thats all she wrote Ontario

[one shot scott]

and so begins another painful 9 months until season opener

9 months. Coincidence?

[R.J.]

one shot scott wrote ...

and so begins another painful 9 months until season opener 9 months. Coincidence?

LOL !

And as many experienced , I found the wildlife #'s to be way down ! ?

We really had to stretch to find deer on some properties ... many long days scouting and not seeing anything ?

I only saw one jack rabbit all season ?
Less deer than usual / Less cottontail / Even turkey flock #'s were down ( use to see 30 in a group now 10-15 ) .

Maybe my eyes are getting older , but that was the way it was for me this year ...I faced the old dilemma " pass early regret later " .

If I hadn't got lucky and tagged a doe on the last afternoon , I would have had tag soup this year > ( that would have been a first for me ) .

Overall reflection though .... it was still great to get out and just hunt !

Just goes to show ... not all successful hunts end in a kill !

Really looking forward to the Spring Turkey Season !

Thanks again guys and galls for sharing your hunt stories and pictures on the forum ... it helps fill in the slow and sick days ... and I always seem to pick up tips here and there from other hunters ... never too old to learn new tricks !

[munch]

one shot scott wrote ...

and so begins another painful 9 months until season opener 9 months. Coincidence?

LOL !

And as many experienced , I found the wildlife #'s to be way down ! ?

We really had to stretch to find deer on some properties ... many long days scouting and not seeing anything ?

I only saw one jack rabbit all season ?
Less deer than usual / Less cottontail / Even turkey flock #'s were down ( use to see 30 in a group now 10-15 ) .

Maybe my eyes are getting older , but that was the way it was for me this year ...I faced the old dilemma " pass early regret later " .

If I hadn't got lucky and tagged a doe on the last afternoon , I would have had tag soup this year > ( that would have been a first for me ) .

Overall reflection though .... it was still great to get out and just hunt !

Just goes to show ... not all successful hunts end in a kill !

Really looking forward to the Spring Turkey Season !

Thanks again guys and galls for sharing your hunt stories and pictures on the forum ... it helps fill in the slow and sick days ... and I always seem to pick up tips here and there from other hunters ... never too old to learn new tricks !

Rick you know how much I hunt I spent at least 200hours in the bush this year and I saw 3 while bow hunting and 6 during nov hunt . I know in the past I've let as many as 8 walk by before shooting #9 . I lent my brother a bow for the season and he dropped it off yesterday , tells me he saw a doe and 2 fawns all season . Last year he never had a day he saw less than 3 and in the past says lots of days in the bush he hunts he would see 16 to 18 . Maybe the guys seeing all the deer are seeing them at night cause they sure have not been on any of the 10 or so farms I hunt

[R.J.]

I hear ya Terry ... Hope the game numbers bounce back if this winter isn't too bad for them .

It must be the normal across Ontario and that's why the Ministry cut back on tags this season .

Maybe hunt pressure is too high ? > Years ago we use to fill many extra tags and that probably didn’t help long term.

I’ve said it before > You arrow a mature 10 point at one property and another doesn’t just pop up in his place … it takes years to grow mature bucks .

I know at least a 1/2 dozen seasoned hunters that didn’t arrow a deer this year and it wasn’t from lack of trying !

Also many groups I know felt the warm weather affected there moose season etc .

I found that the biggest bucks that were taken in our areas were taken on new properties that hadn't been hunted or had seen very little hunt pressure in the past . Forum member CH from our group got the biggest one with a crossbow on a new property …

Still there were a bunch of beauty matures bucks posted on this forum … I was sparatic with my reading but remember some ..

From what I can remember > Norm ( Normous ) got a big brute … I think he hunts West of here ( maybe Windsor area ? ) .

A controlled hunt mature buck taken by one shot scott ( I think WMU 87 ? )

Hockeyfodder posted a beauty heavy rack buck Georgian Bay or Simcoe area ?

Doe Master and crew held their own and he got a nice one with muzzleloader ( also didn’t he have a “ before the shot “ video of the buck ? ) .

I just saw a buck that Fazan posted ( Cool pictures > and I think he is Toronto area ? ) .

And I just saw another brute that huntman posted > taken with a Matrix 380 ..

Also USA forum members seemed to pile them up ( too many to remember )… but I do recall ( to name a few ) someone ( Arkansaw way ? ) posted a Youtube video of a nice buck taken with one of the Excalibur Micro Series bows >> And some posted out of Michigan , like Gerald Strine … a real solid 10 point and a from what I remember a beauty doe with his Excalibur bow .

So there were lots of success stories … But again from what I read , even the people that didn’t fill the freezer all seemed to have cool pictures / memories and stories from some awesome outings .

Now I’ve got a bunch of projects to catch up on > and then some coyote hunts and will be counting the days down till spring turkey !