SE Ohio Deer Herd Problems?

[Benjy]

I just got back from Morgan county and the deer movement on the farms where I was hunting was almost nonexistent. Not sure what happened other than the wind blowing 99mph constantly! There were plenty of sightings and pictures on the trail cameras until about 3 days before I arrived. A couple of the neighbors killed some nice bucks but it sounded like the movement was very limited.

I think it is just a weird year, I did notice that there are still alot of leaves on the trees and very few acorns on the ground...

[Biathlonman]

My brother hunted Vinton county all last week.  Said it was really strange with almost no doe sightings but reported seeing tons of little bucks.  He missed a 150 class 8 then connected on a small spike the same morning.

[Kevin Dill]

Private land will almost always provide better hunting than public land here. Habitat diversity and agriculture are the keys to deer production. Most of Ohio's public land is forested or otherwise 'wild', with little to no agriculture on it. It tends to support fewer deer per square mile. Then consider that a lot of firearms hunters head for public land to hunt. Throw in a bad to nonexistent acorn crop this year, and you have a recipe for seeing few deer in the mature woods.

One other thing that's happening is the weirdness of the rut. Deer sightings can go from zero to off the chart (and back) in just a few days. This is a hard time of year to get dependable hunting on any stand or location.

[59Alaskan]

On another thread someone posted the ODNR deer harvest statistics by week.  As of Nov6 the archery harvest was down roughly 15%. The counties I hunt were above that in terms of shortfall vs 2012.

I don't think ODNR reduced the number you can harvest on SE Ohio arbitrarily....

[dbd870]

Hearing the same thing from many in IN as well. (Majority private land) Seems like in the last handful of days they are finally starting to move; I wouldn't give up just yet, it is the way it seems to be playing out this year

[Mike Gerardi]

Numbers are down by me and good other places. One farm I hunt had great numbers and last year there was'nt even a deer track and this year. Apples from a tree on this property never lasted 24hrs on the ground. This year they are scattered all over and the whole area smells like apple cider vinegar.. No rubs..scrapes...ect.EHD hit my area hard. Deer found along the creek bank dead. Another county just one hour south is covered in deer.

[bofish-IL]

In Central Illinois EHD was bad last year but the state report is it wasn't this year. The farmer I hunt on found 7 bucks and 8 does dead since spring. Also everyone I talk to in Fulton county states the sightings are way down. I think not many people call into the state so the report is not showing the true picture.

I had 4 game camera out since Oct 1st and the only buck photo showed up on Nov. 3.  I use to have around 50 to 70 photos of deer in one week from each camera. It is down to about 5 deer this year.

[Mike Gerardi]

             

   

I feel your Pain!!

[Brian Halbleib]

Been hearing the same story from a lot of other guys. The guys in town for the St Jude hunt experienced the same thing at my place in NE Ohio. I hunted yesterday and today and passed two small bucks and saw two does yesterday and three does this morning. There are a lot of scrapes being freshened up every day but the deer I saw were not acting real rutty.

-Brian

[Jerry Jeffer]

They are just nocturnal and breading.you'll start seeing them again next week or even this week.