vanishing deer

[GreyGoose]

so here is my situation:i have hunted the same 1,200 acres for 20+ years and have always had descent to good success.Two seasons ago{2015-16} i saw less deer than normal but still passed on numerous bucks in anticipation of some good shooters last season{2016-17}well long story short,i got stumped this past season and do not think i even saw 4 deer total all season.I have numerous stand locations and do not over hunt any one spot.crazy thing is i did not see alot of sign.i have old logging roads that are covered in community rubs and scrapes every year like clock work that were not worked this past season.oak areas showed little sign of travel and usage other than turkey.i do not use trail cams or food plots and cut shooting lanes during off season but other than that i leave land as natural as possible.So any ideas on what could be going on?remember this is land that i have hunted for years always seeing deer and usually taking 2 to 3 per season commonly to nothing.If there was a disease outbreak issue then it would be well known of and public knowledge,do not have a poacher problem that i an aware of.i am at a loss......any ideas?

 

[agelesssone]

Here's a possibility that happened to me.
Neighbors cleared off a lot of land that the deer used to bed in. Now they have relocated to an area south of me and rarely come through my property.
They would bed in the thickets north of me and travel through my place to get to the oaks to the south of me.
There is cover/bedding there, but not near as good as what used to be to my north side.
Since the thickets have been removed, not many travel by me.
So I just have to wait for the rut when they run helter-skelter.
I'm not a horn hunter at all, strictly meat. Busk chases anode through, good in me. It's a twofer.

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[agelesssone]

Should say "a doe"....not anode.


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[Mike Belt]

I'm thinking you need to see what going on on the land surrounding you.

 

[csi-tech]

Our property was once a large cattle operation. It shut down and the cows were sold off when the father-in-law could no longer manage it. The land has since grown completely over with brush. I almost never see deer. They are certainly there though. If I take my tractor through the briars dozens come pouring out. I did it last week. I'm going to bush hog my roads in the morning and I will see tons of deer.

My neighbors, who have cleared "golf courses" will probably be upset to see the dozers come to our place in July. I'm just making a couple of small fields and two food plots, but I am holding deer like crazy. It's all about the habitat.

 

[muddyboots]

It happenned in one of my leases. Best place I have ever hunted. I saw bucks everytime I went. Last we weren't getting any pictures. Ok we told ourselves they were eating soybeans as our lease is mostly wooded. Get later in the year and still no pics and in bow season we weren't seeing any either. Ok we told ourselves just wait for the rut. Well no deer thru the rut either so me and my wife pulled up stakes and changed areas and started seeing lots of deer. We knew something was wrong just didn't know what. By chance one of our members seen a local farmer in the area and we were told about the farmers getting depredation permits that year. And I mean a lot. Finally it made sense. I really didn't think that made a lot of difference but boy did it. It yet remains to see how this year will turn out.

 

[Crosshairy]

I agree with others about the likelihood of it being neighbors, but it is possible that disease is another factor.

How was your mast production? Do you have 4-season food sources?

If a neighbor logged some old timber and created a bunch of habitat and treetops on the ground, you might see some shifting of ranges going on.

If you want to keep deer on your property, food and cover will generally do the job quite well. If the neighbor suddenly improves their property in the deer's eyes, I'd expect that the "carrying capacity" of the land just increased. You would see a dispersal of the existing deer over a wider area, an increase in deer survival rates, birth rates, etc., and a subsequent increase in population over the following few years until a new balance was struck. Imagine someone taking a golf course and letting it go fallow or planting it with crops...it would create a temporary shift in the herd to take advantage of this new habitat and food source until the habitat is re-filled.

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

so here is my situation:i have hunted the same 1,200 acres for 20+ years and have always had descent to good success.Two seasons ago{2015-16} i saw less deer than normal but still passed on numerous bucks in anticipation of some good shooters last season{2016-17}well long story short,i got stumped this past season and do not think i even saw 4 deer total all season.I have numerous stand locations and do not over hunt any one spot.crazy thing is i did not see alot of sign.i have old logging roads that are covered in community rubs and scrapes every year like clock work that were not worked this past season.oak areas showed little sign of travel and usage other than turkey.i do not use trail cams or food plots and cut shooting lanes during off season but other than that i leave land as natural as possible.So any ideas on what could be going on?remember this is land that i have hunted for years always seeing deer and usually taking 2 to 3 per season commonly to nothing.If there was a disease outbreak issue then it would be well known of and public knowledge,do not have a poacher problem that i an aware of.i am at a loss......any ideas?

Deer usually vanish towards the end of the season because your property does not provide adequate cover. They need the cover for protection from the elements (wind) and protection from Predators... (Us! ) Hinge Cutting will be more beneficial late season than food plots IMHO. Hinge Cut now for a more productive late season. Beech trees and cedars are not high dollar trees and give deer really good cover.

 

[kentuckylakebuck]

you ever heard of a DEPREDATION PERMIT!!! wake up merica!

 

[catman529]

I would not assume disease would be well know public knowledge. EHD could pop up anywhere localized but if your deer did die off from EHD then you'd probably find dead deer remains near water sources. Like others have said it could have to do with surrounding property, maybe better habitat from clear cutting, farming, etc on your neighbors?


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[DMD]

It could be as others have already said, or...it could be nothing. Sometimes environmental factors change deer patterns temporarily. Lack of mast, drought, unusual temperatures, etc. can cause a "bad" year. I recall one year in hunted 11 times in a row without a single deer sighting. The rest of the season wasn't much better. I concocted all these theories as to why there were no deer around. I worried it was the end of the good hunting I had enjoyed. Next year, things got back to normal.

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