Disclaimer: This started off as a simple question for those more experienced, but ended up as a question followed by a rant, sorry about that.
Okay guys, I have a dilemma that is really starting to bug the crud out of me. On my lease, I KNOW the deer are there, I have pictures of them, the sign is literally EVERYWHERE, yet I rarely ever actually see any deer when I'm there. I have heard them blow at me on occasion, but also hear them blow from up wind, which has me all confused, but more often than not, I sit in the blind until I just can't sit anymore, and don't see or hear anything that resembles a deer. Do you think I'm getting busted and they are just calmly going in another direction without blowing, or are they just not moving in my area? I do everything right I think, and I've tried many different experiments to try and fool them, but nothing has worked. I shower with scent free before leaving the house (unfortunately don't have a shower on the lease, yet), wash my clothes with scent free, bag them up in a plastic bag to keep them from getting contaminated, change at the property, spray down, wipe with scent killer wipes between hunts since I can't shower, approach my blinds with the wind in my face, I've experimented with cover scents, every attractant under the sun, hunting trails (but when there is a heavily used trail every 40-50 yards, which one do you choose?), I'm as quiet as I can be and try to sit as still as possible, nothing seems to work. Hand corn won't get touched while I'm there, but if I go back the next morning, it's gone.
I'm leaning more toward the idea that they somehow know I'm there and exactly where I'm sitting, as I can check cameras and the deer would be at every feeder except the one I was at during the time I was hunting. Granted, the deer movement has been almost 100% night time activity this season, but starting a couple of weeks ago, I started getting more an more daylight pics, yet when I'm there hunting, NO DEER! It's really frustrating. I've ordered an ozone generator, and the FedEx guy tried to deliver it today, but I was at the lease so he just left a door tag, won't be back until Dec. 26th, but I'm starting to worry that there is something else going on that the ozone won't fix. This is my second year on this lease, and I contemplated getting off last year because I shot the one and only deer I saw in bow range all season. I blamed the horrible season last year on the drought, which was followed by some heavy rain that caused everything to really green up to the point that the deer didn't even come near the feeders. This year, I'm blaming the bad hunting on the acorn crop, combined with the warm weather and what seemed like really high winds every weekend, leading to near 100% nighttime movement. I have opted to give this lease one more year, as I think the weather has really hurt us the last two years and the place looks super promising, and I've got pictures of some really nice bucks. I've already gave my word that I'll be there next year, along with 3 buddies, but I'm beginning to think that there is something wrong on this place. It was a day lease, but that was long enough ago that none of those day lease deer are still alive. I do have a theory though, that only the smart deer survived the day lease era, and smart deer give birth to smart fawns, making the hunting HARD even a decade or more later. Still, even that doesn't explain the near total lack of deer sightings. I've logged more hours on stand than I care to count in the last two seasons, and have seen very few deer while hunting. Like I said, I KNOW they are there, but somehow, they seem to know I'm there too! I think after next season, if there is not a real noticeable improvement on this place, there will be 3-4 more TBH members (me and my buddies) looking for a place to hunt again. Thanks for any insight you guys may have on my situation, and thanks for reading this long rant.
Okay guys, I have a dilemma that is really starting to bug the crud out of me. On my lease, I KNOW the deer are there, I have pictures of them, the sign is literally EVERYWHERE, yet I rarely ever actually see any deer when I'm there. I have heard them blow at me on occasion, but also hear them blow from up wind, which has me all confused, but more often than not, I sit in the blind until I just can't sit anymore, and don't see or hear anything that resembles a deer. Do you think I'm getting busted and they are just calmly going in another direction without blowing, or are they just not moving in my area? I do everything right I think, and I've tried many different experiments to try and fool them, but nothing has worked. I shower with scent free before leaving the house (unfortunately don't have a shower on the lease, yet), wash my clothes with scent free, bag them up in a plastic bag to keep them from getting contaminated, change at the property, spray down, wipe with scent killer wipes between hunts since I can't shower, approach my blinds with the wind in my face, I've experimented with cover scents, every attractant under the sun, hunting trails (but when there is a heavily used trail every 40-50 yards, which one do you choose?), I'm as quiet as I can be and try to sit as still as possible, nothing seems to work. Hand corn won't get touched while I'm there, but if I go back the next morning, it's gone.
I'm leaning more toward the idea that they somehow know I'm there and exactly where I'm sitting, as I can check cameras and the deer would be at every feeder except the one I was at during the time I was hunting. Granted, the deer movement has been almost 100% night time activity this season, but starting a couple of weeks ago, I started getting more an more daylight pics, yet when I'm there hunting, NO DEER! It's really frustrating. I've ordered an ozone generator, and the FedEx guy tried to deliver it today, but I was at the lease so he just left a door tag, won't be back until Dec. 26th, but I'm starting to worry that there is something else going on that the ozone won't fix. This is my second year on this lease, and I contemplated getting off last year because I shot the one and only deer I saw in bow range all season. I blamed the horrible season last year on the drought, which was followed by some heavy rain that caused everything to really green up to the point that the deer didn't even come near the feeders. This year, I'm blaming the bad hunting on the acorn crop, combined with the warm weather and what seemed like really high winds every weekend, leading to near 100% nighttime movement. I have opted to give this lease one more year, as I think the weather has really hurt us the last two years and the place looks super promising, and I've got pictures of some really nice bucks. I've already gave my word that I'll be there next year, along with 3 buddies, but I'm beginning to think that there is something wrong on this place. It was a day lease, but that was long enough ago that none of those day lease deer are still alive. I do have a theory though, that only the smart deer survived the day lease era, and smart deer give birth to smart fawns, making the hunting HARD even a decade or more later. Still, even that doesn't explain the near total lack of deer sightings. I've logged more hours on stand than I care to count in the last two seasons, and have seen very few deer while hunting. Like I said, I KNOW they are there, but somehow, they seem to know I'm there too! I think after next season, if there is not a real noticeable improvement on this place, there will be 3-4 more TBH members (me and my buddies) looking for a place to hunt again. Thanks for any insight you guys may have on my situation, and thanks for reading this long rant.
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