2015 Firearms Season Deer Thread

[Jeffrey]

Heck of a way to end the season selinoid! Nice looking buck. I'm in the same boat as you landon, except I got the bundle. Still time left with late archery and muzzleloader.

 

[selinoid44]

Thanks guys, I do at least 4 hr sits, morning and afternoon. Every chance I have I'm in the woods or sitting on a fence row watching and waiting. You gotta put in the time, cause if you aren't there your odds aren't very good.

 

[ghuns]

...cause if you aren't there your odds aren't very good.

The last couple years, at least in my little corner of the world, you can sit all you want, your odds still aren't very good.

From when my son started hunting in 2005, till 2013 when he shot a wall hanger, both of us shot deer every year. The last two years, nothing.

Our 200 acre farm is in a mile by mile section with exactly 4 people hunting in it. The other 2 guys lease a woods just north of ours. The are hard core, permanent blinds on raised platforms, feeders up out of season, food plots, trail cams, no shooting anything with antlers under 160... I hadn't seen them out this year. My brother bumped into one of them in town and asked what they'd been seeing on their cameras, nothing.

I don't get it. We went from seeing deer every time we walked into the woods, to last year, not seeing a single doe, to this year, seeing the same 4 does a couple times and a single buck. Where'd they all go?

We haven't had to run off any trespassers. We keep the coyote population in check. Haven't found any deer dead from EHD laying around. I don't see any driving back and forth to work. Didn't even see any picking corn this fall. I wouldn't think the last two winters were bad enough to seriously lower the population.

 

[dusty88]

Ghuns, I think the state has allowed larger deer harvest with the express intent of lowering the population. Also, if your area has farmers clearing more land (which they have been doing due to higher grain prices for a few years) the will greatly affect the deer in your specific area. The best thing you can do is let your deer habitat expand either through plantings or even just benign neglect (ie no tilling or mowing will slowly increase the habitat.)

I don't think it's disease. I haven't seen any evidence of that either.

 

[ghuns]

Ghuns, I think the state has allowed larger deer harvest with the express intent of lowering the population. Also, if your area has farmers clearing more land (which they have been doing due to higher grain prices for a few years) the will greatly affect the deer in your specific area. The best thing you can do is let your deer habitat expand either through plantings or even just benign neglect (ie no tilling or mowing will slowly increase the habitat.)

I don't think it's disease. I haven't seen any evidence of that either.

There's really been no changes as far as farming in the area. And while the state allows it, I don't know anybody in the area who's been limiting out on does.

I chose to let the 4 does I saw keep breathing. If I go back out during muzzleloader season and see more, one might get dropped. But if I continue to see only those 4, there's no point in taking one. The one buck I saw was a big one. He sneaked up on me and was too close for me to get my gun up without spooking him. Odds are pretty good, he knocked up those 4 girls. Shooting one of them at this point would be counterproductive.

 

[bocefus78]

Ghuns,

With 200 acres, I'd start looking at giving those deer a reason to come thru or take up residency. You need a thicket as sanctuary and don't ever go in it. Ever.

Plant some food plots that will give the deer late season food when nobody else has any.
Plant some fruit trees. Fence them off from day one.

Did I say thicket? Yep. I'll say it again. Bush hog some old field, spray it with roundup, and let the native vegetation regenerate. This is the easiest no maintenence way to increase habitat.

Your chainsaw is the next best tool. Cut down some trees. Leave the tree tops. The more sunlight hitting the forest floor, the thicker it's gonna be. Look up hinge cutting. Utilize this to create spots that deer have to travel (leave openings).

1 Wintertime with a saw and you will have done wonders for your property.

A water hole will do wonders if there is no water on the property. Find a low spot. Dig a big azz hole. Drop some old rubber roof in the bottom. Have some good screening around it so the deer feel safe using it.

Just keep in mind access trails and predominant wind directions when setting this all up. You want to be able to navigate the property without blowing the deer out of the sanctuary or food plots.

 

[Mark 1911]

So far the only deer I have taken were 1 buck with my pickup truck in Kouts so I'm not posting that one in this thread, and one with my 30-06 in Wisconsin. I'm hoping to have some better luck in Indiana during muzzle loader or late archery. Here's the nice 10-point I took up in Richland County, Wisconsin at 20 feet, not even 2 minutes after legal shooting time last Friday morning:

 

[cschwanz]

Shot a nice doe in the rain on Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving. Still need one more deer for the freezer. Been seeing a bunch of little bucks, 4s and 6s. Passed a decent 8 that I may wish I hadn't by season's end. Oh well.

 

[ghuns]

Ghuns,

You need a thicket as sanctuary and don't ever go in it. Ever.

Got one.

Plant some food plots that will give the deer late season food when nobody else has any.

Neighbor's woods has multiple food plots and feeders when season is out. I have water that only freezes in winters like we had 2 years ago. And then, only for a short time.

Plant some fruit trees.

No fruit trees in the woods. But the apples that hit the ground up at the house, 10 trees worth, magically end up in several strategic locations. Well before gun season of course. These piles are typically devoured within a week. This year, they lasted over a month.

The guys that lease the neighbors woods are serious. I have benefitted greatly from their hard work and knowledge. Before they took over that woods, we never had any decent bucks running around. Never. Now it's not a rare a sight. Still hard to shoot one, they don't get that big being dumb, but at least they're around. What has all of us stumped is where all the does went in such a short time. Two years ago in the late doe season, we saw multiple groups of does herded up, close to a dozen per group. Now we have a single pack of four running around?

I didn't shoot them. The guys in the neighbor's woods didn't shoot them. I really don't know of anybody around who has built a habitat that could steal all of them.

The volume of shooting during gun season the last two years has been lower than I can ever recall, so I don't think my situation is unique to my stomping grounds.

 

[mom45]

In our area, we have several farmers nearby that have received a large number of depredation tags each year for the past few years. That has hurt our population. They shoot anything that moves, and when they are shooting does in the summertime, they are leaving behind orphaned fawns that may survive but end up severely stunted. We saw so many small deer this spring...couldn't figure out why until we really started thinking about it. I see the same few does in my yard almost daily where I feed them...well away from all of the tree stands that are placed on the perimeter of our woods facing into our property. My husband is not hunting deer this year. Our freezer is full of pork, beef and chicken so we don't NEED it, and figure we need to give the herd a chance to recoup some. They have perfect habitat here. We were seeing several small bucks prior to hunting season. Now, I see one spike buck that has been around all year and one or two four pointers. There were a couple of nicer bucks (8 pt and 9 pt) but I haven't seen them for a couple of weeks now. I check the cameras daily so I have a good idea of what we have moving around out here.

I know one neighbor shot a nicer buck we had that had rather tall antlers but not much width to them as I saw pictures of it on his FB page. He also said he shot a doe the same day. Opening day sounded like a war zone so I'm surprised I am still seeing the ones that I am. I firmly believe the numbers are down in our area.

 

[sig shooter]

Shot with .357 Marlins cowboy at 100yds

Very nice looking buck. congrats . now you can go back to making more turkey calls.

 

[selinoid44]

Right on!

 

[AtTheMurph]

The neighbor got this one on opening day in Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin

https://scontent.ford1-1.fna.fbcdn....=181b17d2c45a9b4bd591523a04633775&oe=56E9D42A

 

[Mark 1911]

The neighbor got this one on opening day in Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin

https://scontent.ford1-1.fna.fbcdn....=181b17d2c45a9b4bd591523a04633775&oe=56E9D42A

That's a nice deer!

 

[phylodog]

Glad to see forum members getting some really nice deer. I'm heading back out this weekend bow in hand but my hunting partner bought a CVA Optima II and got it dialed in today so we'll have a backup plan. I'd really prefer to take one with a bow but after the investment of time I've put in I'll pull the trigger to get one if I have to.

Neighboring property owner called yesterday and said he's seen a few bucks chasing in the last couple days.

 

[ghitch75]

here is a one my nephew got here in Greene county.......

 

[srad]

Heowww.... that's some mass. Beautiful buck.

 

[Leadeye]

Wow, that's some animal.

 

[dusty88]

One of our favorite stands wasn't productive this year. But we did finally find something on the trail cam.

https://www.facebook.com/weldon.peveto/videos/1124201557591772/

 

[beehunter]

here is a one my nephew got here in Greene county.......

He has some serious mass, was it shot on public or private ground?