How many hunts seeing no deer?

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Rob loper
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby Rob loper » Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:57 am

Jonny wrote:
TheBuckPsych wrote:
Jonny wrote:Only hunted once bow hunting and I shot one. Got sick with covid and never bow hunted from the stand since then. Carried my bow on a scouting trip and saw one.

Shot two first day of gun season and saw one the second.

So I haven't hunted and not seen deer. Its been a strange year to say the least since I go most hunts without seeing anything.



Man johnny i hope your ok bro.
Sorry to hear that you got the rona.
Keep me posted bro ill be worried.


Yeah I’m good now. I laid low as best as I could just to make sure I didn’t infect anybody else. First weekend back it was really warm so I took the lady scouting and fishing. Last weekend I scouted as well.

Haven’t hunted much but I’ve scouted a lot. I’m happy with it. Still got a lot to do for next season and still planning a late season doe hunt or two on some private land I have access on. My creative cooking mind has me wanting to try some new things.

Also I saved 8 shanks from their destiny of going in the garbage. Found out my grandpa tosses them and doesn’t even make them into sausage. Tragic.

So those are coming home with me


Good to hear bro. Happy turkey day.


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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby gmark802 » Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:22 pm

15 out of 17
It seems as if the deer patterns are very subtle in hill country.
It's so tough. I find sign. Sometimes alot. I need help finding doe bedding . Is it up on top? Or 1/3 down with Daddy. If I look in the snow the day after it's all over am i getting good intel as relates to Oct to rut. Am I looking for dogwood down low and what if there isnt any. Whatever I see clipped off is, everything. So they eat everything, all the time? I find well beaten trails sometimes and sometimes in very nasty thick stuff. I see the tracks but where are the does? The big hill country public is an enigma. I get skunked every year and bust my . I will get this figured out but could use some advise. I get the 1/3 deal and do find sign. But hunting where there are hikers hunters and fat tired bikes is annoying. So to go deep, and I do, it takes a long time, and I snap branches and twigs going in.( Stinking annoying) I use a saddle but can't get up to 25 feet like JE. Thinking about going back to my Lone Wolf and sticks.... I'm so in a rut of not achieving.. could use a hand. Thx
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby KPillinois » Sat Nov 28, 2020 6:51 pm

gmark802 wrote:15 out of 17
It seems as if the deer patterns are very subtle in hill country.
It's so tough. I find sign. Sometimes alot. I need help finding doe bedding . Is it up on top? Or 1/3 down with Daddy. If I look in the snow the day after it's all over am i getting good intel as relates to Oct to rut. Am I looking for dogwood down low and what if there isnt any. Whatever I see clipped off is, everything. So they eat everything, all the time? I find well beaten trails sometimes and sometimes in very nasty thick stuff. I see the tracks but where are the does? The big hill country public is an enigma. I get skunked every year and bust my . I will get this figured out but could use some advise. I get the 1/3 deal and do find sign. But hunting where there are hikers hunters and fat tired bikes is annoying. So to go deep, and I do, it takes a long time, and I snap branches and twigs going in.( Stinking annoying) I use a saddle but can't get up to 25 feet like JE. Thinking about going back to my Lone Wolf and sticks.... I'm so in a rut of not achieving.. could use a hand. Thx


gmark802, The Illinois public that i hunt has a lot of hill country, despite the rest of the state being totally flat. My favorite area is a 1/2 mile square of super thick stuff and hills like yours, acorns everywhere but most have dropped by Oct 1st when bow season starts. Most of my intel came from arriving late in the mornings and seeing them from my car returning to their bedding, and seeing them head off to private at night while sitting a good deal away on an observation sit. You need a place where you can get really high and observe the whole area from daybreak till end of day for observation. My area is screwed up by too many bow hunters, shotgun squirrel hunters, etc... best time to get a doe in that kind of spot for me is start of bow season. I got my doe there early and now have moved on.... they are still in there but only a few, and you won't get to them without making noise. They normally are coming out now 15 minutes after legal shooting time is over due to me and everybody else stinking up the area... found a guy setup there today with a giant ground blind 10 yards in front of a bunch or rubs and the buck is (or was) bedding sometimes 30 yards behind his blind in 4 foot tall brush and i don't think he even has a clue. He is also set up on a field of "nothing" that didn't even have a crop this year ???? I ordered BBO Hill Country last night to try and get more knowledge about this myself ! Good luck, you'll get it figured out. And no, my area does are not up top of big daddy on the military crest. He looks down and watches them whenever he is there. They are sometimes in 3-4 feet tall grassy area and other times bedded in a hidden hill system close to the road with lots of green and thick stuff everywhere. I've seen them in there while walking the road at 10 a.m. before but it is too thick to shoot into, too noisy to enter from any direction unless it is a super windy day and even then i still jumped a doe when i got within 6-7 yards and it was up and gone, no chance for a shot.
I've changed my ways, I'm now looking for big bucks on public land.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby PublicLandOwner529 » Sun Dec 20, 2020 12:10 pm

I’d say about 4 out of 20 hunts for me has no deer. Like said earlier, seeing doesn’t mean in range
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby Nick grider » Sun Dec 20, 2020 3:14 pm

Depends on what you’re trying to kill. If you’re looking to kill year and a half old deer then id say you should be seeing more deer. But big mature deer, buck or die, do different things. Like hunting a complete new animal that have low numbers. You’re not gonna see as many of them but they’ll be well aged. Happy hunting.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby Maverick1 » Sun Dec 20, 2020 3:35 pm

Depends. On the deer density, what I’m after, the weather, and the time of the season. Some spots are high risk/high reward. If I’m in an area of high deer density and expect to see something, I’ll give it two sits before I move to a different area. If I’m in a higher risk, higher reward area and the sign is good, I might give it a couple more sits. Crappy weather or poor conditions (rain, wind, etc) I kind of throw those sits out of the equation. Also, my expectations change throughout the season.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:03 am

For me it depends on how many consecutive days I have at my disposal and how much history I have with the area I’m hunting. Usually just get blanked a handful of times per season on familiar ground. On public that I don’t know as good as I should. If I have 3 or 4 days to work with I can usually get on em the last day or so if they aren’t cooperating from the jump. But once I’m on em I can usually stay on em as long as I have the time.

But for how I hunt, hunting just a day or two here and there is tough. Basically must start completely over from scratch each hunt and don’t have a clue what’s going on the woods. If I had to hunt that way I would pick an area with a very healthy number of whitetail and I wouldn’t be to picky.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby NBK438 » Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:08 pm

It depends on the agenda for that particular hunt. I find myself sitting back and watching from a distance before I make a move a lot more often. I do this not only to watch for target deer but to also get a read on what the deer around that area are doing so I dont kick as much up and see if I can maneuver around them. I can usually tell if people have been up in there just by the way the other deer are positioned within that area. On those hunts, I see deer nearly everytime because im typically watching that area for a reason. The tighter to bedding hunts or in season new property hunts bring less sightings for sure. Ill say this much. I would focus on the amount of animals you would have wanted to shoot vs animals in general. A better indicator for improvement in my eyes.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:48 pm

As i think back i’d be guessing as i don’t keep count but out of 20 sits i probably average seeing at least 1 deer on 18 of those 20. It’s not often I don’t at least see one.

I’m leaning on 32 years of experience and familiarity with the public lands i hunt though. Best advice, imagine you are the one being hunted and hunt the areas you would go to avoid being shot yourself. I guarantee you’ll see now deer hunting with that mindset. If i see boot prints or ANY fresh human sign in a particular spot i don’t go back to it for the rest of the season. I just scratch it off the list.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby G-Patt » Wed Feb 17, 2021 9:13 am

gmark802 wrote:15 out of 17
It seems as if the deer patterns are very subtle in hill country.
It's so tough. I find sign. Sometimes alot. I need help finding doe bedding . Is it up on top? Or 1/3 down with Daddy. If I look in the snow the day after it's all over am i getting good intel as relates to Oct to rut. Am I looking for dogwood down low and what if there isnt any. Whatever I see clipped off is, everything. So they eat everything, all the time? I find well beaten trails sometimes and sometimes in very nasty thick stuff. I see the tracks but where are the does? The big hill country public is an enigma. I get skunked every year and bust my . I will get this figured out but could use some advise. I get the 1/3 deal and do find sign. But hunting where there are hikers hunters and fat tired bikes is annoying. So to go deep, and I do, it takes a long time, and I snap branches and twigs going in.( Stinking annoying) I use a saddle but can't get up to 25 feet like JE. Thinking about going back to my Lone Wolf and sticks.... I'm so in a rut of not achieving.. could use a hand. Thx

gmark802, man, I've been there. I hunt big woods and let me tell you, to say deer density is low is an understatement. What helped me the most when I first got started, were morning observational sits. If I didn't see anything, my mission was to bump a deer before I went home later that morning/afternoon. From there, I would plan my access, what the wind was going to be and hunt the very next morning where I saw the deer move. In fact, I still do this when hunting bucks gets slow or I want to fill the freezer...and yes, you will still find good bucks with this method. You'd be surprised to know that you don't have to go waaayyy back to get on the deer. If the access is good, I will hunt that same area at least 2 times in a row before I find a new spot, or I'm convinced the deer aren't using that area anymore. Getting visuals on deer is key and it will help with your confidence. The guys on THP and Whitetail Adrenaline do this all of the time. This is how Aaron (THP) killed a huge buck this season in hill country. Another pro tip is get a bike to get away from the parking areas and find areas where hunter access is minimal. Very doable with a saddle and sticks. Good luck!
On my deathbed, I will receive total consciousness. So I have that going for me, which is nice!
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Tim H
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby Tim H » Wed Feb 17, 2021 9:34 am

This is an interesting topic.

I counted up the hunts I did this season and I setup 28 times in total. This doesn't include the times scouted during the season. I only count the times where I hunted and tried to kill something. Here are my quick stats. Note, I do not count bumping deer in and out. Only deer from the stand/ground when hunting.

28 hunts with bow in hand.

10 out of 28 hunts I saw deer from the stand.

44 deer were seen. 12 bucks. 32 does and fawns.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby Recluse » Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:49 am

Rob loper wrote:You gotta get out and scout. And really scout hard.
I think some guys take this literally and go out and scout and invade bedding areas.
I believe invading bedding areas in season is a huge mistake. Hunt the very edges of it. Invade the bedding areas during post season. Thats when you figure your entrance and exit trails
I also believe a-lot of hunters go to fast while scouting.
When you scout be super slow don't rush.
Try to be super quiet and don't make a-lot of noise. Almost like when your heading in for a hunt.
If possible try to scout with the wind not blowing into the bedding. Look for not only hot sign along soft transitions. Look for hunters sign. If you see hunters sign move on.
I live in Delaware and it is very very hard to find pockets where hunters don't go. Everything here is just small and pretty accessible in most directions.
You can go super seep on some public find and setup on super hot sign only to find out someone is coming in from another direction.
This video will show you how i stacked some hunts on some good hot sign right outside of bedding. Well if ya watch you will see how fast someone can really screw an area up.

https://youtu.be/BSrNrsMa0wY


Great video. Delaware is definitely a place where it’s tough to go deep. It seems there’s always a logging road or a parking lot near the “deep areas.” Can’t tell you how many times I walked in deep, only to find a potato chip bag or water bottle.
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Re: How many hunts seeing no deer?

Unread postby thwack16 » Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:57 am

Struck out from stand 4 of 32 hunts this year. Fairly normal ratio for me. 1 early season morning in bedding, 2 late season evenings in bedding, and one mid season hunt in which I was misplaced from home for holidays and was “hunting to hunt”. Ratio tends to increase with more early season sits and decreases with more rut sits.

Usually have a couple of dead hunts on my out of state trip, but was 13/13 on seeing deer this year.


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