Bad year in Virginia

[8ptbuk]

This has been the worst Deer season ive seen in 38 years of hunting here in sw virginia . We got hit last year by Herorragic disease pretty hard and the Coyote population is exploding also . No problem to hunt 4 or 5 days in order to see a deer . Hope the herd bounces back pretty quick . I was wondering if NC,SC,tennessee,kentucky,West Va , had noticed a slower season this year ???

[Kegbelly]

8ptbuk, you're preaching to the choir brother. In roughly 2 dozen times out I've seen 4 deer, 3 of which were waaaay out of bow range. The only one I've had within range busted me when my chair popped real loud. Sat daylight till dark several days and not seen a thing. It's been an extremely frustrating and discouraging season so far. I'm not aware of any diseases in my area, but the deer just... arent... there. We got yotes and dogs running all over too, which isnt helping matters. The guns come out tomorrow morning and I'll be there, sitting in a north wind forecast at 10-20 mph, likely too see a whole lot of nothing.

[8ptbuk]

Where you located keg ???

[Matrix380NC]

Our NC Mtn season isn't the greatest either this year with all the crazy weather. Bucks have been chasing does this past week but nothing to speak of over here except turkeys. Raining tonite and then rifle tomorrow with high of 45 and low of 19 with winds at 19mph. Sunday forecast is high of 27 and low of 16 with winds at 22 so not the best archery time sunday. I'm also hunting in Johnson County TN with my dad and it's about the same there. Only seen 3 bucks too far away with the matrix and nothing to be seen during muzzleloader. Hope the season turns around since it's too quiet right now.

[JPjunkie]

The public land I hunt got hit pretty hard last year too The herd is definately smaller The draught is the culprit condenses drinking water and the midge flies spread the disease it hasnt been the same Its gonna take a couple of years but mother nature is strong and she will replenish the herd

[vixenmaster]

I have had a good harvest season. I am not seein the amount of deer i usually see on my place fer the days n time i have put in, 34 deer wid 5 kills. I have saw that one small Buck followin the Doe's. High winds n rain & all of Firearms season the neighbors dogs have been runnin tree rats n deer on my place.

[Kegbelly]

North Alabama, we've got roughly 600 acres leased inside Bankhead Nat Forest. It's a good little setup but it just aint happening this year. I'm tired of hunting, ready to do some finding!

[cevans]

My part of Southern Indiana, the deer have went nocturnal on us for the 3rd yr in a row. You don't hear a shot during this gun season fired anywhere around where I hunt. I hung another stand today making it the 9th hang for the season knowing that sooner or later, they will move but it might be mid Dec. if we are lucky. Bucks are rutting tho, even tho the does aren't moving so its all being done at nite as when the wife comes home from where she works at 12:30am, she is dodging 50-60 deer with the car. Deer are here. It is another weird season tho. Next 2 mornings are supposed to be in the teens with wind chill at 0 degrees,,,something has got to move.

[Hester0305]

I've seen plenty of deer this year here in N.C. and have had plenty of pics of some nice bucks but all that may change next week when our rifle season starts it seems after the first week our bucks go nocturnal.

[Masboy]

This has been the worst year for hunting for me where I hunt in Maryland an not seeing any doe hardly an a few small bucks.fishings been just as bad with the stripers,walleye fishing an getting wore down from doing both. beginning to think I ,m a piss poor hunter an fisherman after this year so far if like last year things picked up an seen more deer in rifle season

[8ptbuk]

sorry to hear that. Least you had some action !!!! lol

[TYE]

Whats herorragic disease?

[vixenmaster]

Whats herorragic disease?

Spellin it wrong on my part, efazootie. Its bug/insect infestation in deer causes a good many deaths in a deer herd usually in drought conditions.

[vixenmaster]

I went this mornin, saw 3 deer. 2 were bein hard pressed by a couple of wild dogs, goin too fast to settle the problems wid a crossbow. 3rd deer never came close enuff to tell what it was in all the thick stuff. I have 3 days left on Firearms season. Tomorrow be the last day i am holdin out fer a decent Buck. Come Mon & tues its Doe also, or tag soup! Then back to archery season. I have only saw the one small Buck durin firearms season, that tells you we have way too many Doe's! Everyone killin every little Buck that comes by them

[Raymond]

I am so sorry to hear about the misfortune of your herd in your area. Hopefully the deer herd soon rebounds.
Here where I live the deer herd is strong and healthy, but, they kill every deer they see, every fawn, every doe, and every buck, no matter if it is a button buck, they kill it. And we have a buck law which only allows us to kill buck deer with a minimum of 3" horns I believe. And each year there is 4000 doe tags drawn across Nova Scotia. There is very few of us hunters that will let deer walk. Most of them so called hunters in my area wouldn't leave a single deer if it was up to them. They would kill every single one of them and it wouldn't matter to them at all. Most of the people who shoot deer around here are not hunters anyway, they are just greedy and stupid people. They have no idea about managing a deer herd, they are just so greedy, they are worrying that one person may shoot a legal deer so they decide to shoot every deer that they see for themselves and many times end up wounding and losing a great many deer. We could have a wonderful herd of deer around here but they are too greedy. That is so unfortunate and sad. And the worst thing of it all is that they do not need to kill all these deer to feed themselves with. It is just plain greed. I just had to rant to get that off of my back, it makes me sick. And they brag like they are big hunters, makes me sick.
Raymond