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2015 Hunting Megathread

Saw nothing this morning but a whole lot of rain.

Pulled all my cams a few days ago and on one there was a doe herd coming by every morning. I checked the date it went dark and it was right at the beginning of shotgun season. Just proves I need to get my deer before I have to turn into a pumpkin.
 
I did end up going out by myself last saturday in the late afternoon, despite being sick. I hit a spot in Truro that I've been hiking year-round for many years now but have only really gone there for deer in the last two seasons. Its a good long hike out into the middle of nowhere with some beautiful dune/ ocean scenery. Last year on the last day of shotgun I was out there solo and got a nice fat dumb-ass doe in my crosshairs out in the open in broad daylight. I had no doe tag last year. In fact I've NEVER had a doe tag for zone 12 until this season. Anyhow I saw zilch last weekend out there but it was an awesome day for a hike and I'm glad I suffered through the ailment to make it out there.

I'm up at 4 to get in a few hours of sitting at a particular spot that may be my best chance of seeing anything right now, being so damn warm out and this late in the gun season. I'd be very surprised to see anything but hey, my first day ever deer hunting a young buck basically stood in front of me at about 30 yards and said "Go ahead man. Shoot me. You will never be this lucky in deer hunting again." I had to ablige. You never know what'll happen.
 
I'm actually going out there in this spring weather today cuz 'you can't see anything if you're on the couch' and all that.

Good news is low temps and snow on Tuesday. So we'll have a couple days of deer season.

Jmo but if you like deer hunting I believe firmly we should find time to help them and hunt coyote.
 
Spent the last hours of the day yesterday, on a one-man deer drive. With the crusty crunch unavoidable, I circled around upwind of a suspected hangout, figuring if I bumped them, they'd circle around to head upwind. After finding four sets of tracks, I followed after them until I noticed the them showing signs of a speedier stride. Then I broke wide, and headed downwind, to see if I could intercept them. I caught up with their tracks again, but they bounded downwind into an off-limits area. I thought the deer might eventually head back into the sheltered areas of hemlocks, so I took a sit downwind for the last couple hours of light, listening to the cracking ice-coated trees, and witnessing the crashing of a tree top here and there. As dusk neared, there was no movement to be detected. I headed further downwind, along a ridge, to make my way out of the woods. About 200 yards south from where I was sitting, the deer had moved back up over the ridge. As shooting light was rapidly waning, I bumped them, catching only the crashing sounds from their departure. It was odd for me to see them moving downwind so far, without circling upwind. Maybe the extreme noise of the ice crust being crumbled beneath my boots pushed them further? They won, again. I don't think I'll be getting out again, but I enjoyed the part about muzzleloader season that I like best, and had been missing up until this small bit of snowfall.
 
pupchow said:
Spent the last hours of the day yesterday, on a one-man deer drive. With the crusty crunch unavoidable, I circled around upwind of a suspected hangout, figuring if I bumped them, they'd circle around to head upwind. After finding four sets of tracks, I followed after them until I noticed the them showing signs of a speedier stride. Then I broke wide, and headed downwind, to see if I could intercept them. I caught up with their tracks again, but they bounded downwind into an off-limits area. I thought the deer might eventually head back into the sheltered areas of hemlocks, so I took a sit downwind for the last couple hours of light, listening to the cracking ice-coated trees, and witnessing the crashing of a tree top here and there. As dusk neared, there was no movement to be detected. I headed further downwind, along a ridge, to make my way out of the woods. About 200 yards south from where I was sitting, the deer had moved back up over the ridge. As shooting light was rapidly waning, I bumped them, catching only the crashing sounds from their departure. It was odd for me to see them moving downwind so far, without circling upwind. Maybe the extreme noise of the ice crust being crumbled beneath my boots pushed them further? They won, again. I don't think I'll be getting out again, but I enjoyed the part about muzzleloader season that I like best, and had been missing up until this small bit of snowfall.
Click to expand...

I went out early today and stayed out until around 2. I went to a spot that I visited this past Monday where I saw many walnut sized pellet piles. I counted 7 total piles with 1 more smaller one that had only maybe 20 pellets. All the piles where within a 100 yards of each other on the edge of a swamp. On Monday I saw fresh tracks everywhere and I know there was a very large buck in the area so I tried my luck again today as I wouldn't have a chance tomorrow to go out.

In a nutshell, crunching was unavoidable and I think it kept the deer pinned down or they literally moved out during the snow/ice storm. I stayed outside the location I found on Monday for about 5 1/2 hrs and didn't see any movement. The wind was pretty still most of the time and would only picked up for brief moments. New to the area and unfortunately no luck this year. Picked up and walked some distance hoping to spot one. I saw the occasional track in the snow but only 2 were from today. (they were few and far between) I honestly saw more human foot prints than deer. If I had the time to stay out I would of head to the pines and hemlock locations that I found on Monday but they were a good couple of miles away. Interesting that I saw no pellets today and I followed two different tracks for a long distance. Sore and tired at this point and logged about 20 miles total between Monday and today. Anyone know of a good tracking app so I can study the patterns better by turning on tracking while I zig zag following a trail. I'd like to just turn it on and focus on my surroundings instead of loosing site because I'm tagged Pellets and scrapes. I was in the leominster state forest today
 
sbandit said:
.. Anyone know of a good tracking app so I can study the patterns better by turning on tracking while I zig zag following a trail. I'd like to just turn it on and focus on my surroundings instead of loosing site because I'm tagged Pellets and scrapes. I was in the leominster state forest today
Click to expand...

Are your referring to a phone app? I use BackCountry Navigator.
 
Here is what I have to show for my MA hunting efforts:

CbO4w8h.jpg
 
Tweed said:
didn't follow them far enough to find the deer?

it was a bad year. didn't see much either. not much sign.
Click to expand...

I tried in a vain attempt. Snow was very crunchy.


In case you're wondering, the non-deer tracks are mine from the night before.
 
I'm still really new to this hunting thing. Please forgive the newbie question: did the severity of last winter lower the deer population making them harder to find? Would a more mild/average winter improve conditions for next fall?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
admcd said:
I'm still really new to this hunting thing. Please forgive the newbie question: did the severity of last winter lower the deer population making them harder to find? Would a more mild/average winter improve conditions for next fall?
Click to expand...

There is no simple answer. The deep snow kept the deer from moving around a lot and had buried the food. Coyotes weigh less and don't sink into the snow as the deer. Coyotes could have taken deer that could not have escaped. I did see deer in the spring after the thaw and several on cameras thru June.

The lack of rain from July on dried up most of the back woods streams and mud holes. The deer were probably camped out near a reliable water source. The mast this year was huge. Many acorns all over. The deer did not need to go far to find food like past years. Other years you could camp out near an oak grove and expect to see some deer moving in and out.

The warm fall also played a part. The deer grew the winter coats as a part of the season change, but the season did not change. Deer are like dogs and have to pant to sweat. They are going to move during the night to avoid getting over heated.

We'll have to see the harvest numbers to get an idea on how bad the year was overall.
 
Tweed said:
There is no simple answer. The deep snow kept the deer from moving around a lot and had buried the food. Coyotes weigh less and don't sink into the snow as the deer. Coyotes could have taken deer that could not have escaped. I did see deer in the spring after the thaw and several on cameras thru June.

The lack of rain from July on dried up most of the back woods streams and mud holes. The deer were probably camped out near a reliable water source. The mast this year was huge. Many acorns all over. The deer did not need to go far to find food like past years. Other years you could camp out near an oak grove and expect to see some deer moving in and out.

The warm fall also played a part. The deer grew the winter coats as a part of the season change, but the season did not change. Deer are like dogs and have to pant to sweat. They are going to move during the night to avoid getting over heated.

We'll have to see the harvest numbers to get an idea on how bad the year was overall.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation! Very helpful.
 
Tweed said:
We'll have to see the harvest numbers to get an idea on how bad the year was overall.
Click to expand...


I can tell you how bad it was in Connecticut this season. Hopefully we will fare better but I am doubtful.

Here are the Connecticut numbers:

The average deer harvest in Connecticut for 2011, 2012, and 2013 is 12,946.

The deer harvest for 2014 was 11,394.

These numbers are provided in the 2014 deer summary:

http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/wildlife/pdf_files/game/deersum2014.pdf

The deer harvest this year is 8,007 deer as of 12/28/2014. Despite the addition of Sunday hunting which extended the season by 13 days.

http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/hunting_trapping/pdf_files/reportedharvest2015.pdf

The numbers in Connecticut plummeted in a major way this season. I will be very interested in seeing the numbers from Massachusetts.

Bob
 
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AD..... Deer are NEVER easy to find. True this year was a challenge. But every year is really. You have to recognize and change tactics to get on them. I saw more deer this year than I have in years past. But this is my 3rd year at it and I'm just getting better at finding them. In time the same will happen to you.
Be mobile. That's the most important step you can take.
 
This year blew. I saw as many does as years past - after more time in the woods (zone I didn't have doe tag for).
Trudged all day today on crunchy snow. Sat and saw nothing.
Time to break out the Acme coyote pump station disconnect machine.
 
I've actually seen 3 deer this year, compared to just one last year, and 0 the 3 years before that. I dont really walk and hunt at all. I just sit in a stand or on top of a particular hill. Yesterday with the ice rink, I decided to sit at the bottom of this hill so I would not risk falling and sliding down. Anyway... about 3 hours into it, two deer come running at full speed right across the hill and where I would have been sitting. I literally could have tackled one of them if I was where I normally am. I didnt have a shot where I was though.
 
ThePreBanMan said:
Be mobile. That's the most important step you can take.
Click to expand...

I like to keep moving when hunting deer. Whether its in a group driving, or just stalking by myself. I've become quite good at walking through the woods silently when conditions allow. Still, a friend who's only been hunting for two years has killed four deer by himself from a stand in that short time. I don't even own a stand, and will only occasionally sit still if I'm hunting solo. Of course, I don't bow hunt (yet) so I know that is a factor in the fact that I haven't taken a deer in four years. I plan on getting set up for bow by next season.
 
So I've been seeing a lot of does , some bucks and it's the last few weeks of hunting and not much showing up anymore. Well I now know why, I hunt on the north side of a natural choke point in the woods, the deer come from the south mostly and pass by me. At 2:30 yesterday I went to my stand and about 3:00 I see this other bow hunter quickly walking on a trail about 75yards south of me. I'm so pissed, have never seen anyone else hunting this little spit of woods ! I climbed down and almost followed this guy but I figured I would try and make my last afternoon hunting so I moved towards his direction but downwind of the trail. Nothing showed and I left pissed.
Today I went in to take down my stand and find his. His stand was right in the area the deer have been bedding, and there as a gut pile fifteen yards from his stand. Well this means my little hunting spot was found by someone else and I'll have to put next years stand a little further south of his next year ! Grrrrrrrr. The bastard.
 
Harumph! I spent 10 days dark-to-dark in a stand...and didn't see one deer... I only saw one coyote...which I am in the process of fleshing out now... Coyoted-Downed-12-30-15a.jpg
 
I bought it years ago from Cabela's. It's an "InvestArms" mfg. I've been happy with it...and like the 'traditional' look.
 

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