What am I doing wrong? 3 failed deer seasons...

[Gunplummer]

Everybody is having a hard time this year. I have gotten out twice and the usual good spots are empty of deer or sign of. I am going to walk around and take advantage of the snow to find out where they are moving. Snow is a good time to check out new spots to hunt, and hey, you may get a shot doing it. We have a very poor acorn crop here this year and I am looking for a place with more laurel. Not much for them to eat but browse and laurel this year. If there is housing with in a few miles they may be there eating shrubs. Deer go a lot farther in search of food than most people think. It took me a long time to get with the flow of deer movement too, but it sure is fun learning.

[Bang]

Missed my first deer at 12 years of age because I drew too fine a bead with Dad's bolt-action 12 gauge and saw the snow beyond the deer's belly get hit and watched the deer run off.

Hunted some thru my teens, saw doe during buck, the usual. Army took out two years of hunting and I went about five years of not seeing anything but tracks.

Then one morning around 10 AM I was standing beneath a pine tree up on a ridge smoking a cigar when i saw what looked like weeds moving on my left. The weeds grew taller, and turned into a ten-point rack being carried by a deer mounting the hill. The buck stopped on the other side of the pine tree. My rifle was leaning against the tree. I carefully lifted the rifle, snuck it around the trunk and looked thru the scope and saw a blur. The deer was too damned close. About 15 feet if that. I guessed where the barrel must be and fired.

From that day on it was like I couldn't do anything wrong for a while. A buck pretty much every year with rifle, bow, flintlock.

I hunted 157 years ago. It was good for bow, sucked for rifle. Talked with a warden about it one day. he said the deer get off the mountain when the hunters come in, down to private properties where they don't run into hunters. I think he was right.

They call fishing fishing, not catching. They call hunting hunting, not shooting. For reasons. Last I saw, the averages were one hunter in ten success rate.

Your day(s) will come. I can recall being as motionless as possible from dawn to deep dusk every day for a week at a good spot on family ground and seeing one doe. I recall hunting an area for the first time and shot a buck and could have shot two others.

Deer have some advantages but don't get all rapped up in urban deer lore. I smoked many a cigarette on stand and still shot deer. Scent? No matter what you do you still have to exhale. Don't waste your money on hiding your scent. You can't. Your best advantage is up to you. Try to be downwind of where you think they'll appear. Try to move as little as possible. I once watched a doe climb a bank in World's End Sullivan county until here gaze was level with the field on top. She stood motionless studying that field for five minutes before proceeding up onto it. If a hunter was up there and moved an arm or swiveled his head, she would have seen it, backed off and he would never have known she was there. Which is exactly what happened a half hour later when a buck did the same thing. My friend was up there, the buck spotted him and wheeled. I wired it.

Be patient. Read. Ask. Think about it. The bow suggestion is a good one. Bow teaches a lot about deer. Three years? Ya got a long way to go...:-)

[wanneroo]

I don't hunt but since I am outdoors all the time I observe deer and their habits. It's quite clear to me that the deer are well aware when all the leaves disappear in the fall, it's time to take cover or else.

When I went out on my land on opening day to observe with a friend, despite tons of sign and knowing their schedule and them having no fear of me as I can drive or walk right up to them, on that day they bedded down and I know exactly where they were. They were not coming out unless you herded them out with a stick. I think what it was is that they sensed we were sneaking around and not acting normal.

One of the things I worried about was the construction of a firing range and that it would drive the deer away, especially since it is next to their couple acres of thicket they bed down in. Nope, not a problem, they actually come out and watch me shoot(I have pics and vids) and come within 10 yards while I shoot. That enabled the neighbor to bag one next to the range. He fired off a few shots, the deer came out to watch and bam he got one.

[Bang]

Yep. Deer are curious. They'll sniff the radiator of a running bulldozer. Fired a .22 pistol at a herd closeby in a field one afternoon and with each shot they advanced closer towards me. (I was being careful not to hit one). I've had deer suddenly stand up from their beds and just stand there looking at me...not even challenging or looking nervous. You never know what they will do. Speaking of that, it is rare, but deer have attacked humans.

[Gunplummer]

I'm with Bang. You can not cover your scent. Wannaroo is right too. When the leaves come down, it becomes a whole new ball game. Contrary to popular myth, a deer does not have poor eyesight. With no leaves, a deer will spot movement at 300 yards. I have had it happen and seen it. The reason you see sign and no deer is many times the deer got up and snuck off hundreds of yards ahead of you. If you sit, try not to sit on the top of a hill where you will be skylined. Find a blowdown to blend your self in. This helps if you are a fidgiter. With no snow I wear brown cotton gloves. It helps hide hand movements. Try not to rapidly bop around. It is hard, but I ignore what is behind me unless I hear something. It is much worse to be constantly bopping around. Keep at it. It seems once you have one on the ground, it starts to get easier after that.

[Karys]

My key for scoring consistently is just spending time in the stand. If you have a good spot, deer are going to go be there eventually and you need to be there when they come by. Sometimes it takes a change in the weather or just being lucky by having another hunter inadvertently push the deer to you by moving around.

During archery, I need at least four consecutive days on the stand. Sometimes this is difficult with work, family or other things going on in our lives. During the regular firearms season, regardless of what day of the season I'm hunting, I sit in the stand the entire day. I make sure I get to my spot well before shooting light and don't leave until shooting hours are over. I take plenty of food and drink and extra clothes to stay warm.

[ARay]

My key for scoring consistently is just spending time in the stand. If you have a good spot, deer are going to go be there eventually and you need to be there when they come by. Sometimes it takes a change in the weather or just being lucky by having another hunter inadvertently push the deer to you by moving around.

During archery, I need at least four consecutive days on the stand. Sometimes this is difficult with work, family or other things going on in our lives. During the regular firearms season, regardless of what day of the season I'm hunting, I sit in the stand the entire day. I make sure I get to my spot well before shooting light and don't leave until shooting hours are over. I take plenty of food and drink and extra clothes to stay warm.

Agreed, still/treestand hunting is about time in the woods in a decent spot. My property is full of sign, and for the 35 years we've been here, the deer come through at night 90+% of the time. Tracks and sign aren't always good enough. Learn their patterns, learn where their preferred escape routes are. Successful hunting happens before the season opens, game cameras help.

[Qtrborecrazy]

1 in 10 hunters connect on a deer per year in Pa. I'm with the rest go deep where the deer feel safe after opening day. Hunt right before a front comes thru. Remember food, shelter, water where will they be to get out of cold winds? Cold weather will make them feed more often and move allittle more. Gots to put your time in, speaking of which I'll be in da woods this afternoon. Safe hunting.

[wis bang]

Lots of good advise here.

Remember movement is a problem. I once saw a bow hunter walking from his stand to his truck. He was wearing camo but had those yellow leather work gloves on his hands. I spotted his hands swinging long b/4 I could tell it was a man. Looked like two flashlights walking thru the woods.

I immediately threw out any orange gloves and when I upgraded hunting suits I opted for all camo and added an blaze camo vest and hat. The number of deer I saw jumpped a lot!

I shot a deer every other year for a good 6 year run then I went 3 years before taking a nice buck this year. That is hunting an average of 11 - 20 days a year, muzzleloader, rifle and flintlock. It is very frustrating to go three years for that many days and see only a few/no deer.

I like to get out in Flintlock and study the tracks in areas where I have seen deer [always see bucks in Oct when muzzloader is doe only] and get an idea of where they are traveling and backtrack to look for potential places to hunt next year.

My flint was my dad's, I haven't taken a deer with it yet and I have been trying for 8 years. I missed a doe this year when I rushed the shot; I swear she was laughing at me as she ran off.

Every deer I have taken was with a rifle. Most, including this year's buck, have been on the opening day & until I quit smoking; I was actively smoking every time when I spotted the deer I shot. I also go back to stinky red woolrich and marvel at the bucks everyone seems to spend on scent control.

I have also connected on the first tues., the first sat. and 6 years ago on the last sat.

My point is you have to be there and put in alot of time.

It only takes a few min. for your luck to change. This year I stopped 3/4ths of the way to where I wanted to hunt because I spotted orange close by. Then I heard a shot and heard the deer crashing thru a frozen puddle I had passed on my way in. When I saw the hunter trailing and backtracking I walked down to him and told him that I had not seen it but that I did hear it. He then told me where the rest of his group were posted and I moved to a corner between them and one level below still looking to move up where I was originally headed.

I stood to streach and saw a deer sneaking along the edge of that level and none of the others shot so I moved up above where the deer was and found a spot to sit in front of a large rock so any deer following the one I saw would be around 30 yards below me.

There were two hunters within a 1/4 in each direction and the rock hid me from them.

I stayed there most of the day and when the wind shifted my scent spooked two doe tha would have walked by me so I got up to move and lit a cherry cigar. Well I saw that there was a third guy on the back side of this big plateau and the smoke showed me that the wind had changed back so I turned around.

I was about 20' from my seat when one of the others shot so I closed on my seat I then observed a deer about 140 yards above my rock and noticed antlers. I was able to get on him, count tines and find a hole in the trees he was walking thru.

Even better he stopped centered in the opening and he was mine!

The other guys took 2 bucks and I took mine; all on that same plateau. It is definitely a funnel area. 5 other camps hunting all around that spot came up empty handed.

You need to be there and luck has to be with you. Your pre-season and post-season should help you pick a good spot. You should also explore more areas. Boot leather is cheap!

[God's Country]

Best advise is don't do what everyone else is doing.
Preparing to hunt is like preparing for war. You come up with your best plan and be ready to throw it out and adapt as soon as the shooting starts. Especially on public land. During the early season the deer are far more predictable. During the gun season it can be a total crap shoot.

I completely agree with hunting the thick stuff. When I hunted more populous SGL's I would set up a stand in some God awful places that you could barely get a 25 yd shot. I used to hunt this one thicket that was only about 50yds off a main walking trail. I would watch hunters walk past me all day long, never one of them ever getting off the obvious spots. I took 5 or 6 deer out of that spot in a just a 3 or 4 years. Get past the idea where you need to see for 200yds to get a deer. That's what everyone does. It can work early on the first day, and if luck is on your side. After that fuggetaboutit.
It wasn't until I started bow hunting in my early twenties that I realized this.
Sure there may be deer going past you right under your nose that you never see or cannot get a shot on because of the cover, but eventually one of them is going to sneak up the trail you're on.

That and really try to get at least 3 consecutive days in the woods. Deer pattern differently all the time. Trying to hit it right one day here and there is tough.