2001ZincSR
12-21-2007, 08:51 PM
Ive been out hunting the past couple days trying to fill my last tag. Ive been seeing a lot of sign on the ground, more than i ever have. Yesterday morning I seen a couple deer right at first light heading back into bedding. I hunted the rest of the day and didnt see a thing. Today I moved my stand over to where the deer came through and I didnt see a thing. There was alot more sign in the area than when I left the day before. The area Im hunting is covered in all kinds of sign (trails and droppings) but Im just not seeing the deer. I think they have gone nocturnal due to the heavy pressure of gun season and the constant presence of people (jogging, walking dogs).
Today I stayed in the woods all day, from sun up to sun down. At midday I slowly worked my way back to a known bedding area against a lake. There were quite a few fresh tracks in the melting snow of deer heading back to bed in the early morning. The main trail coming out of the bedding area was nothing but mud covered in tracks with droppings everywhere. So I set up as close to this bedding area as possible being careful not to spook any deer. I sat there for the remaining 5 hours til dark and didnt see a thing. I bet if I was able to go back in the morning there would be more fresh sign waiting for me.
The way this area is set up is a thick woodlot along the back up to a lake running the length of the area acting as a boundary. There are thick overgrown fields in front of these woods with funneling treelines leading to the road. The deer are bedding along the lake on these little wooded fingers. I hunted the funnels in early season and had no problem seeing deer, now after the 2 gun seasons the deer arent leaving the bedding until nightfall.
Does anyone have advice on approaching nocturnal deer? Ive already taken a buck and would just like to fill this doe tag.
Today I stayed in the woods all day, from sun up to sun down. At midday I slowly worked my way back to a known bedding area against a lake. There were quite a few fresh tracks in the melting snow of deer heading back to bed in the early morning. The main trail coming out of the bedding area was nothing but mud covered in tracks with droppings everywhere. So I set up as close to this bedding area as possible being careful not to spook any deer. I sat there for the remaining 5 hours til dark and didnt see a thing. I bet if I was able to go back in the morning there would be more fresh sign waiting for me.
The way this area is set up is a thick woodlot along the back up to a lake running the length of the area acting as a boundary. There are thick overgrown fields in front of these woods with funneling treelines leading to the road. The deer are bedding along the lake on these little wooded fingers. I hunted the funnels in early season and had no problem seeing deer, now after the 2 gun seasons the deer arent leaving the bedding until nightfall.
Does anyone have advice on approaching nocturnal deer? Ive already taken a buck and would just like to fill this doe tag.