What is "Seeing a lot of deer?"

[TheLBLman]

I often have hunts with zero sightings (50%+). This is on purpose. Allow me to explain. The goal is not to see numerous deer. The goal is to see one deer. These two goals are exclusive to one another most often. Occasionally, (during certain parts of the rut) they coincide.

Same here.
I somewhat look at this as an issue of preferring quality over quantity.
Kinda similar to preferring a single 16-oz prime ribeye steak
over two dozen chicken gizzards.

But if works out great that we're not all programmed the same,
and some really do prefer chicken gizzards over ribeyes.

I really do enjoy this journey, and the challenge of a particular deer,
which is sometimes a very old doe, not just a mature buck.

 

[timberjack86]

In Polk county, "alot" of deer is 2 or more imo

 

[DeerCamp]

In Polk county, "alot" of deer is 2 or more imo

Is that just a result of habitat and population?

 

[Smo]

In the past 2 months, I have driven Hwy 13 from near the Tn Ridge area to the Al State line twice and only saw 3 deer that was on hoof… And not anywhere near the number of carcasses along the way as I normally see..
These drive times were during times were one would expect too see deer.. One trip early morning and one late evening..

 

[TN Larry]

In my area, 6 to 8 in a sit would be considered good. I can only think of maybe 3 times that I have seen more than 10. Like others have said though, I am setting up to see one deer and not a bunch plus I would consider the deer density to be average at best in the places I hunt. Many times the buck that I have shot is the only deer that I have seen that day. I tell my son that all that we need to see is one, and things can change in 15 seconds.

 

[DaveTN]

I don't know.
But I know I'm not.

You gotta get some better looking guns. Deer don't like to come out around ugly guns.

 

[muddyboots]

I would absolutely hate those rates. It is crazy how different our sight ratings are.

I have to agree with hillbilly hunter.

 

[BSK]

I could see that your data could be skewed due to the fact that with several people hunting, not everyone can be hunting the best spots, so you have some less productive stands getting hunted that likely would not get hunted if less people were hunting. My parcel is much smaller, but it is just me and my son hunting, so we dont have to waste time in spots we know are less likely to produce than others. We let the wind dictate which options we have and chose the best spots from those stands. Our average time between 3.5 year old bucks is slightly less than 6 hours, but there is only two of us and we are hunting the best spots we have. Last year our 3 1/2 yr old sightings per hour was much better than this year. It was too hood actually because i tagged out too quickly! A 4.5 yr old and a 6.5+ in two consecutive trips.

Hillbilly Hunter, I'm curious how much TOTAL time you put into hunting your property? I ask because we put in a fair number of hours on stand, especially in November. Because of that, we are very careful about overhunting stands. Even when we know a particular stand is hot, we try not to overhunt it. The stands that are known to be in the best locations that year rarely get hunted more than 4 times in an entire season. 5 times would be about max by the end of the season.

To combat the problem of overhunting stands, we have a lot of stands up. At last count, 6 towers and 42 ladders. This gives the 5-7 hunters the chance to move around and not overpressure areas.

 

[BSK]

After experiencing multiple hunts with no sightings, my sanity starts to diminish and I venture back to areas where I'm likely to see multiple deer. I rationalize that I might get lucky, but secretly know I won't. Nevertheless, I do it for sanity's sake.

Ha! I think we're both suffering from the same mental disorder fairchaser!

 

[gladesman60]

I saw 31 Friday morning on my 70 acres in Giles county. I was taking great pains to not count the same ones twice.
There was one group of 4 I am not sure of but the rest were all different. I had seen 22 once before on that place which was the most until Friday. Only saw 4 bucks even though I have at least 9 different ones there based on my cell cam pics. As a side note I have 2 cell cams that cover the top of the hill and not a single one of the deer that I saw passed in front of those 2 cams.

 

[gary66]

Rageman's thread about having quality or quantity of deer got me to wondering, what is "a lot of deer" and what is "seeing a lot of deer?" Having a higher deer density doesn't always lead to seeing a lot of deer. Much can be dependent on visibility on a given property. But how often do you need to see deer while hunting to be happy with your hunting experience?

I've gone seasons without seeing any, we didn't have many, so few you could only shoot a doe 2 days a year (back in the day). That's where I learned to hunt, if you can take deer there you can take them anywhere. If there are a lot of deer and you aren't seeing them, it's you. I need to see deer every time I hunt if there are deer to see. If not I'm not hunting, I'm wasting my time.

I scout a property, lock in all sign, create a map with mapping software. On a hunt I use that map to pick where I want to go, light up the gps and get in there early. I take great pains to become the woods taking nothing with me that says I don't belong here. There's more to it, but I see deer and expect to every time I hunt, if there are deer to see.

Round home 5 deer is about as many as there are to see at any given time, down south I've seen as many as 45. Seeing 1 is enough, seeing none is unacceptable.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Hillbilly Hunter, I'm curious how much TOTAL time you put into hunting your property? I ask because we put in a fair number of hours on stand, especially in November. Because of that, we are very careful about overhunting stands. Even when we know a particular stand is hot, we try not to overhunt it. The stands that are known to be in the best locations that year rarely get hunted more than 4 times in an entire season. 5 times would be about max by the end of the season.

To combat the problem of overhunting stands, we have a lot of stands up. At last count, 6 towers and 42 ladders. This gives the 5-7 hunters the chance to move around and not overpressure areas.

I will be the first to admit that compared to every other place that i have ever hunted that most would say that I over hunt my place without a doubt. One thing that i have figured out is that each stand has different variables that dictate actual pressure felt by deer. Wind direction is an obvious one, but stand entry and exit routes are the most critical ones over looked in my opinion. One of best spots, I rarely hunt due to the fact that i cannot get to it or leave it without causing a major disturbance. According to my cell cams, it has the most activity, but once again when i leave it is almost a certain that i will bump deer out. On the other hand i have the most unique spot that i have ever hunted that allows me to enter and exit with minimal disturbance. Also, with the proper wind, my scent blows over the edge of the ridge and over the heads of approaching deer. I have deer walk past me down wind constantly in this location and ner smell me. This spot has two ridges "T" in together with a deep flat saddle in the middle of the ridge junction. The other ridge is a thick cedar laden ridge with hard woods off to each side of it. On each side of the cedar ridge are deep draws with a bench on the southern side ridge that runs parallel to the ridge half way up. It is a very unique features that funnel deer in an unreal way. Redblood has hunted it and he agrees there is no place like that he has ever seen. I definitely overhunt this spot by traditional standards and to my own standards but this place is just different. I have seen 13 different 3.5 yr old or older bucks out of this stand this year. This picture below is this spot the blue is ridges, the white are hollows and the yellow is the bench. The majority of the deer will be funneled through this location. As a side note, the surrounding 2500 acres or so is virtually unhunted there is one guy that will not shoot bucks unless they are huge but they hammer does.

 

[fairchaser]

Same here.
I somewhat look at this as an issue of preferring quality over quantity.
Kinda similar to preferring a single 16-oz prime ribeye steak
over two dozen chicken gizzards.

But if works out great that we're not all programmed the same,
and some really do prefer chicken gizzards over ribeyes.

I really do enjoy this journey, and the challenge of a particular deer,
which is sometimes a very old doe, not just a mature buck.

LBLman, you're a better man than me to spend that much time and mental energy on an old doe. Good for you!

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

All my other stands only get 1-5 sits a year.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I will be the first to admit that compared to every other place that i have ever hunted that most would say that I over hunt my place without a doubt. One thing that i have figured out is that each stand has different variables that dictate actual pressure felt by deer. Wind direction is an obvious one, but stand entry and exit routes are the most critical ones over looked in my opinion. One of best spots, I rarely hunt due to the fact that i cannot get to it or leave it without causing a major disturbance. According to my cell cams, it has the most activity, but once again when i leave it is almost a certain that i will bump deer out. On the other hand i have the most unique spot that i have ever hunted that allows me to enter and exit with minimal disturbance. Also, with the proper wind, my scent blows over the edge of the ridge and over the heads of approaching deer. I have deer walk past me down wind constantly in this location and ner smell me. This spot has two ridges "T" in together with a deep flat saddle in the middle of the ridge junction. The other ridge is a thick cedar laden ridge with hard woods off to each side of it. On each side of the cedar ridge are deep draws with a bench on the southern side ridge that runs parallel to the ridge half way up. It is a very unique features that funnel deer in an unreal way. Redblood has hunted it and he agrees there is no place like that he has ever seen. I definitely overhunt this spot by traditional standards and to my own standards but this place is just different. I have seen 13 different 3.5 yr old or older bucks out of this stand this year. This picture below is this spot the blue is ridges, the white are hollows and the yellow is the bench. The majority of the deer will be funneled through this location. As a side note, the surrounding 2500 acres or so is virtually unhunted there is one guy that will not shoot bucks unless they are huge but they hammer does.View attachment 124097

Sounds awesome....and this spot would certainly help explain the 6 hour average between 3½ yo sightings....I don't blame you one bit for over hunting it.....those type of spots don't come along often.

 

[HOOK]

10 days of hunting- 152 sightings. 100 does and 52 bucks. All within range. Passed on 151. One more hunt this weekend.

 

[beefydeer]

what is "a lot of deer" and what is "seeing a lot of deer?"

I hunt in Obion County. I hunt thicker cover. I never hunt fields. I can typically see 50 yards at the most so if I see 1 deer, either sex, I consider it a productive hunt. Anytime spent out in the woods hunting is good.

 

[Snake]

Is that just a result of habitat and population?

Not really habitat.

 

[megalomaniac]

I will be the first to admit that compared to every other place that i have ever hunted that most would say that I over hunt my place without a doubt. One thing that i have figured out is that each stand has different variables that dictate actual pressure felt by deer. Wind direction is an obvious one, but stand entry and exit routes are the most critical ones over looked in my opinion. One of best spots, I rarely hunt due to the fact that i cannot get to it or leave it without causing a major disturbance. According to my cell cams, it has the most activity, but once again when i leave it is almost a certain that i will bump deer out. On the other hand i have the most unique spot that i have ever hunted that allows me to enter and exit with minimal disturbance. Also, with the proper wind, my scent blows over the edge of the ridge and over the heads of approaching deer. I have deer walk past me down wind constantly in this location and ner smell me. This spot has two ridges "T" in together with a deep flat saddle in the middle of the ridge junction. The other ridge is a thick cedar laden ridge with hard woods off to each side of it. On each side of the cedar ridge are deep draws with a bench on the southern side ridge that runs parallel to the ridge half way up. It is a very unique features that funnel deer in an unreal way. Redblood has hunted it and he agrees there is no place like that he has ever seen. I definitely overhunt this spot by traditional standards and to my own standards but this place is just different. I have seen 13 different 3.5 yr old or older bucks out of this stand this year. This picture below is this spot the blue is ridges, the white are hollows and the yellow is the bench. The majority of the deer will be funneled through this location. As a side note, the surrounding 2500 acres or so is virtually unhunted there is one guy that will not shoot bucks unless they are huge but they hammer does.View attachment 124097

Ty for this post! I have a similar terrain feature on one of my farms that I thought I would do more harm than good hunting it, but I never considered if I actually hunt it 18ft in a tree on top of the ridge, my scent would go over the approaching deer down below. I'm going to Jang a stand there this summer for next season and see what happens!

 

[megalomaniac]

Last 3 sits in MS and haven't seen a deer. Of course the 80deg temps aren't helping. Even my cell cams on scrapes have gone dead in this heat.