Where have all the deer gone?

[Knawbone]

Bob, I'm not sure who or what entities are the most to blame? DEC or insurance companies, but between the re-introduction of coyotes, and the greed spawned over distribution of deer tags has done exactly what they wanted............ increased moneys threw license sales and fewer deer/ vehicle claims. The true sportsman pays the most.......again!!

[Wapiti Chaser]

We have been spared any mass die offs that I'm aware of. We have more mast that we have ever had. The apple trees have piles of apples rotting under them where not one apple would last a day in the past and acorns like I have never seen. My father saw five deer all archery season two small bucks and three lone does without fawns. Even the coyotes seem to have moved on with few tracks and very little howeling this year. I have also seen more mid day movement as opposed to early morning movement. I hope the deer can rebound from whatever is going on .

[killinstuff]

I live in northern Michigan, land of "if it's brown, it's down".  Enough said.

[buckeye_hunter]

Don't feel alone!

I calculated the average deer harvest using the ODNR's numbers for Ohio's "best" deer counties. The overall harvest is down 17.5% in our best counties. This is a big deal! The harvest has declined 4 of the last 5 years. The worst thing about this year, is that the harvest is down EVEN WITH AN ADDED GUN SEASON. The outdoor news reported road kills were down 10% last year and I bet is even higher by the end of this year. I really think the numbers of deer have taken a nose dive everywhere.

Just my thoughts,
-Charlie

[Knawbone]

Chem. Trails?    

[The Night Stalker]

They are coming to my farm. Once the shooting starts, they flock to my place for sanctuary. I give them a vacation. Deer are showing up on my trail camera that I have not seen in a while. The other thing is I have pics of small deer running and coyotes trailing them about 2-3 minutes behind on two occasions in the last 7 days.

[Wiley Coyote]

I actually have seen more deer this year than last but it is still way down from what it was a few years ago. Too many freezer tags and coyotes......      

[Hoyt]

I haven't seen but one deer from my stand in the last 6 or more hunts and he saw or smelled me first.

Only decent buck I've seen from stand I killed it 3wks ago

I was seeing plenty of doe and real small bucks first part of season when I had one white oak bench located that was really putting out. Since those are gone so are the deer.
 
There's only one standing cornfield left in the area and it's right behind my house..bout 75acres or so. Usually there's plenty of acorns on the far off ridges to pull them out at night and I can catch them coming and going, but not this yr.

It's got an old pond in it and if the deer aren't holed up in the cornfield..they ain't here.

No rut that I've seen any evidence of either..yet.

Gun season opens tomorrow..so things won't get much better I'm afraid.

[Pine]

I saw one spike buck first of October , to far to shoot . I have seen no tracks , scat , rubs or scrapes sense .  Gun season has been open sense November 15 and I am not hearing any shots either .  

[2Blade]

Kind of the same situation here depending on where your hunting. Regardless the deer seem spread out and thin compared to eariler years. Kiyotes have increased but from what ive read kiyotes prefer wounded or hurt deer or roadkill. Not that they cant kill a mature whitetail its just harder and more energy consuming. Im not finding dead carcasses so I dont belive they are dying off but perhaps so much hunting pressure their going Nocturnal? All my usual hot areas for the rut are deserted.

[RodL]

I'm having the same issue in western Maryland, our season starts in early September and I would say that from that day until now I have seen 20 deer total, strangely, most of the deer have been  bucks with very few doe and yearling sightings. We have 15 cameras running on our farm and they are not getting many pics either. I haven't seen much rut activity at all yet. Our rifle season starts the Saturday after thanksgiving so I will be curious to see how they do.

Rodney

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I hear 16 shots opening day of Gun season where years past you would hear 200-250 before you quit counting.

I still have been seeing the same amount of deer but I have been improving as a hunter and deer sightings are still low here in NY.

I think Aliens have realized how good deer taste.  :rolleyes:

[Knawbone]

And the third Angel sounded. And the name of the star is called Wormwood: And a third part of the waters became wormwood.........

  The Bees, the Monarch,the Deer ???  IMHO!!

[PennDude]

Checking in from Western PA, WMU 1A.  We've got loads of deer over here and a lot of really nice bucks running around.  The apple mast was really great due to no late frosts so the deer have been feasting on those.  I've noticed that the hard mast crop has been good in most areas I hunt though some areas are sparce on acorns.  Amazing numbers of hickory nuts and walnuts all around. I've noticed the highest numbers of squirrels I've ever seen and can limit out any day I go out, as long as it isn't terribly windy.  There are plenty of coons and beavers as well, for all the trappers.  Things are good on this side of the state.  We haven't had a deep snow since the blizzard that wrecked Pittsburgh 3 years ago, which resulted in quite a few starved deer.  Turkeys in my area are difficult to locate though and I attribute that to the increase in coyote and fisher populations.  I've seen 2 fishers in the past two years, however both were near the Warren/Erie County line in Pittsfield, PA.  One of those fishers was in the chicken coop I was getting ready to clean out and I had to run him off with a pitch fork!  I've noticed that porcupines have also moved into the area that I live and hunt, which may result in the fishers moving down here as well.  

Anyway, I'm rambling.  Here's a video of the fisher I saw while turkey hunting.  He appeared to be at least 36 inches long.

 

I apologize for the vertical video, I was excited at the time.

[Roger Norris]

Deer way down for me (and others) in Michigan this year. Depending on the area, it's wolves, EHD, or the early seasons and ample doe tags we have (we have an early doe season, an early youth hunt, and an early disabled veterans hunt). When October 1st rolls around, our deer have been shot at for 2 weeks already.

Couple that with bizarre weather....rain(lots of standing corn still)....wind.....and I can't wait for rabbit season.

[Paul Shirek]

In WI where we hunt on public land the deer numbers are beginning to go up a bit. They were so low a few years ago that hunting seemed useless. Blame what you may for your state in WI, in my opinion, it was an overabundance of shooting does. Almost everybody does it. Even hunters that will go all season long hunting an area and only see one deer will shoot it even if it's a doe. Then they will complain about no deer. Our specific area has for about 3 years now limited doe killing to low numbers and they are making a slight comeback. Next  year looks like it might be exciting again...

[Bill Carlsen]

The last few times my wife has been in her stand  she has seen and heard bucks chasing does. We haven't noticed a decline in numbers but deer behavior is a bit "off".  They are just now beginning to get "normal" again. Been  hearing very little firearm shooting but big blocks of private land around us has been posted due to hunter abuse and  misuse. In a year or two I expect that our numbers will grow in our little area simply because people are fed up with hunters. We own our own 23 acres right in the middle of the posted area so........

By the way, I missed the same doe twice this week. Today is the last day I can shoot a doe so we'll see. My back issues have kept me from my normal practicing so.  I have been hunting an apple tree about 1/2 mile from the stand I set up for Laura. We had five or so PY bucks before their velvet shed and she and I want her to get a good buck so I have been leaving her area alone. It probably will pay off. She missed a spike horn twice yesterday. One the first shot her elbow hit the tree she was in and the second shot she simple shot at the whole deer and missed. She herd bucks grunting and running does in the swamp all afternoon.

[Dan Bonner]

I am sorry to hear of the decline in numbers in your areas. I hunt in TX and MS and we have as many deer as ever. Maybe more. Reading this whole thread is spooky. MS is succumbing to pressure from the insurance companies and doing all they can to increase harvest. I wonder if they have done the math on what having the densest deer herd in the country does for the economy. My land wouldn't be worth half as much if the deer were gone. We do have more coyotes every year. You never saw or heard coyotes east of the Mississippi River when I was a kid. My father killed the first one we had ever seen in the mid '80s. Now they are everywhere and you hear them every evening. I hope this phenomenon doesn't spread across the whole country.

Bonner

[Mike Gerardi]

Here in Ohio the DNR has changed over to a call in only to report game harvest. You no longer have to bring your game harvest to a specific location and have it "Checked in" by a person who inspects that it was an arrow used for archery and shot gun slug (not a rifle bullet). All anyone has to do is just call it in on a phone and press one for this and two for that. Its all automated. The human has been removed from the check in process. That is a huge open door for those that just take. Just another piece of the puzzle here in Ohio.

[lyagooshka]

Originally posted by Art B:
Same thing here in southern WV also Alex. You have any deep snows past couple of winters? Art

Art, last 2 winters have been a bust as far as snow in my area.  I live in Allentown, PA.  2 years ago we had a bad storm end of October.  Caused lots of tree damage as the leaves were still on the trees so the trees couldn't handle the weight.  Rest of the winter, about 2" total for the whole winter.  Last year was the hurricane, but that was about it.  Wondering if we'll get any this year.