What are your bonus weekend plans.

[LonewolfNopack]

I liked reading Odies post, I could tell he was a great hunter and great person. I am sad to hear that he quit, but not surprised at all. I have spent the last half of this season debating with myself about doing the same thing. I hunt around New Market and have had great hunts there in the past, but this season i think I saw 3 deer total there. This is in an area of continuous awesome habitat. It just is not fun any more, and almost every time I go out I seem to get more frustrated then I do enjoyment. My dad has only hunted once this year, I told him not to even bother going out. It's happening more then people realize. The actions of the elite few are effecting way more people then they realize. I am not sure if there is a light at the end of this tunnel, but I can add that there is discussion about zone changes in the near future. Unless we shorten our entire season, get rid of the bonus weekend and do something about providing better quality public hunting, I think whatever happens will fall short of desirable outcomes.

 

[bowhunter1023]

This was the most miserable two days of hunting I have ever endured. Even the big drive we do did not yield a shot or a sighting for any of the 5 standers. There have been years were all 5 standers shot and even a year where we all killed deer. I think that year we pushed close to 30 deer off this ridge. The only deer seen at all this time was one pusher who saw 2. We had a good talk back at camp and it seems everyone agrees that we need to do something and do something fast before there are no deer left. With less deer, the pressure gets to them quicker and easier IMO, making for a short season if you don't hunt smart. Even my wife commented that she is nearly done if things don't change. That in and of itself is disheartening. I'm bringing a little girl in to this world in a few days and I wanted to share my passion for deer hunting with her, but now I fear that passion may be gone by the time she is old enough to go with me. Not to mention there will be no deer to hunt...

 

[cotty16]

Jesse, I feel your pain. I'm trying to get my boys into it. They love it, but Kody has been very frustrated. Klay lucked out and shot his buck early. Kody said yesterday as we were heading out to hunt, "why are we even bothering? We never see anything."

What do I say to that? We don't hunt the flatlands where there is a panoramic view of nearly a mile where you may at least see some doe feeding in a field. We hunt the hills that you are lucky to see 75 yards and deer sightings have become rare here.

It's bad for me, and I'm a very patient person. Imaging being 12 and trying to sit 4 hours in a stand only to see NOTHING. It sucks!!!

Even after pushing some of the property yeasterday, he saw nothing. Of the 3 drivers (me and father and son property owners) we saw a handful. I saw one buck and they saw 4 doe on 2 drives.

The deer are not here like they were even 4 years ago.

I got introduced to hunting in the late 80's/early 90's. I rarely sat without seeing deer and that was before I knew anything about scent control, wind direction, etc... In other words, I had no clue WTF I was doing.

I hunt some of those same places now and see nothing. Very sad and I hate the fact that my son is losing interest in something that he truly wants to do.

 

[Curran]

I got introduced to hunting in the late 80's/early 90's. I rarely sat without seeing deer and that was before I knew anything about scent control, wind direction, etc... In other words, I had no clue WTF I was doing.

That's about the time I go to get out for my first hunt. Probably around 90 or 91ish. Absolutely clueless & probably took a shower with Irish Spring before heading over to my uncle's house to go out for opening day of gun season. Still saw deer, and plenty of them. Same thing in the late 90's when I fell in with friends who had a cabin in SE Ohio. We didn't have running water, so showering wasn't an option. We ate, drank, and stunk like hell probably but still saw deer. Now, hunting down there is a waste of time except for the great company of the guys at camp. Deer sightings in early November from the guys at camp were 1 to 2 per day! Those are all day sits during the rut.

 

[cotty16]

That's about the time I go to get out for my first hunt. Probably around 90 or 91ish. Absolutely clueless & probably took a shower with Irish Spring before heading over to my uncle's house to go out for opening day of gun season. Still saw deer, and plenty of them. Same thing in the late 90's when I fell in with friends who had a cabin in SE Ohio. We didn't have running water, so showering wasn't an option. We ate, drank, and stunk like hell probably but still saw deer. Now, hunting down there is a waste of time except for the great company of the guys at camp. Deer sightings in early November from the guys at camp were 1 to 2 per day! Those are all day sits during the rut.

It's the weather's fault (insert sarcasm).

 

[brock ratcliff]

Mike - you mention the big view. Obviously you know that my favorite hunting spot has that. I can see for miles from some of my stands. In the mid-90's, I never hunted up there and did not see a deer, even if they were a mile away. When I started saying we were cutting too deep in the population, that is exactly why I knew it. I can see far more ground than folks hunting in the hills and woods, and we have a much smaller population, so the impact of these liberal bag limits became evident very quick. I tell you, I kept hunting up there simply because I remembered how good it USED to be, and I formed a lot of sentiment hunting up there that I just didn't want to give up. Poor Mason started hunting right in the middle of the great deer drought. He learned to accept the fact that we just weren't going to see deer very often. This year, he got to experience the "good old days". I think it's a mix of coyote killing, the landowner kicking a lot of hunters off the properties, and a couple of seasons of reduced bag limits. I can't tell you how exciting this season has been after 5 years of hunting for the sake of hunting instead of actually expecting to see deer! I only hope it will not take so long for the rest of you to see some sort of rebound....but apparently, we need to stay on the DOW to get that done!

Uncle Odie is a good hunter. He's been bowhunting since 1972 and has done a good deal of it all over the country. Up until last year, he told me they still had good numbers in his neck of the woods. I got to know him when he purchased his first SS, so he's heard me crying about our poor numbers in this area since just about day one of our relationship. I think he's just to the point he isn't going to go try to kill animals that aren't there, and he's pretty sure they aren't there anymore. Since I've got to know him, he killed a dandy in 07, 08, 09, and 2010. Nothing last year, and just quit hunting this season. He's shooting coyotes now, and blaming Amish for the downfall of the herd locally.

 

[jagermeister]

That's hard to believe that Odie gave it up. I used to really enjoy his posts... Lots of wisdom in them.

---

Despite the overall shitty bonus weekend for killing deer, I had one of the best weekends with my dad that I've had in a long time. We hunted Saturday morning, sitting in stands until 11:00 a.m. Neither one of us saw a single deer. We then headed home for a quick lunch, and were all set up and hunting ducks by 1:00 p.m. We sat out in the wind and rain shooting mallards all afternoon. Then after dark, we had pizza for dinner and drove up to Catawba for some walleye pier fishing. Dad caught a 10 lb rock (which was fuggin hysterical), then followed it up on the very next cast with a 7-8 lb walleye! It was an awesome day.

 

[Schu72]

I always thought that Odie and Bowtech buster would have found their way here at some point.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Bowtech Buster doesn't seem to be hitting the forums much lately either, but he did kill a 150 the Monday after gun season... Odie is signing up now.

 

[LonewolfNopack]

Good, I want to talk to him. Misery loves company.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Wait? Huck flushed a cock?!? lmao

 

["J"]

Wait? Huck flushed a cock?!? lmao

And he thought it looked beautiful as well...... ickle: rotflmao

 

[hickslawns]

Wait? Huck flushed a cock?!? lmao

I doubt it. He wouldn't flush one of those. He might have hidden one in his sock drawer though. :smiley_crocodile:

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

Wait? Huck flushed a cock?!? lmao

Yes, and it was beautiful! hahaha. Just don't see enough of those pheasants.

 

[hickslawns]

So let me get this straight. Huck flushed a cock this weekend and then Crittergitter showed up? Hmmm. . . .

Sorry Kyle. Had to go there.

 

[finelyshedded]

That's hard to believe that Odie gave it up. I used to really enjoy his posts... Lots of wisdom in them.

---

Despite the overall shitty bonus weekend for killing deer, I had one of the best weekends with my dad that I've had in a long time. We hunted Saturday morning, sitting in stands until 11:00 a.m. Neither one of us saw a single deer. We then headed home for a quick lunch, and were all set up and hunting ducks by 1:00 p.m. We sat out in the wind and rain shooting mallards all afternoon. Then after dark, we had pizza for dinner and drove up to Catawba for some walleye pier fishing. Dad caught a 10 lb rock (which was fuggin hysterical), then followed it up on the very next cast with a 7-8 lb walleye! It was an awesome day.

What a great day Jim! What a great day! Loved reading it. Great memory right there buddy!

 

[dante322]

participated in my first ever "drive" over the weekend. One of the guys I work with invited me to come down to delaware wildlife area and hunt with him and a couple of his buddies. Since I was the only one who had managed to fill a tag this year I volunteered to do the pushing for the others. We hit several spots throughout the day and did manage to get one doe. All of these guys hunt this area regularly, with quite a bit of success. All of them commented on the lack of deer this year, and how few shots they were hearing compared to previous seasons.

 

["J"]

participated in my first ever "drive" over the weekend. One of the guys I work with invited me to come down to delaware wildlife area and hunt with him and a couple of his buddies. Since I was the only one who had managed to fill a tag this year I volunteered to do the pushing for the others. We hit several spots throughout the day and did manage to get one doe. All of these guys hunt this area regularly, with quite a bit of success. All of them commented on the lack of deer this year, and how few shots they were hearing compared to previous seasons.

With that being said Dave, what did you think of the experiance??????