Very Depressing 1st Day

[kighty7]

I am hearing from many of my friends and fellow hunters that they shared the same experience that I did. I sat from sun up to sun down, in my climber, on a ridge with tons of deer sign and saw only two small does all day. I really did not even hear a great deal of shooting. I find this very odd! The weather began with rain and then snowed off and on the rest of the day. I have many really nice bucks on trail camera from this property that I hunt and none of them showed themselves. This is the 2nd year for not seeing any deer on the first day. Looks like I will have to search for some new strategies for hunting that property. That or there really are not that many deer in my area and I am only getting pictures of deer passing through the farm I hunt.

Anyone else have a similiar day?

[dewey]

kighty7, you should read this months D&DH there is an article in there about what happens when the deer disappear and what you should be doing.  The author of the article says that you should move to different areas as almost a scouting trip with your firearm to try and figure out where the deer are now at.  Try to stay as positive as you can because at ANY time you might see a deer and your season will change for the better.  I assume that you know this but make sure the wind is in your favor at all times.  I would imagine that it is since you saw a couple of does the wind is indeed in your favor. 
 
Good luck to you and hang in there, I would rather be you and be out hunting and not see any deer then being at work with the season over.
 
Dewey

[kighty7]

Dewey,
You are right, I did read that article and have it in mind to do some still hunting on Saturday. It is just really rough to sit all day and see very little. I know in my area there are huge numbers of hunters and we all talk pretty regularly. The general comment by a lot of my hunting buddies is that they saw very little to nothing on the first day. Hope it is not like that in other areas. Will keep hunting hard into the smokepole and late archery season to get some meat for the freezer. Thanks for the information.

[aaronw1977]

hello i hunted whole week in 4b 5am too late evening what a ruff week only saw 3doe 2 spike bucks man are there any deer left in pa.gonna try again sat hope to see somthing good luck to all that go out.

[mossycamo]

pa hunting is getting worse every year. i saw one deer all day on the first day 2f area. some shooting off and on. archery season was warm and little movement in 1a. i am about through with hunting in pa. less deer on game lands, more no tresspassing signs going up... it really sucks.

[dtrain56]

not so derpessing for my hunt camp...4 guys two deer and a third shooter that we didn't get to get a shot at and it was passed its ears also a big buck killed by another hunter across the way from us...big nine point


suggestion....hunt in stuff you can't see through...or shot out off.....cut a lane in it and sit..they will come running about 11-1...promise

[eemer]

I had a very good first morning in the southwest corner of the keystone state.
I shot an 11-point with double drops around 9:00 am.
There aren't as many deer on my dad's place in Greene County, but what is there look to be quite healthy and I saw a couple more shooters later in the week (1 8-point and 1 10-point)

Here he is



Here's the 8-point I saw when I was out being the bird-dog and was carrying my camera



I also think the key to success in any area hunted hard around PA is to go where the average hunter wouldn't go - the thick stuff!

Shooting a doe on my dad's property still is no challenge, but instead of groups of 8 or 10 I am seeing groups of 3 or 4 - which is more sustainable. I think the A/R is working, myself.

Now - if you want depressing - here's depressing: In the 2-week firearms season in Vermont, I saw 1 doe & 1 fawn and they were together. Try hunting that long and see only 2 deer and have your wildlife biologists tell you that if you saw 2 or more deer the whole season, then you were productive. What we need up here is more habitat - the tree huggers won't let anyone cut any of the forest and it's working - the deer have no browse and therefore aren't around my neck of the woods anymore.

[CONLEY14]

EEMER, THAT IS A AWESOME BUCK YOU HAVE THERE, I LIVE IN OHIO AND THAT IS MY GOAL TO SOMEDAY HARVEST A BUCK WITH DROPTINES. CONGRATS ON A BEAUTIFUL WHITETAIL.  

[dtrain56]

WOW, nice buck....hope to someday harvesy a PA buck like that at my place...
 
I used to live and Hunt NH....had to move to hunt better land like PA and OHIO...i used to hunt hard bow and gun and i got my shots and deer but like you said if you saw one for the season you were doing great....if you messed it up...there went the end of hunting season...with no meat in the freezer....and PA residents complain about not seeing herds of deer run by...at my place still see the same amount of doe...just with better bucks mixed in!!!!!!
 
the AR's are working...the deer are out there..like you said not quiet as many but better quality......

[danesdad]

I shot a small doe in 2C on the first day (the first deer I saw that day) and saw three other deer at another location. I'm pretty sure that the days of seeing 40 deer on the first day are gone. If you dont think AR is working, go to a processor and check out some of the bucks people bring in. The average buck brought in now would have nearly been worthy of mounting 25 years ago. But HR is working too. There are still pockets of high density population, but they are dwindling.