WARedBear

Do you get disheartened about hunting? I do mean hunting...not shooting and killing...but hunting? It makes me feel like I am the bad hunter referred to in another thread. I scout and scout, find a spot that I think is good, set-up my stand, hunt and hunt and hunt only to see NOTHING. I want to go out again but I can talk myself out of getting up early or going out after work. I know it is wrong and selfish but thats how I feel. I drive out of the woods and all of the fields along the lake are full of does. I have a spot of private land to hunt but he wants his relatives to get their deer first before he lets me in. That meant the last day of the season two years ago.

How many days will you go without seeing an animal?

huntnma

it can be, but then it happens, i might not get to shoot, but i see something and it makes it worth it....just keep your head up........
i usually see something every hunt, it may be walking in or out, but i see it, lol........

txmarshmonkey

I'm basically in the same situation. That's pretty much how it is on E. TX leases. And if you happen to be a new guy on the lease, youHAVE to takewhat's left over, or what someone else is giving up. There are some things about leases that just sucks. Ya just have to keep trying! I have not taken a deer with my bow off this lease, YET. Maybe this year though! I've seen a few, nothin big, but decided to pass at the time. Not this time, I'm out of venison!

GR8atta2d

Reckon that's why it's called huntin and not watchin or killin

cardeer

last year it took me 3 weeks to get a doe.and that was hunting every day 12 hours a day. then finished the year of with 2 more after 400 more hours on stand.

WARedBear

Thanks guys...the spot I'm on right now is not what you would call HOT! but it does have somethings going for it.
1. Nobody else is hunting this area.
2. There is a nice game trail leading up this hill and beyond. I am thinking about going deeper into the thicket to see where it leads but I don't want to spread my scent with only one week of elk season left.
3. There was freash elk droppings on the trail Saturday and I heard an elk bugle in the distance.
4. It is closer than the other areas I've scouted...1 hour from home.
5. My bear stand is within spitting distance so I can always drop down the hill, through the brush, over the steam and up my bear stand.
6. I've left corn in the trail and it has dissappeared...by what I don't know. I do know there is a cow and calf moose in the area as well.

So I guess I will head back up there this weekend and stick it out and hope for the best. I will take some pictures of the area and post them.
Thanks again....

manuman

Hang in there Redbear. It gets frustrating at times. I knew a guy once that shot a 5 point, eastern count basket rack buck, and it was the first deer he had taken in 5 years! He was a happy camper that day though. I wish I knew some suggestions about your area, but being in Georgia, I don't have any experience in your terrain. Possibly check the wind direction, or maybe this trail is too far from a bedding area for the deer to reach it before dark? Sometimes a trail can contain sign, but the sign is all laid down at night. If the area is fairly open, and not too close to any thickets, that may be your problem. If so, then follow the trail to a point that is closer to the thicket/bedding area, and be careful no to get too close, or to allow your scent to drift into the bedding area.

Dampland

Well, I'm spolied, because I am able to hunt private land (100% fair chase) and so I know what areas of it have or have not been pressured already.

Rarely, do I go 2 days in a row without seeing a deer. HOWEVER, sometimes those deer are ones I see that I jumped while walking out or in, from the road.

I started bringing a paperback novel with me in my backpack about 5-10 years ago. I actually see MORE animals now, because I fidgit much less, and I seem to relax better while reading.

PLUS, if it is really crappy hunting (NO DEER) then at least I passed the time reading a good book.


Good luck this fall.

WARedBear

I will try to discribe the area. I am sitting in a tree facing east. The trail is in front of me and runs north to south. The woods to the east of the trail were logged several years ago so it is open with a few trees and brush. About 50 yards in front of me is a thicket line running along a creek, my bear stand is on the other side of this. Heading south down the trail takes you down the hill and to the road...maybe 200-250 yards away. Behind me are thick woods running north and south along the edge of the trail. The trail dissappears to the north (about 30 yards away) into these woods. I haven't scouted past the edge of the woods so as to not disturb the area. I have a back entrance to the stand tree so as to not disturb the trail. The only way to get deeper into the woods would mean walking the game trail. There is fresh elk droppings so I know one is in there. I say one because I cleared a pad track area and there was only one set of tracks. Leads me to believe it would be a bull by it's self. The game trail is not heavily used but none of the trails in the area have fresh sign. I think it is still too hot and they might still be high on the mountain to the north...which by the way is a State Park and no hunting. So I am on the edge of a game reserve...which can be nice.

zak123

I sawmy first deerduring the last week of the season, 115 days into it.I would like to say I scouted and prepared to hunt this spot, but I didn't. I went along with a friend to his farm. Although I saw eight deer, I wish I would have seen them in the woods where I hunt. It would have meant a lot more to me if I saw the deer after scouting for them.

I hunted in a tree on a dirt road last year. I saw one new set of tracks every two weeks. I could not describe how happy I was when I saw a set of tracks near my tree. The one thing that gets me is when people on this board complain because they only see does or little bucks while hunting. If I could just see the leg of a spike (four points is legal) that would make my day, no, it would make my season. I read all of these posts about finding a food source or a spot where thick cover meets thin cover. Down in Mississippi we don't have any of this. Most of the woods are too thick to walk through. I did find two great spots to hunt this year. One of them is right off of a bulldozed path. I do not really want to hunt this one because it doesn't get as much action as the other one. I will still hunt it though. I set out ten string traps a few weeks ago. It took two weeks for one of the traps to trip, but I have four months to wait for a deer. My other spot is in the middle of a swamp bottom. The woods around the area are thick, but I can walk through them with a stand on my back. I found an area in this bottom that is open. It is the most beautiful spot I have ever seen. The spot isninety yards by forty yards. There are hardwoods all around this spot. There is even a little oak tree! There is a nice big tree about ten yards. I will hunt out of this tree. There is also a little section with small dead trees. I set up some string traps, but none of them tripped after a week. I did see three different sets of tracks cut through this spot though. This may be the best hunting spotI have ever seen!I will try to post pictures soon.

I think I may have figured out why I am not seeing thrity deer a day like others. I could only see about ten yards in every direction in my old spot. Some of the members on this board hunt on huge food plots. They can see deer hundreds of yards away.