Habersham County - Dissapointment

Yep, deer didn't move immediately after the snowfall. Had same situation on the land I hunt. Sunday morning they were all over the place.

Don't worry about it. OP said he's putting up his guns. The other hunters killed everything, because they can't manage

my dad owns a farm in southern Habersham. He instituted a brown/down policy on his farm this year because he couldn't grow a garden. He planted his 5+ acre corn field 4x this year, and didn't get any corn, because the deer would come in and eat the corn when it was about 8 inches tall, leaving only a few stalks here and there.

Up til this year, he wouldn't allow a doe to be taken, even on doe days. We are seeing an average of 8 to 10 deer a hunt. Hunt being 3 or 4 hours in the morning or afternoon.

I'll go ahead and tell you the deer are gone from what they were just a few years ago. In places half the herd was wiped out from ehd in the north end of the county. I usually hunt it a good bit off and on but the last few years is awful. I been seeing more deer in Rabun, white and Lumpkin. A lot more deer. Look at how many bucks have been killed in habersham this year. I've seen a lot more deer than normal this year but that's because acorns were in short supply and there having to move but there nothing like they were 5 years ago and 10 or 15 years ago would blow your mind. You can thank they kill does crowd and now you can thank the bears and coyotes because there's no way the deer will rebound with more predators than deer in the woods.

Hogs haven't helped any either. Just about every peice of nf has hits now.

Darn, I genuinely feel bad for the folks with low deer numbers and poor sightings.

Over here in SC we are inundated with those jokers and even have a few good bucks running around.

After several years of plots and trigger control on bucks - our weights are up and our herd is strong.

I will be hopeful that the herd in those areas makes a strong comeback and you guys get some good hunting.


Best of luck.

Well there have been lot's of good comments shared on this thread. Most all of it I agree with. Ehd can get more of the credit than most of the other things. I hunt northern Habersham a lot every year and I have seen some decline in deer numbers over the last decade, but I have also seen an increase in buck quality during this time. I'm content to invest my time in the woods seeing fewer does and deer in general if I can still get my chance at a racked buck. Have any of you ever hunted Dukes Creek WMA? I used to hunt it when you had to be quota drawn. It was amazing. Four points on a side and I have seen as many as three shooters in one scouting trip. I killed a good deer there in 2008, the EHD hit. Wasn't long before there were no deer to hunt, then there weren't enough hunters applying to justify the quota hunt. This was a sad loss of a really cool public land hunt. For sure any area can go through this same devastating scenario. Another important factor on the NF that impacts deer populations is the lack of timber management/harvesting. Deer and most all other game really benefit from forest diversity. Our NF tends to be mostly old growth forest, which is strongly dependent on mast production for deer to have groceries. Throw in the competition of hogs, bears, turkeys and everything else it makes for some tough years. But there are still some deer around, it just takes work and patients to get up with them.

JerseyJim said:

I witnessed something yesterday in Rabun county that really surprised me. I've been waiting for a long time for it to snow in the area that I hunt in CNF. So Sunday was the day for a long hike with no gun to explore. Just me, a backpack and a sammich.
It was quite windy on top of a ridge that I was walking along when I heard what sounded like a buck grunt a couple of times.
I thought no way, its too late in the season for grunting. I figured it was just the wind blowing a couple of tree trunks together.
As I am standing there catching my breath, I hear more grunting.
I take a step and all heck breaks loose around me.
I didn't get a good look at the rack but it was a big bodied deer.
A couple of things to note from this. This area had a controlled burn about three years ago. There are some areas that have lots of thick saplings about 4-5 feet tall. These saplings provide lots of browse.
This ridge is thick as I could only see no more than 10 yards in some places.
But the deer were in there.
Then I found another area with lots of laurels with tracks around.

Jim

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It's not too late in Rabun county for grunting, the crazy chasing phase of rut is on in the mountains. December is when you see and hear all the rutting activity.

I live in Habersham and have about 5 acres or so that backs up to a large 300 acre tract of land. Never been back off my property so I couldn't say about the hunting pressure it receives, but I used to see a large group of does at least 4 or 5 times a year. This year I have yet to see the first deer this season. They used to use the small thicket behind the house as a bedding area, but this year I don't even have deer bedding here. I will say ive also never hunted my property due to the low deer numbers (seeing deer three or four times a year is low to me.) Being from South GA I'm used to seeing tons of deer throughout the year, but I was surprised when we moved here how low the numbers are, and with each year it seems to be getting worse and worse.

I think Georgia's long deer hunting season with high bag limits past years have had a negative impact on out deer heard. I also believe yotes and poaching has had a negative impact also. Especially in the mountains. It will take years for the mountain region to replenish their deer heard. But I'm worried about the poaching. I think that will ratchet back up big time. I also think Georgia should cut back on the deer hunting season. Especially in regions where we have low numbers.

PappyHoel said:

I saw the same thing in Lumpkin county. I've sat over 100 hours this year and I've seen 1 deer.

Be careful the folks that see 10 deer a sit will tell you that you don't know how to hunt. I say they can't hunt because all they do is go sit in the woods.

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100 hours and only seeing one deer? If I go 100 minutes without at least seeing something I'm second guessing my decision on my hunting location. I admire your dedication - I was driving through your county on the first weekend in December and the scenery was nice, but
I didn't see much deer food from the road at least. I saw a few dead deer on highway 78/17 on the way to Helen so I guess the second rut was going on. But if you didn't see many tracks in the snow after the front came through that paints a grim picture. You might have to drive south into the piedmont for a higher deer density next season. I think you might only be 90 minutes from the Clark Hill WMA near Washington GA, for example.

ALB said:

I think Georgia's long deer hunting season with high bag limits past years have had a negative impact on out deer heard. I also believe yotes and poaching has had a negative impact also. Especially in the mountains. It will take years for the mountain region to replenish their deer heard. But I'm worried about the poaching. I think that will ratchet back up big time. I also think Georgia should cut back on the deer hunting season. Especially in regions where we have low numbers.

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What is the "official" viewpoint on the low deer numbers in that area? Are studies underway to find out the causes and possible solutions?

One solution would be to start logging the mountains again. Not clear cutting, but select cutting would go a long way! With the lack of food (little crops, etc), the deer need some browse. The big trees are pretty much not good for deer. Pretty sure this will never happen though. Too many tree hugging groups with deep pockets. So, if your a mountain hunter you just have to understand what you are dealing with and be blessed to go up and down those mountains. When you do shoot one it is awesome!

I have a sincere question- I don't hunt in Habersham but know plenty that do through trout fishing friends. So my question is this- are they a lot of people killing Does in that area? Because no one I know is and as far as that goes not even shooting small bucks. Of course I don't know everyone so that is why I am asking. Even in my county I know a ton of hunters and very few even shoot "one" Doe. Those feared poachers Ford, Dodge, and Chevy take more deer than hunters in my neck of the woods.

Ill add something else to the equation. It goes right along with small pockets of deer and food source. Whether it be natural or otherwise.

These are not scientific numbers just a good example.
Years ago we had 25-30 deer per square mile. Today we only have 10. When the numbers were high deer were distributed more evenly because of competition for food. Now all 10 deer in a square mile can be pulled to one food source pretty easily. After all deer will certainly use the best habitat available to them.

Prime example. I bow hunt a 15 acre wood lot sandwiched in between 2 subdivisions. Its very hit or miss with just 2-3 deer using it on a regular basis. 3-4 years ago we had almost total acorn crop failure. There was one big white oak in the hollow that was loaded with acorns. I saw the same 9 does and 2 small bucks almost everytime I went. Once the acorns were gone so were the deer. Drive 1/4 mile down the road and the same small bucks and does are hitting a small hay field every evening.

The mountains need some timber cutting/thinning, in a way that doesn't silt the streams. All wildlife would benefit. Also, instead of letting poplar coves come back on their own, we need to plant some of those coves blight resistant chestnuts, oaks, and other wildlife beneficial trees.

The length of the hunting season and the few doe days we have are not the problem.

oldfella1962 said:

100 hours and only seeing one deer? If I go 100 minutes without at least seeing something I'm second guessing my decision on my hunting location. I admire your dedication - I was driving through your county on the first weekend in December and the scenery was nice, but
I didn't see much deer food from the road at least. I saw a few dead deer on highway 78/17 on the way to Helen so I guess the second rut was going on. But if you didn't see many tracks in the snow after the front came through that paints a grim picture. You might have to drive south into the piedmont for a higher deer density next season. I think you might only be 90 minutes from the Clark Hill WMA near Washington GA, for example.

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100 hours on 8-10 Stand locations on 1800 acres. In areas that have produced over the last 7 years. I've hunted stands that I saw deer every time last year.

You can't continue to kill 22 deer off of 1800 acres year over year and expect to see deer. That's the problem. It's not the this hunter it's the hunter management.

I spent some time in Rabun on stand last weekend in the snow...not near as much as I wanted though. I did not see any movement, but walking to my stand Friday am prior to everything getting covered up by snow, I found a brand new scrape and several rubs...none of that sign was there a week earlier. Was hoping to hunt Sunday, but got called back home due to storm damage at the house. Planning on being in the woods this weekend. Looks like the rut is still going strong in Rabun NF. I have not seen one deer this year, but with all of the new sign popping up, I'm hopeful.

Where is the like button I agree

I wish they would timber the NF nationwide and sell the timber to whoever for the highest bidder to help pay down our national debt.

I bet you they could sell the heck out of it to Californians in a couple months.