2011 Licenses

[bmstaaf]

We went through it where I am from in pa, 6 or 7 years ago the pgc game through and slaughtered the deer herd, (i would say after the slaughter they raised the prices of license just as vt put antler restrictions in place) present time the deer herd is coming back healthy and sightings have increased. What this did is eliminated a high percent of of weekend hunters ( due to raising license cost and decreased deer sightings) my point being is hang in there it will come around for you vt hunters I am sure.

[Dan]

Well after going three seasons of not seeing deer, both bow and rifle, basically I've had to reevaluate if this is something that is worth my time and money, as I would with anything that I was unsuccessful at.  I have no precedence of success in my area to fall back on.

It certainly seems like I have to change my expectations.  Deer hunting where I am in Vermont may not be realistic for me.  My wife is from Vermont and I grew up hunting in Mass in my teens, on a property my parents no longer own, where I could consistently see deer and sit maybe ten feet from a run without a stand during bow and get a doe and sometimes get a buck.  Nothing huge, but it was rewarding and a good overall experience.  I would see squirells in the trees and hawks hunting the squirrels, etc.  Always a good time.

Here it basically seems like I have to build a good environment for wildlife from the ground up.  There are huge sections of forest that are like a graveyard.  You can sit there for hours and not see a bird, a rodent of any kind.  There is literally no food, except maybe just enough for some mice.  I don't even see chipmunks!  The deer move a lot, have tons of runs, cover huge stretches of ground it seems to find food.  They will wait for all the apples to drop from a few trees and let them sit for weeks before hitting them in one single sitting, and then they are gone.  That's good if you happen to be there, not so good if you don't have the entire bow, rifle and muzzle loader season to dedicate.  I don't necessarily fault the F&W for this, I mean what can they do really?

I have found areas on public land, not exactly in my vicinity, but close that have deer sign.  So have many other hunters though!  Sitting fifty feet from ten other guys, waiting for a deer to come over a ridge is not my idea of hunting.

Everyone's set of variables will be different of course, but for me, based on my lack of deer sightings during hunting season, and also during the rest of the year, I am starting to question if it's worth it or I should just wait to see if deer start showing up on my own property once their is enough incentive to do so.  Then I will have to decide whether I want to buy a license.  I don't know, I really don't. 

I will probably give it one or two more seasons, given the scouting I did lately. I will buy the fishing liscense, I can see where my money is being spent there, they spend time and money raising fish, then drive them around the state and dump them in the lakes and streams for me to catch!  Last year I limited out many many times, so get it.  The deer, we'll see. Maybe I will try that ridge I found after the season was over this year.

[TJR]

Dan - Sounds like your little patch of woods is in need of some cutting? I recently spoke to someone with +-100 acres of land he hunts. He rarely saw deer, and never saw buck, but he cleared a few acres and planted some greens (some sort of food plot i think) AND called up a local logger to selectively cut his property. Knowing the first year wouldnt produce much food, he focused on bow hunting over the green pieces and had some success. As the new growth began in the woods he cut, deer began to seek out his property more and more. 3 years later and he is saying that he has great pics of bucks on his trail cam...

The bottom line is you cant get em sitting on the couch. Deer hunting is as much about being quiet and patient as it is about dumb luck. My brother hunted 14 days without seeing a deer only to knock down a nice 8 pointer on the last day...the only deer he saw all year!

Stick with it guys!

TJR