2012 Gun Season Log

[umpiremark]

Sunup to sundown both Sat and Sun and between my son (who sat all day both days as well) and I, we saw a grand total of ... wait for it ... zilch.

I can see 100 yards or more in all directions from this stand by two scrapes and many crossing trails. We had pictures of bucks near this stand as late as 11/15 on the trail cameras. Never saw one deer.

My son's stands overlooks two scrapes and a large trail that comes off the ditch bank from the neighboring property and splits 3 ways after that. He too had two large bucks on camera, the last taken the afternoon of the 14th. He saw nothing.

On Monday we switched gears to two stands back in the woods, 100 yards off the food plots (which are munched down to nothin'). Hunted until 10:00 and saw nothing. Then the rain came. I had had enough. Tore down 5 stands, packed up and left the property. See y'all next year.

Not one deer sighting on stand since Halloween. Several good bucks on cameras (posted on the camera site), but not a deer moving in the woods, near the stands since Halloween ... I give up.

The DNR says #'s are up 20% ... not in the square mile or so surrounding our property. Last shot I heard - and it was far away - was around 1:00 Sunday.

Good luck to the rest of you, I'm done for 2012 ...

[Retch Crabtree]

Your not scouting well enough to put yourself in a position to kill a deer is on you, not the DNR. There are days I get skunked as well but since you know there are deer there and you are feeding them, its not the DNR’s fault that you didn’t get the job done. You just didn’t position yourself to kill the deer you said are there and have pictures of. Why is that the DNR’s fault? They are not tasked with providing you shot opportunities. If perhaps you knew there were no deer in the area and you still hunted there anyway, that too would be on you for making that sort of mistake. Its called hunting. You should have tried to seek out the deer you knew were there rather than hoping they would come to you.

[Deebz]

Sounds to me like umpiremark had this area scouted pretty well... he knew where the trails were, had seen scrapes nearby, and had trail cams up to get an idea of what was out. He also set up where he could large areas where the deer had been moving based on sign. Heck, he even "tried to seek out the deer [he] knew were there" by moving to a different area of the property on Monday.


I don't see how he was blaming the DNR either; he simply mentioned that they said the numbers are up, but it didn't appear to be true for his specific area.

More likely the cause for the lack of deer movement was the odd weather we had this year. This is the first time I've ever had to strip down to a short sleeve t-shirt by 10 am to avoid sweating and stinking the place up. Another possibility is that the neighbors were out and pushed deer off of their usual patterns.

[umpiremark]

I wasn't "blaming" the DNR, I don't know how you got that. I merely commented that for numbers in the entire state being up opening weekend, it wasn't too evident where we hunt as many landowners in the area we are experienced the same things ... low to no deer movement, low to no kills, etc.

Yikes ...

[bouhntr]

went up by mauston monday morning before light and sat all day, around 1 I seen two does around 40 yards through some brush with no shot, by 2 ,2 more does came through the same spot, aagain no shot. around 4 , had a doe come from behind me down a small ridge along a creek 50 yards or so. she lowly made her way down the creek then turned and walked right up to my stand for a 5 yard shot. she turned and ran about 40 yards and rolled down the ridge. a few seconds later she walked up the ridge slowly went behind a tree and some brush and fell over. I'm glad i didn't have to drag her up the ridge, it was hard enough to get her to 4 wheel trail.

[ChuckNorris]

Where are you going? Necedah, near 21 and G

Long Time hunting buddies or a new camp? My father and I with a friend of mine

What did you see? total between all of us Saturday-Tuesday= 2 bucks, 3 doe, 2 fawns

What did you shoot? I got a doe

How did others fare in your camp/group? Pops got a 6 pointer, friend missed opportunity for a doe

How was the weather? Warm, had running water on the trailer for the full 5 days

On another note, the DNR was aging deer at the registration station in town. She said that 80-90% of the deer coming in were yearling bucks (spikes, forks, sixes, or half racks). Anybody care to guess an age on the doe I shot? The tooth at the top is the first tooth.

[Deebz]

7??

totally random guess, i've never really aged deer by teeth before, but that looks really worn down

[Jslotter]

I think the kill numbers are up because everyone is registering their kills right away and getting them to the locker before the warm weather spoils them.

[Sierra]

Your not scouting well enough to put yourself in a position to kill a deer is on you, not the DNR. There are days I get skunked as well but since you know there are deer there and you are feeding them, its not the DNR’s fault that you didn’t get the job done. You just didn’t position yourself to kill the deer you said are there and have pictures of. Why is that the DNR’s fault? They are not tasked with providing you shot opportunities. If perhaps you knew there were no deer in the area and you still hunted there anyway, that too would be on you for making that sort of mistake. Its called hunting. You should have tried to seek out the deer you knew were there rather than hoping they would come to you.

[Gafrage]

LOL

Saw a buck and 4 fawns this morning, buck was walking through 5 minutes before legal shooting hours so no shot taken. Saw my buddy buck fawn last night get shot so no helper deer for the rest of the season. Have seen about 30 deer so far this gun season with my dad getting a nice 8 pointer and me missing one last Sunday night that was with a doe. Other than this morning, I haven't seen a mature deer since last Sunday night, all doe and buck fawns since. Headed out right now and will hunt the rest of the weekend morning and nights. Good luck if you haven't filled your tags yet, concentrate over beans/corn if you have that option. I'll be set up on trails to food tonight.