Anybody else end deer season empty handed?

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CarJunkieLS1

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Title says it all. I am just wondering if I was the only person to hunt all season without ever bagging a deer.

I hunted at least 1 day a week for the last 2 1/2 months and never even took my rifles safety off. My wife did kill her first deer (have a thread about that) so I'm happy about that.

But why do this to myself think of all the sleep I missed out on...because I Love Hunting and I'd do it all again tomorrow if I could.

Here's to next season CHEERS!
 
Yeah. It ain't the first year, but I hunted a lot of mornings and afternoons, saw nothing, but doe. Legal buck here is either spike or bucks with 13" spread minimum. I spooked a bucks opening morning, may or may not have been a legal 13"er, but think it was going on pictures I got off my game camera 2 hours before i got on stand.

Doe aren't legal here, so I went venisonless. I'm hoping to get a doe permit next season to help thin out the doe population here.
 
I have until the 10th but as of now I've got nothing, but my standards are in rapid decline. No sausage in the freezer and near the end of season means it meat hunting time!
 
Does are legal here they are a legal deer as long as they are solid color and have no spots. I hunt for meat not trophies so I'd have been perfectly happy with a mature doe.
 
You are not alone, I go hunting to enjoy nature and to be by myself for alittle bit,If I get a deer it makes it that much better.

Oldest boy can start hunting this year I'm looking forward to that.
Only 10 more months till deer season can't wait.
 
Does are legal here they are a legal deer as long as they are solid color and have no spots. I hunt for meat not trophies so I'd have been perfectly happy with a mature doe.

Problem here is doe are by permit only and this has messed up the buck/doe ratio big time. There are LOTS of deer here, just that with a 13" minimum, it limits the bucks and there's little competition for doe, so the bucks are usually scrubby.

Doe are legal during bow season, but I can't shoot bows worth a toot in low light doe to an eye dominance problem, so I'll planning the acquisition of a crossbow before next season.
 
I nearly did.
I got one little scrub buck that needed to be taken out of the herd. I watched him eat corn and rice bran for 10 minutes until I finally talked myself into shooting him. That was in muzzleloader season and I'm darn glad I shot him. Didn't get a single thing in modern gun season. :banghead:

Worst year in a while.
 
Two in a row for me. Last season I had a lot of family issues and a sick elderly mother who needed a lot of attention. I hunted opening weekend, and that was about it.

This year I hunted HARD, but things never came together for me. I only hunt on public land in the N GA Mountains. Success rates are low anyway, but I was in some pretty good areas. I was covered up in fresh bear sign in a couple of areas, just not moving during daylight.
 
I haven't taken one these last two seasons. I get 'em lined up in the peep sights and then back out. Seems like I just don't want to drag and butcher anymore, plus I feel bad about killing. Getting old.
 
No buck.

Got to hunt a lot this year. The only legal bucks that I saw was during our first black powder season. I watched them on the other side of the fence thinking they were too far away, plus, I didn't know the landowner. Watched the big one, 120" class, through the scope and watched him walk into the woods. Found out later that we had permission to hunt that farm. Took my range finder the next day. The buck was 110 yards.:banghead::banghead::banghead:

I did have a major doe thinning though. One with a muzzle loader, 2 with a rifle and 2 with my pistol.;)
 
This was my best year. I got five deer, two with a muzzleloader and three with my 30-06.
I started stalking the deer in the corn. I only went stalking three times but I came home with a deer every time.
 
Title says it all. I am just wondering if I was the only person to hunt all season without ever bagging a deer.

I hunted at least 1 day a week for the last 2 1/2 months and never even took my rifles safety off. My wife did kill her first deer (have a thread about that) so I'm happy about that.

But why do this to myself think of all the sleep I missed out on...because I Love Hunting and I'd do it all again tomorrow if I could.

Here's to next season CHEERS!
I only had time to go out once and all I saw was a white tail going away at a high rate of speed. Hubby managed to bring home two for muzzle loader season and one during bow season. At least I was able to smoke a few venison hams and make enough jerky for chili until next season.
 
I only have myself to blame for flubbing 3 bucks. I shot over a spike in velvet with my crossbow, shot under a 7 pt. with my flintlock and spooked a nice 8 pt. by reacting to him by lifting my gun which he saw and bugged.

I did get 2 does however. Each weighed under 85 lbs. on the hoof.
Season ends the 22nd of Feb. for me. I haven't laid eyes on a deer since the first of December.
 
Killed a doe during 1st week of muzzleloader season, the 2nd week of November I let 6 different bucks walk. I was hoping to get a chance at a big mature 11pt. that was using the area. Never saw the big guy and the chasing and cruising went dead like someone flipped a switch.
 
Everyone I talked to here in northeast Tennessee just didn't see the numbers of deer that we normally do, and no one can figure out exactly why. I know we had the biggest acorn crop we've had in many years, so I'm sure that factored into it a lot. Guess the deer just didn't have to move as much as normal to feed.
 
I know we had the biggest acorn crop we've had in many years, so I'm sure that factored into it a lot. Guess the deer just didn't have to move as much as normal to feed.
We did too, there are a lot of acorns left that have not been eaten yet. At least they'll stay healthy until this coming season.
 
I came up short this year as well.

My in-laws put a ban on does, so it was a trophy only year. I hunted for 6 weekends between archery, black powder and rifle. Had I been allowed, I could have taken a doe.

We had a lot of acorns this year and it seemed the weather conspired against me. We also had a lot of people hunting around us. The fence line was the busiest I had ever seen it.

I also gave one weekend to public land so I could hunt with a buddy. It was fun, but it is hard to actually score a deer on unfamiliar heavily pressured land.
 
No, but I spend at least three times as much time scouting as I do sitting. When I sit in a stand, I know a deer will show up and sometimes I have a good idea of what it will look like. If I don't feel like I know that, I don't sit.
 
I passed on a bunch of does and small bucks waiting for at least a 3 year old deer. First year in 17 years I have not used a tag. This was also the first year I took youngsters in the field. That was a bigger reward than a freezer full of meat. On a typical deer I get 40 ish pounds of meat, so I lost 80 pounds at 3 bucks a pound (beef burger for comparison). Taking the youngsters was worth the $240.
 
We chose to let the does go this year after last year's losses to ehd, blue tongue and other diseases. Could have shot enough to fill all our landowner tags but we took one really nice buck and one smaller one with deformed antlers. Maybe those eight does will give us sixteen or more to look at next year. It ain't all about the killing. We are trying to manage for quality deer but not being fanatics about it.
 
This was a much harder season for us, but we made out with two bucks and two doe. The bucks were nothing to write home about, this was a meat-only season. The acorn crop was so heavy that no deer were coming to the corn. I know, most of the country can't hunt over bait, but in most of Texas, this is how it's done. Walking & stalking can get you shot. We went to the property only after making sure no one was there, and still-hunted the open fields for the animals we took.
 
I usually hunt deer with a longbow so a deerless season isn't all that uncommon for me BUT I saw far fewer deer this year than any year I can remember in the last 15 or so. Didn't even have one in range this year.

Considering spending next season chasing squirrels instead.
 
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