If you could read my lips I’d be saying “Where are all the deer?” Yesterday (Sunday) I went to church, in the morning, then headed back over to hunt Hillsdale in the evening. Same old routine as the day before, except I climbed into my 20 foot tree stand, and Tony climbed into his at the other end of our property. I could see for a long way, but nothing was moving. Around 5:00 o’clock two “peanuts” came in from behind me, and fed around my stand for over half an hour. Nothing like live decoys, but even they didn’t work! It was very windy, with on and off snow showers, but the deer should of been hungry, after laying low for several crummy days.
We heard very little shooting around us, and it seemed like no one was even hunting the adjacent properties. That could be one of the main reasons we weren’t seeing deer. The Schneider boy’s lease land across from us, and even their property was silent this year. I’m thinking the deer kill is going to be “way” down this season. We didn’t see many deer on cars coming home, and the check station we drove by was not very busy. Maybe we are in an area of low deer numbers, but I doubt it. We’ll just have to wait and see how things go from here.
My nephew Scott Smiley called last evening and said he got a nice 7-pointer over in Branch county. I’ll get some more information, along with a few pictures. Way to go Scott.
Mike
I know that my season has been slow as well. Hopefully it picks up this weekend.
Best of luck the rest of the season – and congrats to your nephew…I look forward to the pics!