Great point! Most people don't spend enough time looking for deer to know if they are around or not. I can't tell you how many times I have had people that spend a lot less time in the woods than I do come into the shop to talk. I ask them what they are seeing and it is always very little. They almost all give the excuse the ODOW has put forth...too many acorns, they are over on the neighbors farm, coon hunters have em run off....you know the list of reasons. No one wants to believe there simply aren't nearly as many as there has been. I fish a lot. I catch fish. It's a rare day that I will ever say "they just aren't biting"...but I hear it all the time from others. I hunt the same way I fish. I have the attitude that they are somewhere -even if there aren't many anywhere. I will find them eventually... The problem is, I look an awful lot of places that used to have deer, and they aren't there. Once upon a time when I jumped a deer I would just continue on to my stand because I knew another would be by shortly. Now, if I bump a deer, I just want to turn around and head home because that was the ONE I was hoping to see while on stand. The same as I don't use the excuse the fish aren't biting, I don't use the excuses many others may.... I didn't buy the acorn theory last year, I went to the acorns. I didn't buy the corn theory this year, I went in the corn. I didn't use the bad weather theory, I hunt regardless (and have killed them in all kinds of weather). I still kill deer, but man do I cover a lot of ground trying to find them - (Joe can attest to that from the previously mentioned deer drive of last year). The point being, I think most folks would just say the deer aren't moving and leave it at that. They would likely believe the ODOW's gift-wrapped excuses for their inablity to see and kill deer. I (and likely most here) am not that guy....if they are anywhere, I'll find 'em eventually...fact is, I'm not finding many.
