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Team 10

hokiehunter373 said:
Without a doubt. We used to have some guys from Maine come down and hunt the property I grew up hunting. They thought it was amazing to see a couple deer every hunt
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I've been doing this for 45 years now and I think the most deer I have ever seen In one sit is 10 maybe 12. Maine doesn't have a high deer population but it does have a ton of cover so you have to be right on top of them a lot of times. Also, our deer don't venture out into open fields very much during daylight like I see on videos from other states. I would love to be able to just drive around on a summer evening and glass several shooter bucks but if I did this I would only see some does with little ones and maybe a 4 or 6 point.
 
Yeah, I'm envious of people who hunt areas where they see deer every sit. It's not uncommon here to go 8 to 10 days without seeing a deer of any sort while on stand. I just had an 8-day streak seeing no deer. I've gone as many as 18 days without seeing a single deer of any kind. It makes it tough sticking with it when you just watch squirrels.

I went out yesterday with the idea to branch out a bit farther south into an area that I have preliminarily scouted. I ended up hunting over a couple of scrapes at the convergence of three small draws. I think this spot has had no pressure from people since last season. I say that because 20 yards from the scrapes was a shed antler just lying on the ground. I think if a human had been through the area, even during turkey season they would have picked it up. It was just out in plain sight. No deer were seen during the hunt.

I did bump a couple of does in the area so there are deer nearby. I plan to get back into that general area soon.
 

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DroptineKrazy said:
My brother put in a ton of sits (54 I think) last year and I'm pretty sure he saw 3 deer all season . Never got a shot.
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Sound like me. I usually plan to hunt 10 days per month, usually 2 sits per day. Our season starts October 1 and goes through January 31st, so 4 months. That way I plan to be out hunting 40 days per season and usually about 80 sits. Sits are usually dark to 11 or noon and 2 or 3 to dark, depending on the time of year. I slacked a bit in November and that has me down a bit. I did do several all-day sits though during that time. December numbers have been off so far too. I keep telling myself I can make the days up during the rut but it's tough for me to go two days in a row. lol. With our low deer density, it is a numbers game. You just have to put in a lot of hours to see a deer. I estimate I do over 300 hours in the tree per season.
 
Well, had a doe skirt through some thick stuff just before dark. No dice this evening. I plan to be back after them tomorrow.
 
DroptineKrazy said:
Hey guys. I see by the standings today that all we need is one lousy doe to jump from 5th place to third. Anybody got any tags left to fill. 3rd place ain't too shabby ;)
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I've got plenty of tags but need an 8pt or bigger to come by to upgrade. Had a little 7 or 8 point come by on Wednesday morning but let him walk. I'll be out a few more times this year still trying to get it done
 
I went out yesterday and tried a new to me area I have never been too before. It was interesting to say the least. I hunted an oxbow area that borders a horse trail. I knew the horse trail was there from the map and when I got in there it was pretty well worn. I though, Thursday...probably not a lot of horsing around on a Thursday, lol. Nope. I had two horse riders come through bedecked in bright colors. One had florescent green and the other hunter orange. They were just out riding. They made a big loop. Then about a half hour after they went through a troupe of 6 people came through out for a walk. The troupe consisted of 4 men, 2 women and a kid about 7 or 8. They came tramping through along the horse trail and the kid chattered nonstop at the top of her lungs. Well, I thought this should be interesting. Once at height I had put on my camo coat over my orange shirt, so they had no idea I was there. They passed through about 100 yards out and about 20 minutes later a nice doe comes off the hill they just passed and crossed the creek about 70 yards to my north. She knew they were there and just let them pass and then went on her way. These deer are used to humans being in there and have the people pretty much patterned. This area is covered up with deer sign too. It's just strange.

About 15 minutes before dark, I heard deer moving but could not see them. I bumped them out climbing down. By the sound of it there were three. They came in from the East, toward where I had parked.

This area has potential. Aside from figuring out how the deer are avoiding the human traffic, it should be a great spot when I figure it out. I plan to go in there in February, post season and tromp the whole place down.
 

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I’ve been steady at it this month, but the last week I’ve taken off for family Christmas. Two days left of the season, so I went scouting for a little bit today and turned up this really nice track coming out of my property. Was really big in the snow, looked fresh inside a few hours, likely first thing this morning. Tracked it quite a ways and finally got onto some dirt and left a really nice set of tracks. Going to give them one last ditch effort one of the next two mornings! Good luck to anybody who still hunting!

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The side roads and 2 tracks were a sheet of ice. Had 2 feet of snow & it all melted in 36 hours right before I went out. Slipped and about killed myself even with the chains on!
Pyronole said:
@Kevin2 You got chains on your boots? Something I've never thought about....lol! Good luck in those cold conditions!
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Well, she won't be watching the ball drop tonight. I went out this afternoon to a small permission property I have and hunted. About 15 minutes before dark two does came easing through and I put in a perfect shot at about 14 yards. They both bolted into a briar thicket, so it was fun finding her. She didn't go too far, just into the thick stuff. After some crawling around on hands and knees in the dark I found her.

She's not the biggest deer by far and they were both the same size, so it was hard to judge them on the hoof. No matter, the landowner is happy he got some venison this evening.
 

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AWESOME! Happy New Year!

NMSbowhunter said:
Well, she won't be watching the ball drop tonight. I went out this afternoon to a small permission property I have and hunted. About 15 minutes before dark two does came easing through and I put in a perfect shot at about 14 yards. They both bolted into a briar thicket, so it was fun finding her. She didn't go too far, just into the thick stuff. After some crawling around on hands and knees in the dark I found her.

She's not the biggest deer by far and they were both the same size, so it was hard to judge them on the hoof. No matter, the landowner is happy he got some venison this evening.
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OK, that's a rap! I went out today, cut a buck track that was fresh on my way to my location, very fresh on a inch of snow. Then I had 2 doe show up inside 15 minutes, but that was it. I cut a huge buck track that looked a few days old on my way in also, a nice fresh rub and open scrape 15 yards later AND that was about the end of my excitement for the year! NO dead buck, but it was a nice day

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I went out yesterday and hunted from 10 to dark (5:30) at a spot that is good late season. It is a scrape line that runs from one dense bedding area to another. The two bedding areas are about 3/4 mile apart. Open hardwoods and a big pine stand separate them. I hunted up near the pine stand.

I should have gotten a bit closer, like my instincts originally told me too. I ended up setting up over the next to last crape since it had fresh activity in it. This proved wrong and I had all the deer go through and hit the end scrape. I saw 2 small one year old bucks come through at 11 am. Then I had a decent buck, in the 115 category come through at 11:15 and hang out. I hoped he would follow the rub line, but he didn't. Then I had a basket rack 6 come through and hit the scrape at 4:30.

I pulled the card on the camera I slapped up in there at the end of November when I initially checked the scrape line. At that time, it was not being used. I'm pretty sure this is the buck I saw yesterday. I will be back in there after him soon.

We still have the rest of this month to hammer away at them and if I am able, I plan to stay after them.
 

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