did you have a bad hunting season?

[mgf]

I e hunted nothing but public land my whole life in Louisiana, Mississippi. A lot of those areas have really low deer numbers and almost unbelievable hunting pressure. I hunted Illinois for the first time this year on public land. I’d say if your having trouble finding deer in Illinois you got bigger issues than camera angles lol. Looks to me like he was hunting the same spot the whole season and maybe 8 foot off the ground? Looked like to me he was just making up excuses.

Where did you hunt in Il? I lived a good portion of my life due west of Chicago. I used to hunt Lowden Miller state forest and another place in that area called Castle Rock. I don't remember if the later was part of the state park or a WMA using the name of the rock.

During those years my kids were young and I was a single custodial parent so I didn't actually hunt very much. The kids and I would spend several weekends out there "scouting" before the season opened. We'd pick a spot for my stand and on the last trip I'd put it up in a tree. 

I took my son out there with me a few times. We'd go out there walking around pretending like we were going to sneak up on something. I actually got him close to a few deer and have some neat stories but I never took a shot.

I used to squirrel hunt the national forest southwest of Carbondale but I only deer hunted down there once.  I had a family by the time I started  deer hunting. The National forest where I hunted was 7 or 8 hours away so that wasn't something that was going to happen.

 

[Ryan Rothhaar]

I had a bad season once (due to outside influences), but decided to take control of my situation, changed some folks in my life, and made some other changes. All good before and since!

As to making opportunity, it's out there. One focus is managing expectations, sometimes it is thinking outside the box for hunting opportunity, and most is just plain hard work. Finding a place to hunt is the start, but maintaining the relationships that make that possible is what gives the opportunity in the long haul.

I've worked really, really hard and made lots of what some folks would call "sacrifices" over the years to have the opportunities for hunting that I do now. I'll never feel guilty about that. The main difference around here where I live between having a place to hunt or not having it generally boils down to how bad a guy wants it, and how hard he will work for it.

I don't think the guy on the video is trying very hard. At least by the way he portrays himself, he seems to feel he's the victim and has no other choice....maybe that's just for his "online persona" though....

R

[Bowwild]

I'm referring to big game hunting with archery equipment since 1970 as I respond to the OP's question.

I've had only one bad hunting season and it was a season in 1992 when I chose not to hunt because I was disgusted with the low populations in the area I lived. Frankly, I boycotted the season. Didn't hurt or impact anyone but me. I was being a not so big baby.  I knocked on doors of 14 landowners that summer, using plat book maps.  Every single one was leased, some only to quail hunters, who didn't want deer hunters on the property. Met some nice people though. I didn't blame any of them their landowner decisions.

Other seasons, opportunity or not I've enjoyed the time in the woods, the stand, and to and from.

[Pauljr77]

Sometimes we have to get out of our bubble and try something else if what we’re doing isn’t working. If we really want it bad enough, most of the time, we can find a way to make it happen. My “bad” seasons were poor choices of company by me. I’ve remedied that…

[Mark R]

I got to hand it to the guy for keeping it real, very funny. I would hope he's being more sarcastic than anything. If you have hunted very much you can relate and laugh with him and not at him. I hunt and fish because for some reason my primal instincts draw me to it, I love it regardless of the outcome, I feel blessed to do so, it's a spiritual experience for me. I hunt and fish public land and offer my time and money when possible to do so. If you take the time and energy to get involved and try and help to make things better instead of complaining and being negative things will get better, but it has to be an effort from all involved, half ass talk and inaction don't cut it.

[mgf]

A few posts have made mention of making opportunities, work or sacrifice. I'm no stranger to work but I've definitely struck out at securing permission to hunt private land near where I live.

I'm glad the WMA is there but, for many reasons, I haven't really enjoyed hunting there.  I'm not sure what it would mean to "offer my time and money to do so".

I love wandering the national forest for deer or squirrels but it's far away so I just don't get to spend much time there.

I considered buying some property but the places I found locally were just too much to spend for a little hunting. Similar situation with leases. Someone wealthier or younger might look at this differently.

I could plan a hunting trip of some kind someplace. I probably will at some point. I actually have family out of state that owns land they purchased and developed specifically for killing deer and they kill a lot of them. They have invited me down there to kill something. I've almost gone once or twice but at the last minute I realize it isn't the sort of hunting I'm really looking for.

I don't really like to take trips and I have other pressing uses for my limited vacation time. I don't even travel to fish. 95% of my fishing is smallmouth bass on a local river.

[Sam McMichael]

Rough year. Didn't get to hunt due to back surgery. Hopes are high for next year, though.

[mgf]

Earlier I mentioned a patch of woods my company owns where I take my son squirrel hunting. I don't remember exactly but it's maybe 15 acres. I haven't deer hunted there very much for a couple of reasons. It's not all that big and surrounded by crop field and we absolutely do NOT have permission to venture on the neighbors land for any reason. I don't know the history there but the warning came with permission to hunt. There's another guy who's been hunting it during gun season. Nobody told me I couldn't hunt when he was but I just stayed away during gun season.

So I got thinking about some of the things said in this thread and thought maybe I should try again and harder to make use of opportunities like this. So I'm with the boss yesterday and mentioned that I might hunt it a little more this year. Well go figure, it looks like the company might close it up.

Apparently the other guy who was hunting is also an employee (at another facility so I don't know him). He heats his house with wood so the company was letting him cut wood out there. The guy also has some sort of store, junk shop or something and it came to the attention of the company that he was selling wood. Wood that  he was given to heat his house. Then the question came up as to whether or not he was cutting live trees. Well they were alive until he cut them down. So the boss cut off the wood thing. I guess the guy's wife decided that this was something owed to them and she called everybody and their uncle all the way up.

Somebody in that chain asked about the liability risk of letting people play with chain saws on the property. That grew into the question of liability risk of letting anybody out there for anything. I mentioned the state legal protections for property owners allowing recreational use of their land. I offered to sign a waiver or even enter into a lease of some kind. My division of the corp produces pork (I'm the maintenance Manager for a pretty large bread to wean). I'm not sure they're going to want to mess with this. The cheapest, safest most cost effective answer is to just POST it. We're not all that large but we have a well staffed and well paid "risk management" department. Their job is to minimize financial risk...things like feed mills exploding, chemical spills, Osha fines and workman comp claims. Because of my position I deal with these guys quite a bit. If the question is put to these guys I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

LOL, I should have hunted there last year.

[Mighty Big Country]

I would see this guy at the Archery Trade Show for several years going back 5+ years ago running around with that cowboy hat, army patterned camo pants, and a cutoff sleeve t-shirt.  My first and lasting impression is "goofball".  I still feel that is accurate.  He is what I call a poser or decoy.  As a You Tuber, I hope he appreciates me "Keeping it Real".

[Baylee]

Earlier I mentioned a patch of woods my company owns where I take my son squirrel hunting. I don't remember exactly but it's maybe 15 acres. I haven't deer hunted there very much for a couple of reasons. It's not all that big and surrounded by crop field and we absolutely do NOT have permission to venture on the neighbors land for any reason. I don't know the history there but the warning came with permission to hunt. There's another guy who's been hunting it during gun season. Nobody told me I couldn't hunt when he was but I just stayed away during gun season.

So I got thinking about some of the things said in this thread and thought maybe I should try again and harder to make use of opportunities like this. So I'm with the boss yesterday and mentioned that I might hunt it a little more this year. Well go figure, it looks like the company might close it up.

Apparently the other guy who was hunting is also an employee (at another facility so I don't know him). He heats his house with wood so the company was letting him cut wood out there. The guy also has some sort of store, junk shop or something and it came to the attention of the company that he was selling wood. Wood that  he was given to heat his house. Then the question came up as to whether or not he was cutting live trees. Well they were alive until he cut them down. So the boss cut off the wood thing. I guess the guy's wife decided that this was something owed to them and she called everybody and their uncle all the way up.

Somebody in that chain asked about the liability risk of letting people play with chain saws on the property. That grew into the question of liability risk of letting anybody out there for anything. I mentioned the state legal protections for property owners allowing recreational use of their land. I offered to sign a waiver or even enter into a lease of some kind. My division of the corp produces pork (I'm the maintenance Manager for a pretty large bread to wean). I'm not sure they're going to want to mess with this. The cheapest, safest most cost effective answer is to just POST it. We're not all that large but we have a well staffed and well paid "risk management" department. Their job is to minimize financial risk...things like feed mills exploding, chemical spills, Osha fines and workman comp claims. Because of my position I deal with these guys quite a bit. If the question is put to these guys I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

LOL, I should have hunted there last year.

I don’t know what to tell you. You either want to hunt or you don’t. I drove 12 hours one way to Illinois. Had to pay  to stay in a RV campground because no tent camping was allowed in the area. Stayed in that tent thru rain, freezing temps etc. That’s part of it. I killed one of the biggest 8 points I’ve ever  seen and two does for the trouble. Not a single hunt did I not see deer. After the first week and I made some adjustments there wasn’t a day I didn’t have at least a couple deer in bow range all on public land. If I lived within 5 hours of that place and only had to pay the resident Lisence fee I could have stacked deer up like firewood. You either want it or you don’t.

[mgf]

Earlier I mentioned a patch of woods my company owns where I take my son squirrel hunting. I don't remember exactly but it's maybe 15 acres. I haven't deer hunted there very much for a couple of reasons. It's not all that big and surrounded by crop field and we absolutely do NOT have permission to venture on the neighbors land for any reason. I don't know the history there but the warning came with permission to hunt. There's another guy who's been hunting it during gun season. Nobody told me I couldn't hunt when he was but I just stayed away during gun season.

So I got thinking about some of the things said in this thread and thought maybe I should try again and harder to make use of opportunities like this. So I'm with the boss yesterday and mentioned that I might hunt it a little more this year. Well go figure, it looks like the company might close it up.

Apparently the other guy who was hunting is also an employee (at another facility so I don't know him). He heats his house with wood so the company was letting him cut wood out there. The guy also has some sort of store, junk shop or something and it came to the attention of the company that he was selling wood. Wood that  he was given to heat his house. Then the question came up as to whether or not he was cutting live trees. Well they were alive until he cut them down. So the boss cut off the wood thing. I guess the guy's wife decided that this was something owed to them and she called everybody and their uncle all the way up.

Somebody in that chain asked about the liability risk of letting people play with chain saws on the property. That grew into the question of liability risk of letting anybody out there for anything. I mentioned the state legal protections for property owners allowing recreational use of their land. I offered to sign a waiver or even enter into a lease of some kind. My division of the corp produces pork (I'm the maintenance Manager for a pretty large bread to wean). I'm not sure they're going to want to mess with this. The cheapest, safest most cost effective answer is to just POST it. We're not all that large but we have a well staffed and well paid "risk management" department. Their job is to minimize financial risk...things like feed mills exploding, chemical spills, Osha fines and workman comp claims. Because of my position I deal with these guys quite a bit. If the question is put to these guys I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

LOL, I should have hunted there last year.

I don’t know what to tell you. You either want to hunt or you don’t. I drove 12 hours one way to Illinois. Had to pay  to stay in a RV campground because no tent camping was allowed in the area. Stayed in that tent thru rain, freezing temps etc. That’s part of it. I killed one of the biggest 8 points I’ve ever  seen and two does for the trouble. Not a single hunt did I not see deer. After the first week and I made some adjustments there wasn’t a day I didn’t have at least a couple deer in bow range all on public land. If I lived within 5 hours of that place and only had to pay the resident Lisence fee I could have stacked deer up like firewood. You either want it or you don’t.

Where did you hunt in Illinois? I've hunted some pretty good places in Illinois but I never had that many deer in bow range in such a short time. Were you able to make a bunch of scouting trips or something?

In ay case, I understand that deer can be killed and more so if time and money aren't an issue. I'm not able to make many multi-day trips like that and I'm not sure I want to make any.  As I explained I could travel 10 or 12 hours and get to family owned property where they have it set up to "stack deer like firewood"...even with their feeders and permanent stands I'm not sure they can actually stack them like firewood. Just not the kind of thing I'm looking for I guess.

[Todd Cook]

To me, that video is just one excuse after another. The attitude is of defeat. I've hunted many different states; mostly public land and have killed deer on most of them. The southern Illinois ground I've hunted in the past has PLENTY of deer. Same for MO, KS, Iowa, GA, AL. Lots of deer. Now, you may have to do some walking to find the good spots. May have to get up early, hunt till dark. Work for it. And if you're not hunting fresh sign, you're not hunting deer. You're just enjoying nature. It amazes me how many people don't understand that.

[mgf]

I couldn't listen to whatever he was talking about and I don't know where he's located. I can relate to hunting the same area even when you don't expect to see deer. I do it at home all the time. I know that once the leaves are down almost all the deer traffic is at night. Sometimes I feel like sitting for a while anyway so I go out back and get in one of my stands. Usually there's no deer just as I expect but once in a while one wanders by.

Why would somebody do that? Because I enjoy it more than some available alternatives. I don't know what he has available.

The question I'd ask is why one would make a video of it? My hunting isn't very good but I don't put it on TV. LOL

[Baylee]

Earlier I mentioned a patch of woods my company owns where I take my son squirrel hunting. I don't remember exactly but it's maybe 15 acres. I haven't deer hunted there very much for a couple of reasons. It's not all that big and surrounded by crop field and we absolutely do NOT have permission to venture on the neighbors land for any reason. I don't know the history there but the warning came with permission to hunt. There's another guy who's been hunting it during gun season. Nobody told me I couldn't hunt when he was but I just stayed away during gun season.

So I got thinking about some of the things said in this thread and thought maybe I should try again and harder to make use of opportunities like this. So I'm with the boss yesterday and mentioned that I might hunt it a little more this year. Well go figure, it looks like the company might close it up.

Apparently the other guy who was hunting is also an employee (at another facility so I don't know him). He heats his house with wood so the company was letting him cut wood out there. The guy also has some sort of store, junk shop or something and it came to the attention of the company that he was selling wood. Wood that  he was given to heat his house. Then the question came up as to whether or not he was cutting live trees. Well they were alive until he cut them down. So the boss cut off the wood thing. I guess the guy's wife decided that this was something owed to them and she called everybody and their uncle all the way up.

Somebody in that chain asked about the liability risk of letting people play with chain saws on the property. That grew into the question of liability risk of letting anybody out there for anything. I mentioned the state legal protections for property owners allowing recreational use of their land. I offered to sign a waiver or even enter into a lease of some kind. My division of the corp produces pork (I'm the maintenance Manager for a pretty large bread to wean). I'm not sure they're going to want to mess with this. The cheapest, safest most cost effective answer is to just POST it. We're not all that large but we have a well staffed and well paid "risk management" department. Their job is to minimize financial risk...things like feed mills exploding, chemical spills, Osha fines and workman comp claims. Because of my position I deal with these guys quite a bit. If the question is put to these guys I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

LOL, I should have hunted there last year.

I don’t know what to tell you. You either want to hunt or you don’t. I drove 12 hours one way to Illinois. Had to pay  to stay in a RV campground because no tent camping was allowed in the area. Stayed in that tent thru rain, freezing temps etc. That’s part of it. I killed one of the biggest 8 points I’ve ever  seen and two does for the trouble. Not a single hunt did I not see deer. After the first week and I made some adjustments there wasn’t a day I didn’t have at least a couple deer in bow range all on public land. If I lived within 5 hours of that place and only had to pay the resident Lisence fee I could have stacked deer up like firewood. You either want it or you don’t.

Where did you hunt in Illinois? I've hunted some pretty good places in Illinois but I never had that many deer in bow range in such a short time. Were you able to make a bunch of scouting trips or something?

In ay case, I understand that deer can be killed and more so if time and money aren't an issue. I'm not able to make many multi-day trips like that and I'm not sure I want to make any.  As I explained I could travel 10 or 12 hours and get to family owned property where they have it set up to "stack deer like firewood"...even with their feeders and permanent stands I'm not sure they can actually stack them like firewood. Just not the kind of thing I'm looking for I guess.

Second time you asked and the second time I ain’t telling the internet where I’m hunting lol. Not trying to be rude but what exactly do you want? You don’t want to hunt multiple days. You don’t want to drive to family land. Everyone would like to walk out their back door and be 100 yards from the house and kill big bucks. That ain’t reality. What I’m telling you is. You and The dufuss in the cowboy hat live in one of the best deer hunting states there is. I saw deer standing IN the dollar store parking lot. I’m not talking about in  the woods next to the parking lot I mean in the parking lot. Deer all over. Illinois has plenty of public land. What I saw and what I continue to see in the Midwest. Deer that barley ever look up, bucks big bucks moving in daylight a lot and before the rut. High populations of deer in tiny  little wood lots Ray Charles could find them. And then there’s the hunting pressure. Never fails the locals WILL NOT go in the woods. They spend all their time on the edge of the fields in pop up blinds or hanging in a tree right on the edge. The only human being I saw IN the actual woods were some guys from Georgia. We had a laugh about it when I said I knew they weren’t from Illinois when I seen them  in the woods. The deer like all prey species only have to be a little smarter than the predators they usually encounter. When someone that has  hunted public land in the Deep South shows up it’s almost unfair. You really need to come to Louisiana and hunt some National Forest. You will get an education on pressured deer and too many hunters. Until then stay outa them woods lol it’s scary in there. Besides I’ll be back in October and I like it like it is all too myself 

[mgf]

Baylee,

I only ask where you hunted because I hunted Illinois for many years and I'm familiar with some areas. I think I already posted those areas though...what do you think the internet will do with that information? It was state and national forest. I didn't give gps numbers to my secret persimmon tree.

I'm well aware how many deer are here. On an average week I probably see 100 or so while driving to work and back but there are times I've seen that many in a single afternoon.  Although, I've never had the chance to hunt someplace with deer density like that. The deer density in the national forest of the southern part of the state is nothing like what it here where I live. You don't see deer like that on the local WMA during hunting season either.

I'm no stranger to winter camping or making long treks into the woods...although I'm not sure how I'd get a deer out now days. There's some pretty rough country in the southern part of Indiana and I'm not as young as I was then.

You asked what I want. I didn't ask for anything. Someone earlier in the thread asked how you could have a "bad hunting season" I attempted to answer that question. I guess I could have been more to the point about it. Driving past deer everyday that I can't hunt while acquaintances show up at my door to show off dead deer or text me pictures all the while being unable to participate...makes for a "bad season" for me.

When I weight the cost of travel, vacation time, out of state tags etc. against other demands on the time and money I generally decide not to do it. There are many things in the world that I can't afford or choose not to buy anyway. I'm mostly used to that.

 

[mgf]

 You really need to come to Louisiana and hunt some National Forest. You will get an education on pressured deer and too many hunters. Until then stay outa them woods lol it’s scary in there. Besides I’ll be back in October and I like it like it is all too myself

I grew up just west of Chicago. Do you think I don't know about pressured hunting? Check out the Des Plains hunting area some time. Do you really think I'm afraid to go into the woods? It seems to me that you're assuming an awful lot about somebody you've never met.

[GCook]

To me, that video is just one excuse after another. The attitude is of defeat. I've hunted many different states; mostly public land and have killed deer on most of them. The southern Illinois ground I've hunted in the past has PLENTY of deer. Same for MO, KS, Iowa, GA, AL. Lots of deer. Now, you may have to do some walking to find the good spots. May have to get up early, hunt till dark. Work for it. And if you're not hunting fresh sign, you're not hunting deer. You're just enjoying nature. It amazes me how many people don't understand that.

If my set up allowed me to like a post I'd like this one.

[mgf]

Hmmm...hunt fresh sign and it's ok to go into the woods a ways. Got it.

[Blackstick]

Hunting in Indiana sucks! Everyone should just go to another state and save yourself some grief.

[mgf]

Hunting in Indiana is great for those have access to some of that good hunting. I've been spending my time and money on other things.