we did not close the deal.

Glad to see this guy back as we passed him during muzzle loader last year. Not the biggest rack in the world but he won't be getting any older if he pops out late season like last year. Was hoping the last spring of 2013 stunted him but maybe he was never meant to be large antler wise.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Looks pretty " blocky " and steer - like to me. He's no peep. He'd fit in my crock - pot! Good luck this season.

 

[bwoods11]

2 does and a small 8 point in my alfalfa plot last night

Plus one stupid coyote