I don’t know guys. I just don’t know….

[jackalope]

You ever have that feeling like everything you know about bow hunting is a load of worthless bullshit. Last week I spent my vacation in Vinton county from Friday night to Friday morning.. I hunted every morning and every evening. With only a couple hours break for lunch… I was in some good setups from saddles, bowls, edges of 15 year old pines, benches, ridge tops and bottoms… It was the peak of the rut, I saw does in the fields being pushed by bucks.. A guy at camp saw them screwing from his stand… I saw 5 times the amount of bucks than does.. mostly 4 and 6 points..

Sunday I was on a slow stalk and peaked over a clear-cut, I hit the rattle bag and the grunt call and sure as hell a 110 class 8 started up the hill to me out of the cut.. He stopped at 10 yards and I let him walk because I was after something much bigger… Great, I thought. They are coming to grunting and horns. Tuesday I had a solid P&Y behind me at 70 yards going away.. I gave him a light grunt he looked back over his shoulder, then started walking away, so I gave him another light grunt and he trotted off in a hurry…. Son of a gun!!

Tuesday, another slow spot and stalk along a ridge top.. A doe had a good vantage point along the trail and she bounced off at 50 yards with a buck in tow. Wait! Another buck following, but he didn’t quite see where the other 2 went and didn’t go far.. I dropped down the edge to cut him off and 15 min later was set up. To my left there was the small rise he should be coming over any minute… I gave it 30 min and figured I didn’t get him cut off in time and he slipped out in front of me… I stood and started to make my stalk again.. Instantly I hear a stomp to my left,, as I slowly turn my head at 30 yards I can see it’s him.. Son of a gun he’s been standing behind that rise the whole damn time.. The gig is up, I tipped my hat, and he bounced off into the woods.

I was scouting a ridge, and thought I smelled a deer.. I kept my face in the wind and stalked slow tree to tree.. Then I saw 2 deer not 15 yards bedded in a small impression.. I stood and watched for 20 min until she got a whiff of the smoke.. at first it didn’t bother her but after 20 more min she was obviously getting annoyed that she couldn’t pinpoint the smell.. so she got up and slowly walked 20 yards to my left. Stopped and was looking back towards he bed.. she finally just walked off.. I didn’t shoot as I really didn’t feel like dragging her butt out of that hollow.. The ridge is 900 feet elev, the hollow is 670 feet.. With only a distance of 250 yards as a crow flies…. If I shoot something in there it’ll have built in handles.

Besides those 3 times my butt was in a stand. For 63 hours in various stands, from funnels to bottoms, I only saw 1 doe…. 1 stinking doe…. and that P&Y... The whole week while actually hunting with my bow in hand I only saw

1 button buck
4 does, I shot 2
2 P&Y class bucks
1 100 inch 8pt (I could have shot)
1 110 ish 8pt
2 four pt
6 turkeys
And every squirrel in Vinton County…

I saw another P&Y and maybe 1 Booner pushing does while driving the sort 1 mile to hunt.. and a myriad of 6’s 8’s and smallies.

Where the hell were all the deer… I see them on the roads! I see them in the fields! I see them on a stalk!! But I couldn’t have baited one past my stand in the woods.. To me it almost seamed that ever deer had gone close to roads.

One morning I am sitting in my stand until noon and didn’t see a darn thing.. Get down walk the ¾ mile to the truck. Standing at the truck on the side of the road digging for my keys.. I see a 4 pt.. I decided to mess with him and throw a grunt. He perks up but so does the other p&y that, I didn’t see until he turned his rack at 80 yards… just watch him feed away, ain’t no way in hell you’ll grunt him over to a big red truck.

I mean I saw deer coming and going,, fields and roads.. But not a darn one in the woods while on a stand.. Also, our ridges are usually tore up with sign, the scrapes were covered with leaves telling me the chase was on.. But there were no rubs.. I found only half a dozen rubs on our 900 acres.. Thursday rubs started showing up like crazy.. makes no sense, they should have been rubbing for a month….


Sorry this is so long.. but it’s been stuck in my craw today.. I feel like a rookie, but I’m anything but.. did I really get just flat out outsmarted by deer,, impossible! Not all of them some deer sometimes, but never all of them… well, where were they? F___ if I know… They can’t just disappear…

Someone Please explain this to me before I go nuts…

[Slippy]

You ever have that feeling like everything you know about bow hunting is a load of worthless bullshit. …

No.

Next time you won't miss and all this frustration can be avoided.

[BillK]

Sounds better than the year I've had though.

[TheCream]

Buddy, I'm still trying to figure out why Mother Nature doesn't want me to deer hunt. All week long we'll have great bowhunting weather...when I can't get out. Weekend comes, and it's either: raining, windy as hell, hot as hell, or some combination of those conditions. I saw the biggest buck I have seen from the stand in 2 years yesterday, and at 75 yards he couldn't hear a sound I made because of the wind. :rant:

All I know is I'm not giving up easily. Every bad weather condition in the book has been thrown at me on Saturdays and Sundays since late September, and it's not going to stop me. I've passed on some "tweeners" and I know it is going to pay off eventually. :mischeif:

[Darron]

My farm is a only a hop, skip, and a jump from your lease off of 50 and not anything remotely close to your lease in size (100 acres). I have rubs and scrapes out the ying yang on my place. One scrape line has over 9 different scrapes not to mention the ones just scattered here and there. I have only bow hunted down there once during the rut for two days and saw 7 deer on stand one day and 5 deer on stand the other day. I saw 12 deer in 1.5 days and you saw 11 deer in a week of hunting. :( Something does not sound right. Could it be the pressure??? Are they working in there cutting trees? I know the last time I was by there it looked like a bomb went off in that place.

It seems like during deer gun season I don't see many deer because none of my neighbors hunt so the deer don't get pushed. Last year I didn't see a deer the first day:confused:

Another topic............turkeys. I usually see a crap load of turkeys on my farm. This year I have only seen one flock of 12! This is the first year since they have had a fall season where I have not got one.

[jackalope]

My farm is a only a hop, skip, and a jump from your lease off of 50 and not anything remotely close to your lease in size (100 acres). I have rubs and scrapes out the ying yang on my place. One scrape line has over 9 different scrapes not to mention the ones just scattered here and there. I have only bow hunted down there once during the rut for two days and saw 7 deer on stand one day and 5 deer on stand the other day. I saw 12 deer in 1.5 days and you saw 11 deer in a week of hunting. :( Something does not sound right. Could it be the pressure??? Are they working in there cutting trees? I know the last time I was by there it looked like a bomb went off in that place.

It seems like during deer gun season I don't see many deer because none of my neighbors hunt so the deer don't get pushed. Last year I didn't see a deer the first day:confused:

Another topic............turkeys. I usually see a crap load of turkeys on my farm. This year I have only seen one flock of 12! This is the first year since they have had a fall season where I have not got one.\

Mead cut 150 or so acres of timber off our property this year in early spring and finishing up in July.. Doesn't look like it messed with the deer. as in the clear-cut the deer are still walking around like the trees are there.. and it borders 200 acres of 15 yo pines.. The buck i grunted in was in the middle of that clear-cut around 3pm, and everywhere you can see dirt there is a track. but the ridge and hollow i was hunting is about a mile from there and is about a mile long.. Only found 3 small rubs on the logging road for a MILE.. The only thing we can think is down the ridge in the bottoms a mile away was 300 acres of standing corn. But I kept telling the guys there is no way in hell all the deer off our mile long ridge were in that corn.. Some, maybe.. but that’s a ton of deer to be missing. We have 200 acres of 15yo pines in the middle of our lease and deer were in there thicker than flies, but they always are.. I swear there are deer dying of old age in those pines. This spring I’m setting up a few ambush spots in those pine rows. Last week was the first honest pressure this area received.. and 4 guys in a square mile isn't much..

I think the bucks pushed the does into those pines and thats where they stayed locked down.. I couldn't buy a doe last week. yet 3 weeks ago i had 15 around my stand at one time...

[Deehntr56]

You ever have that feeling like everything you know about bow hunting is a load of worthless bullshit. Last week I spent my vacation in Vinton county from Friday night to Friday morning.. I hunted every morning and every evening. With only a couple hours break for lunch… I was in some good setups from saddles, bowls, edges of 15 year old pines, benches, ridge tops and bottoms… It was the peak of the rut, I saw does in the fields being pushed by bucks.. A guy at camp saw them screwing from his stand… I saw 5 times the amount of bucks than does.. mostly 4 and 6 points..

Sunday I was on a slow stalk and peaked over a clear-cut, I hit the rattle bag and the grunt call and sure as hell a 110 class 8 started up the hill to me out of the cut.. He stopped at 10 yards and I let him walk because I was after something much bigger… Great, I thought. They are coming to grunting and horns. Tuesday I had a solid P&Y behind me at 70 yards going away.. I gave him a light grunt he looked back over his shoulder, then started walking away, so I gave him another light grunt and he trotted off in a hurry…. Son of a gun!!

Tuesday, another slow spot and stalk along a ridge top.. A doe had a good vantage point along the trail and she bounced off at 50 yards with a buck in tow. Wait! Another buck following, but he didn’t quite see where the other 2 went and didn’t go far.. I dropped down the edge to cut him off and 15 min later was set up. To my left there was the small rise he should be coming over any minute… I gave it 30 min and figured I didn’t get him cut off in time and he slipped out in front of me… I stood and started to make my stalk again.. Instantly I hear a stomp to my left,, as I slowly turn my head at 30 yards I can see it’s him.. Son of a gun he’s been standing behind that rise the whole damn time.. The gig is up, I tipped my hat, and he bounced off into the woods.

I was scouting a ridge, and thought I smelled a deer.. I kept my face in the wind and stalked slow tree to tree.. Then I saw 2 deer not 15 yards bedded in a small impression.. I stood and watched for 20 min until she got a whiff of the smoke.. at first it didn’t bother her but after 20 more min she was obviously getting annoyed that she couldn’t pinpoint the smell.. so she got up and slowly walked 20 yards to my left. Stopped and was looking back towards he bed.. she finally just walked off.. I didn’t shoot as I really didn’t feel like dragging her butt out of that hollow.. The ridge is 900 feet elev, the hollow is 670 feet.. With only a distance of 250 yards as a crow flies…. If I shoot something in there it’ll have built in handles.

Besides those 3 times my butt was in a stand. For 63 hours in various stands, from funnels to bottoms, I only saw 1 doe…. 1 stinking doe…. and that P&Y... The whole week while actually hunting with my bow in hand I only saw

1 button buck
4 does, I shot 2
2 P&Y class bucks
1 100 inch 8pt (I could have shot)
1 110 ish 8pt
2 four pt
6 turkeys
And every squirrel in Vinton County…

I saw another P&Y and maybe 1 Booner pushing does while driving the sort 1 mile to hunt.. and a myriad of 6’s 8’s and smallies.

Where the hell were all the deer… I see them on the roads! I see them in the fields! I see them on a stalk!! But I couldn’t have baited one past my stand in the woods.. To me it almost seamed that ever deer had gone close to roads.

One morning I am sitting in my stand until noon and didn’t see a darn thing.. Get down walk the ¾ mile to the truck. Standing at the truck on the side of the road digging for my keys.. I see a 4 pt.. I decided to mess with him and throw a grunt. He perks up but so does the other p&y that, I didn’t see until he turned his rack at 80 yards… just watch him feed away, ain’t no way in hell you’ll grunt him over to a big red truck.

I mean I saw deer coming and going,, fields and roads.. But not a darn one in the woods while on a stand.. Also, our ridges are usually tore up with sign, the scrapes were covered with leaves telling me the chase was on.. But there were no rubs.. I found only half a dozen rubs on our 900 acres.. Thursday rubs started showing up like crazy.. makes no sense, they should have been rubbing for a month….


Sorry this is so long.. but it’s been stuck in my craw today.. I feel like a rookie, but I’m anything but.. did I really get just flat out outsmarted by deer,, impossible! Not all of them some deer sometimes, but never all of them… well, where were they? F___ if I know… They can’t just disappear…

Someone Please explain this to me before I go nuts…


Some years play out that way...and some years they walk right up to you and give you a dream shot opportunity...been there.....keep at it!!!

[CritterGitter]

Jack,

I can relate. I have had a similar week of vacation this year. Nothing but a few scrubber bucks within range. Heck, I can't even get a stinkin doe or button buck within range. One night my buddy killed a mature doe, bumped a doe and a real big buck out of the thicket when he went to recover her, and I saw nothing the whole night and we were never more than 100 yards apart? :irked:

This has been my toughest year. It feels like all of my good public land spots have had other people in them before I got there. It feels like all of my best public land spots that others dont know about or are to lazy to walk back to don't have deer using them. Finally, it feels like the few private property spots I have hunted I was there the wrong day, wrong wind, wrong weather pattern or moon cycle or whatever. I can't do a darn thing right. Actually, there in lies the problem. I haven't done anything wrong and I am still not even coming close to putting a deer on the ground. Oh, I haven't even seen a shooter buck from stand. :confused:

[Gern186]

That's why its called hunting and not shooting. I have had many seasons that were a rollercoaster of good and bad hunting with really low points and high points also. All you can do is be persistent and keep at it and sonething should work out for you. If it does, you can look back to this moment in time and you will feel great satisfaction.

[Bawana]

Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you! And I know he's been a chewing on me all year too!

[CARPN-JAKE]

It can change fast guys...I hunted hard the 31st to the 11th...Most days we were only out of the tree a hour or two and we pulled a few all day sits. While we saw deer all hunts except for a couple it seemed like things really turned on about the 7th or 8th. Obviously the warm weather the first week really hurt things.I think alot of stuff was goin on at night and by 10 or 11 am it was just too dang warm for the deer to wanna move much. I'm pretty sure the we missed out on a large part of the seeking/chase phase due to the warm weather. From the 8th on we were seeing at least 1 mature buck every hunt. But we also started seeing fewer mature does and we saw several nice bucks paired with does and bedded out in fencerows and brushpiles which led me to believe that we were heading into lockdown. things can vary alot from woods to woods also so my observations may be totatlly diff than someone elses. I just thought I'd throw what we saw out there in case it helps with your sanity. The night of the 10th I harvested my buck at 4:45 and he was the 4th buck thru. Every buck worked a series of scrapes and bumped a few does. 1 of the other bucks was a decnt 8 pt that I passed and the others were small. I was hunting in Adams and Preble county thru that time period by the way. IMO most areas are in some state of lockdown now and once they start running outa does thing oughta pick up after this weekend......But this time of yr anything can happen at anytime...Just gotta be in the right spot at the right moment.

[jackalope]

Thanks guys for the advice

I guess i can't complain.. We saw deer and we shot deer. But we didn't see near the quantity of deer we usually do.. When you go from seeing 15 deer a day on hunts one year and a deer or 2 or nothing the next it just makes you sit back and say huh?? Combine that with the lack of rubs.. There were scrapes put down but once the deer started chasing and the leaves dropped in them you couldn't find them.. But the utter lack of rubs is what put me back.. Usually the deer have the property tore up starting a month before the rut.. Not this time, scrapes but no rubs... The bucks were there just not laying sign. Some of the stand sites were old faithfuls and didn’t produce like years past.. And when we would hunt a buddies stand he would say now the deer will usually come from this direction or that.. I have never seen them come from this way.. Sure as hell the next morning that’s where they were coming from the way they never did before. Or you would hunt a funnel like a bowl.. Instead of cutting the bowl they would go straight up the darn hill. Or down the ravine and up further down the hollow, instead of cutting the bowl.. In big woods you can’t win when the deer start doing hair-brained crap like that… It’s just luck at that point one will come within your little 40 yard zone.. .. couple that with lower deer sighted and you have a recipe for hard hunting… I wonder if the lockdown and full moon had anything to do with the numbers we were seeing.

I guess i can't complain, i could have shot that 110 class 8pt on the ground after successful spot and stalk rattle grunt session.. Heck just getting a 110 class deer to within 10 yards while on the ground is an accomplishment in itself.. But I set out this year saying 130 or nothing... If i don't get one this year i won't feel like i ate my tag, as i could have easily filled it on that 8pt, but then i would have been kicking myself saying i should have held out... Give and take i guess.. I keep telling myself a sure kill shot passed is a successful hunt. (Who’s sig is that)