Where's The DEER ?

[motley man]

Been out every day of muzzy season and only seen 3 deer. None within range. What is everyone else seeing out there? I know they are probably hiding in swamps and thick cover, I just can't walk that much anymore to go get them. Or is the population down that much?

[harvey lee]

I know where I am hunting it seems the deer are down from what the local farmers are telling me.

I have been out 4 times hunting an area that should hold deer but nothing seen to date. This is a new woods or farm that I am hunting so that could also have alot to do with it as I have not scouted it out that much.

Tomorrow I am going to hit the heavy cover way back by a river to see what is running there. They have to be someplace. Geez, I can shoot a doe and cannot seem to find one of those.

The spot I was hunting so far, looks to be a great spot as there is alot of sign but I believe they went nocturnal on me with pressure so they are cioming out later than I am there.

I need I believe to get back in the woods farther closer to thier bedding area.

[Musky Buck]

If you saw 3 Motley you've been doing very very well from all who I talk to. Deer are down a lot more than we thought when they were acorn crazy they seemed to be all over, but they dispersed and we realized man there are very few scattered about. The biggest thing many of us noticed was a lack of mature does, very few adult does and in places few if any fawns also. We get a brutal winter now and it could be interesting. 2 of my areas that held a wintering herd for decades no longer do, we wonder if or when they'll winter there again, looks to be years away possibly. The deer have just been mopped up in a sense, when times were good, people responded by shooting them at a rate that sent them to the point we're at today, wolves, vehicles,winter,and all the factors that take them out. Good luck, maybe the snow this weekend will help clue people into where they are hanging, not that they are moving during shooting hours much. 7th warmest November, about 7th driest all time, strange November and the deer seemed strange also.

[TruthWalleyes]

I think the population is down in some areas more than others.

Deer are smart - unlike fish, they learn.

Look for bucks sitting in wide open areas, sink holes, fence lines, edges of cities...Bucks will maintain visibility for safety, See you walking from 1/4 mile away and they can safely run away. The nice bucks are very hard to get in these situations.

Deer are also going nocturnal on us. Just ask those with game cameras. Finding the bedding areas is key, but not spooking them out of the bedding areas can also be difficult when walking to your hunting spot in the morning darkness. I've kicked up a lot of deer before shooting light.

Keep at it, eventually your time will pay dividends.

[Meat-Run]

Global warming killed them all off!!! Just kidding of course but I think there really wasn't as many deer throughout the state that the DNR thought there was.

mr

[BLACKJACK]

I think the deer are still shell shocked from the gun season and have been driven nocturnal. Took a drive the other night and saw a few does right at last shooting light. I plan on getting out with my bow this weekend and my plan is to intercept them between food plots and their bedding areas. A little snow wouldn't hurt!

[Crappie Rage]

I am an insurance agent in the Twin Cities and normally have 15-20 deer hit claims per fall. I can only remember 2 this year. Heck, bear hits are only one behind.

I watch the news every morning and I can only remember one traffic report about a deer hit. Haven't seen a deer in my yard in almost a month.

If the deer numbers are not down significantly, then they have reached a new level of intelligence.

[TruthWalleyes]

I am an insurance agent in the Twin Cities and normally have 15-20 deer hit claims per fall. I can only remember 2 this year. Heck, bear hits are only one behind.

I watch the news every morning and I can only remember one traffic report about a deer hit. Haven't seen a deer in my yard in almost a month.

If the deer numbers are not down significantly, then they have reached a new level of intelligence.

So we can no longer use the old saying "Deer in the Headlights!"

I must also say that the weather has definitely not promoted successful harvest. Warm, Windy = Little deer movement.

Next 10 days are looking good though!

[Jarrid Houston]

oVER HERE in WI, the numbers of ours, and eveyone I talked to was down. So not much different than MN.

[Muskie456]

I am an insurance agent in the Twin Cities and normally have 15-20 deer hit claims per fall. I can only remember 2 this year. Heck, bear hits are only one behind.

I watch the news every morning and I can only remember one traffic report about a deer hit. Haven't seen a deer in my yard in almost a month.

If the deer numbers are not down significantly, then they have reached a new level of intelligence.

Great insight, that says a lot about the over all population. Do you work state wide or primarily the T.C.?

[nonteepical]

My expierence with muzzleloader season is this, the rut is 99% over and the deer are taking it easy and moving back into their feeding pattern, they don't move to a food source till the last 15 minutes of light, unless it's extremly cold, then they might move sooner. i've been hunting muzzleloader since they allowed you to hunt both seasons, and the places i hunt it isn't worth getting into the stand early in the afternoon, i only have to sit the last half hour of daylight. For me it's by far the toughest season to hunt, especially last year, and this year so far, because everything has been tilled up since before rifle season,they aren't eating my clover anymore and it's still a lush green.

[Musky Buck]

Hey Blackjack I agree with your opening line, but in my area they went nocturnal long before rifle season and each of the past 3-4 seasons we're noticing them getting more and more nocturnal before season so is it bow,checking tcams,checking/fixing stands,field goose hunters everywhere,weather, or what. We avoid our area completely and they still don't feel safe coming into the fields before it's dark. By the end of September we're basically done seeing deer. Then again with a lot less deer around it makes sense some, there's simply a lot fewer deer around.

[jay83196]

I agree seems less deer around I'm in intensive harvest and I don't think numbers supports that this year...hunted a lot and seen far less even less on cameras. I partialy blame wolf numbers in the area, I have had a lot on cameras past few years more than have had last 10 years combined.

[Musky Buck]

In a way where's the deer in the thickest jungle you can find, in the densest red willow and tall grass, in my area we never got that heavy wet snow that knocks that grass down, maybe Saturday that'll change, but it's kinda late for this year, hey next year may be really good so we'll hope for that.

[PurpleFloyd]

We hunt south of Mankato and we got more deer this year than we have ever gotten in the history of our hunting. We got one of the biggest deer we have harvested in the 33 years I have been hunting and we only hunted the first 2 days of the season.And all of that only took the first 2 days of the season.

The reason for the success was an early harvest that gave us the first season in memory where every single corn field was harvested. In the past there were farmers who hunted that would leave some small sections of corn that would hold deer but even those were gone so the deer had literally no place to hide.

I personally feel the season should be moved a few weeks earlier so that the deer have some cover so the deer have more cover during the season. If every season was like this or even worse if it were later when the corn is out and there is snow on the ground there would be a dramatic reduction in herd size.

[mike11]

i have personally towed 6 car deer accidents this fall

[HunterLee]

The DNR has them all dead. So no matter how much you walk you are not going to find many. That and with the warm temps and little snow they have no reason to come out until after dark.

There still is a rut going on, yesterday morning there were two bucks harrassing the last doe in my area. Glad the DNR gave everyone a rifle and lots of bonus permits. I get tired of seeing deer so now its more of a thrill to see one. Let alone hunt for a mature buck, those are all but extinct.

I have access to tons of private land as well as some decent state land and I am still holding my tag. I will do my part and hunt for one of the last mature does if I have to. But would rather find one of the ghosts that most people call a mature buck. They wanted the deer dead and its all about the numbers for Lou and his buddies, it will soon turn into duck hunting and talking about how good we had it. I may have to learn how to fish in the fall, as deer will be next on the endangered list.

Now if we get a wolf season sometime this decade I would go after them. Poor coyotes are going to take a beating this winter as its been a boring deer season, at least trapping was good.

[BLACKJACK]

Got off early last night and went bowhunting, saw 6 does, all right about the time the sun was going down. Unfortunately they were all on the north side of the food plot and I was on the south side..... Need a NW wind and will be moving to the north side of the plot, maybe Sat. evening.

[Musky Buck]

Hey Blackjack, when you or others say they saw 6 does does that really mean 3 does and 3 fawns or some combination like that ? I've always wondered when people say that are they just lumping the baldies together? Anyway remember this tid bit, in 2010 there were over 800,000 tags for deer sold. Isn't that crazy.

[BleedSiouxGreen]

My buddy was reading somewhere about how a deer herd may turn nocturnal when they're distressed by coyotes and wolves. Apparently they will stay bedded as long as possible during daylight to conserve energy at night to protect themselves from predators???

Part of that sounds like another excuse as to why it's been such a [PoorWordUsage]-poor hunting season, but part of it makes some sense IMO. I personally think it's a combination of factors - warm, windy weather, increased predator population, 3 brutal winters in a row, excessive tags, etc. But I thought that was interesting and thought I'd share and see if anyone else has ever heard that?

[laker1]

Crappie Rage-it would be interesting to compare years of car deer collisions the past few years,statewide and by local areas. good stats you provided.

[harvey lee]

I have been hunting a new woods, about 500 acres and do not know the deer moverment areas.

The spot I was evening hunting had alot of sign but no deer.

I thought they are moving through that area so I went into the wood well before 7:00 am.

Saw 1 buck and 3 does and shot a nice doe.

I thought they were using the field to feed and I assume they are just that they are coming out so late in the evening.

Morning was good this with numerous deer spotted in 45 minutes.

Buddy of mine is hunting the woods right to the north of me and the last times out he has saw numerous deer each outing. He is looking and waiting for a larger buck roaming the woods. He has spotted him but never a shot yet.

I will eat my doe.

[winterwalleye]

The DNR wants it this way.Just look what the wildlife research manager always says in the Outdoor News, we are at most population goals, so I guess we'll have to get used to it. Go to Itasca State Park you can shoot 5 deer .

[Musky Buck]

Definitely the most coyote/ wolf in my area that I've ever seen and heard in my lifetime. Just very very few fawns around here, usually you see plenty of fawns, did the does have to drop the embryo to save themselves or what. Many get missed by the bucks as they were shot before breeding, lots of thinking out loud and I'm in a pretty low buck population area, they have quite an area to cover.

[harvey lee]

MB

We did not have much for fawns in our area in North Dakota.

I thought it was due to the tough snowy winetr but the CO in our area explained to me that it was so wet in our area that many deer died and the fawns, if born had a very hard tiime and many perished.

I did not think a wet spring could cause such carnage.

We also had many dead deer in the hayfields this spring. Coyotes are also an issue for us but I believe the winter and wet spring did the real damage.