Disconnected?

[Thunder Head]

Do you ever feel like you have no clue what the deer are doing?

Couldnt find any fresh sign under the oaks. Scouted for soft mast. Found plenty. No fresh sign there either. I even found a hill side that has fully mature white oak acorns and the trees look to have a good many on them. Barely a deer track.

I know ill get in tune shortly. But sometimes i just have to shake my head.

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

Yes, I often find myself there. My job doesn't allow me the time in the woods that I really need to get in tune with the forest. I just do the best I can.

 

[doenightmare]

It always takes me a while to get "tuned in". Every sign I see appears random and then, after a while, it becomes clearer. I call it getting my "hunting legs under me".

 

[flintlock hunter]

You're not alone at all. I think we all have to establish the patterns they're using now, as opposed to the ones we decided on for them before we even got back out in the woods.

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

May the Force be with You!

 

[bear claw]

Yea happens every year for me. O how sweet it is though when things start coming together. Makes it all worthwhile.

 

[Nicodemus]

No, but it does seem like every critter and bird will take the day off ever once in a while. One of those days where nothing moves, birds don`t sing, and it`s just total silence. Those are good days to set back and take a nap.

 

[Goon]

Do you ever feel like you have no clue what the deer are doing?

Couldnt find any fresh sign under the oaks. Scouted for soft mast. Found plenty. No fresh sign there either. I even found a hill side that has fully mature white oak acorns and the trees look to have a good many on them. Barely a deer track.

I know ill get in tune shortly. But sometimes i just have to shake my head.

They picking crops in the area?

 

[JustUs4All]

At the Farm, soft mast should be the go to right now. White Oak acorns follow but I have a doe group that seem to prefer the red oak at my barn. Perhaps they feel safer there. I don't know.

 

[tree cutter 08]

Big woods can be frustrating to hunt. Years like this when there's a ton of food on the ground they don't need to move as much. So I just keep piddling on my chores and work as much as possible because come November and December I know what they will be doing!

 

[mguthrie]

Big woods can be frustrating to hunt. Years like this when there's a ton of food on the ground they don't need to move as much. So I just keep piddling on my chores and work as much as possible because come November and December I know what they will be doing!

This. There’s a bunch of food in the woods right now. I hunt transition areas between food and bedding.

 

[1eyefishing]

Seems like I have a dry spell of sightings every year...
Mine may have started yesterday evening when I set in one of my old favorite stands. It was full of ants and I couldn't sit still.

 

[Jim Boyd]

I am such an awful hunter, I am used to not finding sign and not seeing deer.

I am more surprised when I do SEE some sign!


Good luck to the OP - hunt ‘em up!

 

[oldfella1962]

the first month is almost always slow where I hunt. Weird though of the nine deer killed so far (there is an online data base updated nearly every day) five have been 8+ point bucks, the rest of them small does. Personally I never start seeing too many deer until about late October or so. Plus I'm sick of sweating while I hunt too!

 

[Tadder]

Yes sir, been stump this season even though my so took a buck we had been hoping too see. But it seems like there no where too be found.

 

[across the river]

A lot of it has to do with what is around you, especially if you are hunting a small tract. If there is an ag field, a clearcut with a bunch of browse, or any other possible number of foods in the area, they aren't often going to walk any significant distance to look for something else, especially if it is just a few whiteouts or red oaks. There is a white oak tree or two dropping a few on my place on one side, and you will hardly find a deer tract anywhere close. All of the deer are on the other side where the neighboring tract was clear cut a year or two ago. They are all in and around that clearcut and you can see all kinds of deer on that side of the tract. You can barely walk down the road without stepping on a tract. Fairly soon, when all of the acorns start falling at once, there will be a a bunch of deer in the acorns. If the tract is small, or even large with little diversity, they will move to find their food and cover preferences.

I used to hunt a place and a large portion of it was cut one year. The first several years after it was clearcut, the clearcut itself would be loaded with deer until about late October or November, and then the hardwoods and draws that weren't cut would be loaded when the oaks were dropping. Once the acorns were about gone they would move again to this part of the property that had a couple of fields in it that. It was pretty consistent year to year, and if you were in any of those sections at the wrong time of year you honestly didn't see a lot.

My grandfather used to say that "You have to fish where the fish are at, not where you think they should be." The same could be said about hunting deer.

 

[Thunder Head]

Flintlock,
Your exactly right. In my head. The deer should be doing this. In this spot. Only problem is, there not.

No ag to speak of were i hunt.

yep,
I dont know if ive ever seen so many grapes in the woods. Persimmons are loaded too. Theres acorns to be had even though most of the white oaks are very small or nonexistent.

I have seen the "deer on the other side" before. A few years ago when we had a mast failure. I found that 1 white oak that had acorns. In a small wood lot sandwiched in between 2 subdivisions. Normally theres 2-3 deer that use it on a regular basis. I saw the same 9 does almost every sit. Also 3 small bucks about half the time. Im sure there were hunters nearby that were asking themselves. What happened to all the deer. That same tree has acorns as big as the end of your thumb, this year. Theres probably less than 50 on the whole tree though.

On the flip side theres a group of 8 pigs that are doing exactly what there supposed to be doing. The old sow has busted me 3 times. She totally freaked out just by smelling where i walked. The trees there hitting are on private property. Makes me want to break out the 30-06 and shoot her right in the nose.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Their doing it....you just gotta find the right spot. They eat everyday. I’m having trouble finding a good feed tree right now. This mornings rain will help. It’s a chess game that we love.

 

[Kris87]

My deer are hammering early white oak and water oak acorns. Deer still aren't traveling very far to eat. I hunt as close to bedding as I can right now.