How do you stay motivated?

[Sojurn]

It's been 6 years since I've drawn my bow on a deer. I'm lucky if I see 5 in a season. Clearly I'm doing something (or somethingS) wrong,  but I don't know what.
  I know public land hunting is tough but this is getting discouraging.
  What do all of you do to stay motivated?

[Bowguy67]

All I need to do is look at the grizzly bear lying next to me each morning and out I go

[Bowguy67]

On a serious note, 6 years is a long time. Why don’t you tell us how you hunt so we could possibly add considerations for you?

[Sojurn]

I'm in central Minnesota.  Thick everything, and lots of swamp.  I try to stay out of bedding, but other than that I'm having a tough time figuring out where they travel. 
  Food is plentiful.  Water is everywhere.  Cover is everywhere.  And the terrain is flat. 
  I'm hunting the edges of swamp and woods wherever I find trails,  or trails leading to oaks. 
  I know I'm doing things wrong.  And it's tough to admit failure.  But whatever I'm doing isn't working. 
  Insights welcome. 

[Cory Mattson]

STOP
At this point if lightning strikes and you get a deer it still won’t be a success
6 years is way too long. You are learning and building on mistakes
The most fundamental being you are Hunting the wrong area and using un productive methods.
Try to join the Tradgang group Javalina Hunting
Try hunting another state or different part of your state with a successful traditional bow hunter
There’s more but start with that
Good Luck <><
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[greg fields]

Whatever stands you are hunting now, don't hunt them anymore, find new area..
Motivation, cant help, but a 6 year streak like you are in, Id take up a new hobby.  I dont get many opportunities at game, but enough to keep me going barely...  6 years, WOW.. Cant imagine.

[Kirkll]

I'm in central Minnesota.  Thick everything, and lots of swamp.  I try to stay out of bedding, but other than that I'm having a tough time figuring out where they travel. 
  Food is plentiful.  Water is everywhere.  Cover is everywhere.  And the terrain is flat. 
  I'm hunting the edges of swamp and woods wherever I find trails,  or trails leading to oaks. 
  I know I'm doing things wrong.  And it's tough to admit failure.  But whatever I'm doing isn't working. 
  Insights welcome.

Deer are creatures of habit if undisturbed.... You say you are hunting public land?  Do you often see other hunters? Do you hunt from the ground, or a tree stand?  and the big question is , how much time do you actually spend out there hunting and watching these trails?

How much fresh deer sign do you see? any Rubs during the rut? What type of deer are you hunting?  White Tail, or Mule deer?   Kirk

[Seeking Trad Deer]

Not cool telling our brother to take up another hobby. 
I thihk this is a great thread topic and I admire you for keeping at it.  Says more about you in a good sense than folks having to be successful in seeing lots of deer and killing deer.  I think they miss the point of traditonal archery.
Anybody can kill deer where there are lots of them.  Heck, I can any day and choose to hunt where there are few deer because I like the challenge and going a few years without shooting a buck is fine with me, actually I think I am a better hunter because of it.  I used to NEED to kill deer and did kill a bunch with my trad bows in agricultural areas but easy is not fun or rewarding to me.  So, I for one applaud you and yes, try some different areas and scout more than you hunt but stick with it my brother.

[Jock Whisky]

If you have an idea where other hunters are setting up, try setting up elsewhere if that's at all possible. Sometimes you can use them to unknowingly push deer to you.
They still have to eat so if you know where they are bedded you have a start.
Deer will head for the thickest cover if pressured. Perhaps being pressured they have gone nocturnal.  A trail camera will tell you if that's the issue.
Perhaps invest in a lot of time scouting the area you are in after the season could give you some clues for next year. That helps me stay motivated and in reasonable shape.

How are the other hunters doing?

[Sojurn]

In my area (according to my state) there are 3.4 deer per mile, and archers (including compound ds) have a 20% success rate (this success rate is state wide. I suspect its much lower in my area). Seeing other people in the woods is not uncommon.  People hunt squirrels, birds and bears here. 
  I hunt mostly from the ground, but last year especially I made an effort to spent more time in trees. I dont know if it made a difference really, it's certainly more hassle. 
  Is 20% normal for most areas? I have so many questions.  Thank you to those of you trying to help. I dont know where to go or how to turn this around.

[Bowguy67]

Brother you say food is everywhere. Do you know the preferred food sources and which order things are preferred? Also are you using the wind and hunting the wind and ever changing preferred food sources by staying mobile?
I tend to often give acorns as an example but deer prefer white oaks, chestnut oak is white but typically not a preferred white so we’d avoid that one typically. I use binos mid summer, deer aren’t in the oaks then, no reason to be. I glass up and see which trees have mast. I that can check those areas in or just before season to see if deer are using. Black oaks next. During my scouting ahead mid summer trips I notice black oaks. Once the whites are gone they change to black. Your scouting has you knowing where you’re hunting next.
Now say a bunch of whites are all dropping. I like to use the ring around trees. When acorns are ready and a tree actively used by squirrels it’s commonly the tree deer are using too. Squirrels climb up, cut branches down to get acorns. There’s a green ring by the active tree.  It turns brown let it go and look for next green ring.
There are food sources like bean, or anything green that are real good, often trumping acorn but once they yellow bean gets avoided. Once brown again used but lesser extent commonly. Fruit trees when ripe have high draw for a bit but aren’t long lasting. Still worth hunting when available. Imo you’ve got to learn which food are preferred when and plan that route until the rut hits and then I change a bit if I still have buck tags. Early in the walk phase I’d find rub lines. That’s a bucks  walking pattern very often. Find a line, then follow it, see if you get multiple lines intersecting. That’d be a great spot walk phase. I can offer more but this might help and I don’t want post a novel. Learn the local preferred food. Idk if agriculture comes into this either. But that a whole nother bunch considerations

[Bowguy67]

Is that 3-4 deer per square mile correct? Sounds low

[mgf]

I'm in about the same boat...well there's plenty of deer around here...just not on land that I can hunt. I'm about burned out this season already. Too many hours sitting with, essentially, no deer.

I finally set enough vacation aside to spend a few days in the Hoosier national forest. I used to love hunting down there even though the deer density is NOTHING like at home. I haven't been able to hunt it since I was self employed (9 years ago). I learned something. I can't hunt those hills anymore. The COPD says those days are over.

In a week minus some time out for weather I found ONE spot with deer sign flat enough to get in and out of and close enough that I might be able to get a deer out. I went back to hunt it and found a guy in a saddle who was there every day after. That's the other thing...I never saw so many people down there before. there used to be some campers on the weekend and they went home on Sunday. This was a whole new deal. The place was crawling with people. It was hard to find a place to park if you wanted to hunt something you couldn't walk to from camp.

I found a real sweet spot by a pond on a big flat that was loaded with sign...about 3 mountains over with each ridge top covered in waist high briar. That was the easier way there. I got there, took some pictures to prove it, sat for about an hour and decided that I had better start back. There is NO way in hell that I could get a deer out of there.

The only deer I saw were on the road through farm land on the way to get groceries.

[mgf]

It's been 6 years since I've drawn my bow on a deer. I'm lucky if I see 5 in a season. Clearly I'm doing something (or somethingS) wrong,  but I don't know what.
  I know public land hunting is tough but this is getting discouraging.
  What do all of you do to stay motivated?

You're the only one who can decide what motivates you. I keep saying I'm going to quit hunting and I keep going back at it. It hasn't been about "fun" for a very long time. I've never killed a lot of deer but I used to enjoy the hunting I had. My most enjoyable deer hunting was in the early 90's. I was a single custodial parent and I was hunting Ill. state forest 70 miles from home. I didn't get to hunt very much and I was always behind as far as scouting. But, I saw sign and enough deer to keep me interested.  I enjoyed hunting.

Now, I see hundreds of deer in a weeks time just driving to and from work, both my vehicles are smashed to pieces by deer. It just taunts me. It's something I want but can't have. I know kids from farm families who kill piles of deer and turkeys without even trying. I'm just too GD mean to quit. I just don't like to get beat this bad and give up. As soon as I quit, I think "maybe if I do this or try that".  It's been a very long time since I've had "fun" doing this.

[trad_bowhunter1965]

All can say it's in my blood I haven't killed a deer yet with my Longbow but I am going to keep trying until I can't or die. Here's a couple saying that help me keep motivated " Can't kill anything if your not setting on the couch " And stick and stay make them pay"

[GCook]

If you want to kill game, you have to hunt where there's game.  I'd rather see 12 deer per hunt then 1 deer every 12 hunts.  I'd rather challenge myself in the getting close to the 12 for a quality shot than the challenge of hoping to see one every few days of hunting.

There are plenty of opportunities out there if you are willing to spend time, money and effort to find and utilize them

[Mint]

I hunt long island where we have an estimated deer herd off 25+ per square mile and the only opportunity i got last year was a messed up racked fork horn which I shot. This year I've taken two does and let a bunch of small bucks walk. If you have cover and plenty of food there has to be more than 3 per square mile unless you have wolves that are wiping out the herd. Where I hunt there is acorns everywhere, plenty of corn fields on private property and they can bed everywhere. I concentrate on funnels, scrapes in cover and rub lines.

Do you scout a lot? Have you found rubs and scrapes? Did you put out any trail cams? How are you approaching your hunting spot? Are the deer hearing you approach, smelling you approach? Access to your stand can be very important. Are you playing the wind correctly? Hunting from the ground your visibility in thick cover is poor. I would get into a treestand more often. If i would you I would look for some trails through the swamp on higher ground so their feet don't get wet, edges of heavier cover to open woods, swamp edges.

[Maclean]

I can't really speak to your hunting situation because I'm out west in the Rocky Mountains. For me it's elk and mule deer, and I hunt on the ground, mostly spot and stalk. And I hunt public land, mostly national forest.
I've found that hunting a different area keeps things fresh, and interesting. Granted, you have to hunt an area that holds game, so doing some homework and pre-season scouting is a must, but that's part of what keeps it engaging.
This year I hunted an area I haven't been to in 20 years, and a place in that area that I've never been to. I didn't harvest an elk, but what I found will keep me going back for years. Chock full of fresh sign in this secluded little hanging basin miles from the nearest road or hiking trail. Stunningly beautiful. That's what keeps me motivated.

[MnFn]

Sounds like you may be hunting in the same area in MN as I am.
Last year I hunted about eight days and on six of those days I saw one doe. On another day I saw three deer. After rifle season it was brutal- zero deer seen. And I have access to good private hunting land. I hunted some areas eighty miles away from the first parcel of land.

I think the numbers are down. I’ve seen very few deer in the fields at night.

I went out yesterday and saw nothing. I was sitting in the woods about fifteen yards downwind from a major trail with lots of sign, and four large scrapes. There were also secondary  intersecting trails about twenty yards from me and one closer.I was about a hundred yards from oak trees that still had a lot of uneaten acorns on the ground and a harvested bean field with scattered beans left. I thought to myself, , I doesn’t get much better than this for a set-up. But the deer had moved, or changed patterns. Maybe a better food source someplace.

I used to hunt from treestands almost exclusively and maybe if I had done that I would have seen some deer further away. But I think I’m pretty much done with climbing trees.

During the youth hunt, one nice doe was taken and her stomach was full of acorns
I just think the numbers of deer in those areas are fewer than in the past. So, I think if it is really important to you, you need to change your hunting area.

I am motivated by just enjoying what I do. I love being in the woods in October and November bowhunting. No deer? Maybe a ruffed grouse will present itself. I like it all.

[mgf]

There are plenty of opportunities out there if you are willing to spend time, money and effort to find and utilize them

Time and money is exactly what's at issue. I started looking for a lease at the end of the season last year. I never found anything close enough to home to do me any good. What I did find was idiotically expensive for what it was.

Some people take hunting trips. God bless them but I have to work and there isn't a ton of money.

Please don't misunderstand. We've all made choices in life that are, in large part, why we are where we are. Got it. However, hunting has become one of those things that's above the pay grade of many of us.  Private jets, mansions and yachts are also beyond my means. I'm learning to live with it.