2019 Deer check-in thread.

[Lennypeters]

MA doesnt have a lot of deer. Theres no reason to kill the only ones you see just to donate them.

I don't know what part of MA you are referring to but there are way too many on the South coast. I drive through two rural towns on the way to work and it's a rare drive to not see several. I have hit two in the last two years and drive focused for movement on the sides of the road.

 

[DJBrad]

Yeah. Thats all I do. Even less if I have meat in the freezer.

MA doesnt have a lot of deer. Theres no reason to kill the only ones you see just to donate them.

I used to donate them for CT. But it becomes a lot of work. Now I just let them walk. I let 20 deer walk in my last two day CT hunt.

How many of you even see that many deer never mind have the opportunity to take them? This is with a bow.

Reset your thinking if you havent even had a chance to get one with a gun, which is ten times easier. Yet your in zone 9 plus where they give out doe permits like crazy.

Watch some hunts in PA where guys see 20 deer a day yet shoot nothing.
Very few people in MA have restraint like that. They see brown they kill it.
Why I have no idea why you want to kill 5 or 6 small deer and give half of it away or waste it to freezer burn.

I’m with you. It would be just as much work to get another one and then donate it. I also have seen lots of deer. I’ve bumped many deer. It just so happens that the only legal opportunity for me to kill one was between 12/2-12/14. I’m not for decimating a population of creatures.

 

[Mark from MA]

I don't know what part of MA you are referring to but there are way too many on the South coast. I drive through two rural towns on the way to work and it's a rare drive to not see several. I have hit two in the last two years and drive focused for movement on the sides of the road.

Your area of the state and mine are night and day as far as herd structure is concerned.

North Central MA. I can drive around almost a year without seeing a deer around here. Roadkills are very infrequent.

We have large fields around, drive around at dusk and youll be lucky to see a deer. Where 20 years ago you'd see many.

They overhunted the quabbin which was a good sanctuary for our area, and the forest structure is poor quality, too mature, lacking young edge cover, predators are high. Coyote tracks are way more prevalent than deer tracks around here. Winter is 5x the snow cover youll have on the south coast.

All though they do give out less doe permits its still easy to get one. If not shotgun toting groups around here
will get a zone 9 tag and poach. It needs to be managed like the old days. One buck tag, no doe tags allowed.
Not too much east and south of here the hunting is better. But even a lot of my zone 8 friends dont fill any tags, and they hunt alot.

My point here is people think MA has a lot of deer cause they see a few and kill one in a weeks hunt. They have no idea what a lot of deer is.

Yet many states like PA have alot of deer and still are one buck only with antler restrictions. They are seeing way more deer and way better bucks.
And when they can shoot a doe they take one or two, they dont go out and buy 3-4 surplus tags to shoot that many does. Its a mentality difference shooting a doe to them is a joke, they see 20 a sit. Where alot of people around here are like....holy crap a deer. Shoot.

I feel if we had a higher deer population they wouldnt be so trigger happy.

 

[DJBrad]

 

[HorizontalHunter]

Your area of the state and mine are night and day as far as herd structure is concerned.

North Central MA. I can drive around almost a year without seeing a deer around here. Roadkills are very infrequent.

We have large fields around, drive around at dusk and youll be lucky to see a deer. Where 20 years ago you'd see many.

They overhunted the quabbin which was a good sanctuary for our area, and the forest structure is poor quality, too mature, lacking young edge cover, predators are high. Coyote tracks are way more prevalent than deer tracks around here. Winter is 5x the snow cover youll have on the south coast.

All though they do give out less doe permits its still easy to get one. If not shotgun toting groups around here
will get a zone 9 tag and poach. It needs to be managed like the old days. One buck tag, no doe tags allowed.
Not too much east and south of here the hunting is better. But even a lot of my zone 8 friends dont fill any tags, and they hunt alot.

My point here is people think MA has a lot of deer cause they see a few and kill one in a weeks hunt. They have no idea what a lot of deer is.

Yet many states like PA have alot of deer and still are one buck only with antler restrictions. They are seeing way more deer and way better bucks.
And when they can shoot a doe they take one or two, they dont go out and buy 3-4 surplus tags to shoot that many does. Its a mentality difference shooting a doe to them is a joke, they see 20 a sit. Where alot of people around here are like....holy crap a deer. Shoot.

I feel if we had a higher deer population they wouldnt be so trigger happy.

Spot on.

View attachment 319520

The by zone map tells the real story.




The kill will be down this year due to the weather we have had this gun season.

Bob

 

[Admin]

Those numbers make me miss MN hunting greatly.

 

[DJBrad]

Spot on.



The by zone map tells the real story.

View attachment 319551


The kill will be down this year due to the weather we have had this gun season.

Bob

So what can we glean from those numbers? Deer population is highest in Zones 9-11? Over hunted Zones 1-8? Less kills in Zones 12-14 due to many no firearm bylaws and archery hunters less successful? There’s the human population density thing too. Are the estimates of 80,000 in total deer incorrect? Lots of questions and I’m sure conflicts between hunters and MFW biologists.

Since I’ve only hunted for the past 2 years I don’t have much to go on for sure and I have never hunted out of state either. What the map I posted above does show is that the deer population has grown over the last 52 years. Or is it the number of hunters has increased? Succinctly, what is the real story?

 

[Mark from MA]

So what can we glean from those numbers? Deer population is highest in Zones 9-11? Over hunted Zones 1-8? Less kills in Zones 12-14 due to many no firearm bylaws and archery hunters less successful? There’s the human population density thing too. Are the estimates of 80,000 in total deer incorrect? Lots of questions and I’m sure conflicts between hunters and MFW biologists.

Since I’ve only hunted for the past 2 years I don’t have much to go on for sure and I have never hunted out of state either. What the map I posted above does show is that the deer population has grown over the last 52 years. Or is it the number of hunters has increased? Succinctly, what is the real story?

Dont really know. All I know is that the one small Zone I hunt in PA kills 17000 deer annually. Which is about 3-4 k above what the whole state of MA kills annually.

We dont have a lot of deer here.

 

[Admin]

We dont have a lot of deer here.

Nope, I'm no biologist, I'm simply guessing part of issue is the lack of crops in New England that don't lend to a beefy deer population. Plus human population density.

 

[pupchow]

I used to see deer incidentally a few times a week. Within the past few years those sightings have diminished to a few times a month. Only within the past few years have I seen coyotes regularly.

I heard quite a few shots this afternoon though. Much more than during shotgun season.

 

[71montess]

The more experienced one is at hunting deer have more patience you have at choosing not to take the shot, Without second guessing that decision.

 

[Al-Jim19]

I live and hunt 4s and i see deer a couple times per month while im driving around. The problem is that theyre pretty much isolated to back yards and unhuntable areas.

 

[whacko]

The more experienced one is at hunting deer have more patience you have at choosing not to take the shot, Without second guessing that decision.

It's not only experience. It's time available to hunt. A read somewhere that the average field days for a deer Hunter is 2 in mass. That means most mass hunters are taking what they can get.....because they don't have many days to get out there.

 

[Admin]

I passed on at least 20 doe shots and one spike. I was waiting on the big boy I've been catching all summer/fall on my cameras. The one time he appeared during shooting hours in my AO was when I was working in Albany.

Thankfully he's still around for next year.

 

[Jay77]

I haven’t made it back out since youth day. Hopefully I can get a day in this week. Weather, work and life has gotten in the way.

 

[DJBrad]

Prepped for euromount

 

[DJBrad]

I’ve worked very hard this first season of deer hunting covering many many miles of rough terrain and countless hours of prep.(miles and miles were covered before the actual hunting season) I will say I have not seen deer like some of you have reported to have seen here and in other states over the years. I’m happy to fill my freezer and I love the taste of venison but I will be more cognizant of the ramifications of harvesting does in my Zone. I’m sure the tally will be low this year and this will gauge my actions for next season.

 

[Admin]

I’ve worked very hard this first season of deer hunting covering many many miles of rough terrain and countless hours of prep. I will say I have not seen deer like some of you have reported to have seen here and in other states over the years. I’m happy to fill my freezer and I love the taste of venison but I will be more cognizant of the ramifications of harvesting does in my Zone. I’m sure the tally will be low this year and this will gauge my actions for next season.

There is nothing wrong with shooting a doe. The deer herd is monitored very closely. If they didn't want you to shoot doe they would not allow you to do so. When I was hunting back home there were a couple of heavy snow seasons in Northern MN where the deer herd suffered greatly. That next fall there were no doe tags period in a lot of northern zones. The population usually recovers quickly. If you can shoot a doe and want to take one, zap it.

 

[Dan-o]

I’ve worked very hard this first season of deer hunting covering many many miles of rough terrain and countless hours of prep. I will say I have not seen deer like some of you have reported to have seen here and in other states over the years. I’m happy to fill my freezer and I love the taste of venison but I will be more cognizant of the ramifications of harvesting does in my Zone. I’m sure the tally will be low this year and this will gauge my actions for next season.

I used to cover many miles when I first started, then learned from 2 very successful more experienced hunters that I needed to slow waaaaayyyyy down. When I finally realized they were right, I started shooting deer. Have put some nice bucks on my wall using this technique. It takes a lot of concentration to move like cold molasses going uphill, but it has definitely paid off over the years. Go slow when walking and sit still when sitting(which is also hard to do). I was always in a hurry to see what was over the next hill, and always saw a lot of tails. Slow down.
Good luck, be safe!

 

[Mark from MA]

Nope, I'm no biologist, I'm simply guessing part of issue is the lack of crops in New England that don't lend to a beefy deer population. Plus human population density.

Actually there are more deer where there are more people in the northeast.
Where I hunt in South CT is a perfect example. Tons of deer there.

Humans create edge cover in areas where they build on 2-5 acre lots with some conservation land in between. Also people don’t generally hunt hard in these ares which creates sanctuary.

That said, heavy hunting pressure allowed everywhere would wipe the small herdsof deer in these small woodlots out quickly. These deer are seen everyday because there are only small woodlots.

Our area of MA and NH has large mature woods that dont produce a lot of good food,no sanctuary, and heavy hunter and predator pressure. Not there arent deer but it takes a lot of work to see one vs. an urban setting.
If we had lots of cropland in the non urban areas like other states, and good edge cover management it would definitely be a boon to the population. But most of our small farms are just growing hay now.
And we have fields and edge that have grown into full mature forest.
Thats why our grouse population has tumbled as well.

 

[JRT]

I’ve worked very hard this first season of deer hunting covering many many miles of rough terrain and countless hours of prep. I will say I have not seen deer like some of you have reported to have seen here and in other states over the years. I’m happy to fill my freezer and I love the taste of venison but I will be more cognizant of the ramifications of harvesting does in my Zone. I’m sure the tally will be low this year and this will gauge my actions for next season.

You can make any statement you want and carry any beliefs forward you wish, forming these opinions after your first season of hunting deer is pure folly. I took three of four bucks, ironically I didn’t get my PA buck this year for the first time in a while. It had nothing to do with over harvesting of doe. It had everything to do with bad planning, the weather, hunting pressure and my time. I will give you some unsolicited advice, if you are covering many many miles of rough terrain you are already hunting eastern whitetails wrong.

 

[Dennis in MA]

Wow. In 30 years, the harvest has doubled. Zone 11 seems to be the place. I know in my immediate AO there isn't much taken. More does than anything. But its promising that almost a quarter of the deer taken were Zone 11. And for all the bunny huggers, it looked like MV/NAN didn't do too bad last year either. They are still OVERRUN with deer and subsequently deer ticks and subsequently Lyme disease. But they did take quite a few. More per square mile than anywhere on the mainland.

 

[DJBrad]

I used to cover many miles when I first started, then learned from 2 very successful more experienced hunters that I needed to slow waaaaayyyyy down. When I finally realized they were right, I started shooting deer. Have put some nice bucks on my wall using this technique. It takes a lot of concentration to move like cold molasses going uphill, but it has definitely paid off over the years. Go slow when walking and sit still when sitting(which is also hard to do). I was always in a hurry to see what was over the next hill, and always saw a lot of tails. Slow down.
Good luck, be safe!

I did shoot 2 deer that way so I’ll stick to that as one successful method out of many. Creeping on my hands and knees over hills is what I’ve been doing. To be clear the many many miles were preseason not during the hunt. My mistake in that post.

 

[DJBrad]

You can make any statement you want and carry any beliefs forward you wish, forming these opinions after your first season of hunting deer is pure folly. I took three of four bucks, ironically I didn’t get my PA buck this year for the first time in a while. It had nothing to do with over harvesting of doe. It had everything to do with bad planning, the weather, hunting pressure and my time. I will give you some unsolicited advice, if you are covering many many miles of rough terrain you are already hunting eastern whitetails wrong.

I’ll agree that forming an opinion this early can be folly. Yes, for lack of longer experience I should be observant and study the principles. I’ll be more clear that the covering of many many miles was not during the hunting season for me. It was before the season even started. There are many methods for hunting white tails and the one that gained me 2 deer was stalk and shoot. It worked. Trust me I’m not tromping through the forest without stealthiness and working the wind.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

I’ve worked very hard this first season of deer hunting covering many many miles of rough terrain and countless hours of prep.(miles and miles were covered before the actual hunting season) I will say I have not seen deer like some of you have reported to have seen here and in other states over the years. I’m happy to fill my freezer and I love the taste of venison but I will be more cognizant of the ramifications of harvesting does in my Zone. I’m sure the tally will be low this year and this will gauge my actions for next season.

They are your tags. Fill them as you see fit.

You will know if the population where you are hunting tanks long before MDFW knows and reacts to it.

I did shoot 2 deer that way so I’ll stick to that as one successful method out of many. Creeping on my hands and knees over hills is what I’ve been doing. To be clear the many many miles were preseason not during the hunt. My mistake in that post.

As a generalization, 10% - 20% of the property will hold 80% of the deer. That 10%-20% of the property changes as food sources change and as hunting pressure changes.

One of the biggest mistakes hunters make is not keeping up with the changing deer patterns.

Keep putting on those miles and putting in the time hunting and you will keep killing deer.

Bob

 

[DJBrad]

They are your tags. Fill them as you see fit.

You will know if the population where you are hunting tanks long before MDFW knows and reacts to it.



As a generalization, 10% - 20% of the property will hold 80% of the deer. That 10%-20% of the property changes as food sources change and as hunting pressure changes.

One of the biggest mistakes hunters make is not keeping up with the changing deer patterns.

Keep putting on those miles and putting in the time hunting and you will keep killing deer.

Bob

I’m honestly not seeing much of anything for deer to feed on except for woody browse and mast. I’m sure there are the home gardens of the urban neighborhoods that help the deer out too. There are so few crop farmers around.

 

[JRT]

I’ll agree that forming an opinion this early can be folly. Yes, for lack of longer experience I should be observant and study the principles. I’ll be more clear that the covering of many many miles was not during the hunting season for me. It was before the season even started. There are many methods for hunting white tails and the one that gained me 2 deer was stalk and shoot. It worked. Trust me I’m not tromping through the forest without stealthiness and working the wind.

I was about to invite you to my land in Western PA until I read your follow up, we need more people tromping through the forest without stealthiness! Congrats on your deer kills and I commend you on getting into hunting. Its been a part of my life from the time I could sit still long enough to go out with my dad, picking up hunting later in life is hard and many hunters don't make it any easier.

 

[ccm75]

I shot two bucks in NY this year and signed my doe tag over to my friend's son as I was not going back.
I had three bucks at close range in PA but none of them met the antler restriction - minimum 3 points on one side.
I may go behind my house for last couple days of BP; but only to look for the big 10 point that I've seen back there.
My freezer is full and I am thankful.

 

[JRT]

I shot two bucks in NY this year and signed my doe tag over to my friend's son as I was not going back.
I had three bucks at close range in PA but none of them met the antler restriction - minimum 3 points on one side.
I may go behind my house for last couple days of BP; but only to look for the big 10 point that I've seen back there.
My freezer is full and I am thankful.

Where my farm is in PA its 4 points on one side. We get some big bucks with the antler restriction and I've dealt with it my whole life so its what I know. My issue is the people who take smaller deer on youth day and tag it out for their kid, it happens far too often in my opinion.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

I’m honestly not seeing much of anything for deer to feed on except for woody browse and mast. I’m sure there are the home gardens of the urban neighborhoods that help the deer out too. There are so few crop farmers around.

When I field dress a deer one of the things I always do is to cut open the rumen (stomach). It usually gives me a good idea what they are eating. This gives me a better idea where to find them.

Deer are browsers not grazing animals like cows. They browse on all kinds of stuff. Brambles, raspberry bushes, poison ivy, tree tips and on and on. Thorns don’t seem to bother them.

Deer browse bite marks are very distinct. The only have biting teeth on the bottom jaw so they bite and pull. That leaves a very distinct mark on the vegetation they are eating. Plenty of examples of you google it.

Bob