Returned from the Deer Camp. Tough week in 56 !

cityhunter

cityhunter

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Richmond hill, Ontario
Hi all,

I hunt in area 56 in ontario. We hunt for the first week of the rifle season. Ussually we see tones of Does/Fawns and the occasional buck. This year we didnt get shooting until thurs and saw VERY few deer. No fawns at all !! ....
Last year we had 8 hanging by WED of the week and saw tones of deer throughout the week, we actually went BIG bucks only by thurs.

This year we managed 3 young bucks but nothing else. ( 9 guys) We spoke with 3-4 other camps in the area and everyone agreed that this was the worst year in a LONG time. Could the warm weather all week shutdown deer movement? Or maybe the harsh winter caused alot of young week to die off?

Thoughts....

3 bucks shown below. Atleast I got the biggest one and won the Buck pool :) 2 years in a row!

3013338145_81d16613f9_b.jpg
 
We have noticed the same thing in 68a we seen more deer in bow season when it was dipping blow 0 over night then we have during gun season....now with the full moon seeing a big fella at dusk or dawn is about a 0% chance it might be time to start hunting the afternoon by a water hole...If we go empty handed this week it will be the first time in a long time....yote numbers are up huge over the last few years the snow was deep last winter. I have never found more bare skeletons come spring as I did this year....there's something going on and I dont like it one bit!...
 
srt4u2nv said:
We have noticed the same thing in 68a we seen more deer in bow season when it was dipping blow 0 over night then we have during gun season....now with the full moon seeing a big fella at dusk or dawn is about a 0% chance it might be time to start hunting the afternoon by a water hole...If we go empty handed this week it will be the first time in a long time....yote numbers are up huge over the last few years the snow was deep last winter. I have never found more bare skeletons come spring as I did this year....there's something going on and I dont like it one bit!...
Click to expand...

I also noticed more and more Wolf Sign on our property! and every morning Id go out early and could hear them howling close by... We also spoke with a local trapper and he said the wolf numbers are getting out of control.
 
No wonder you can't see them, the pic shows quite clearly that they are spending most of their time underground. Ya I know even I'm not that dumb! Just had to say it. The season in Atlantic has pretty well sucked this year as well and I'm blaming the warmer temperatures for it. Lots of sign, just can't see em during the daylight hours. At least your freezer will have meat this winter. Well done.
 
In 74B we got 3 big bucks and a dry doe,but as was said no fawns and lots of coyotes howling at night. THis is the first year we haven't shot fawns. Also the weather was so warm we had to take them out because of blow flies!!. JITC
 
59 was pretty bad this year. They figure they lost over 50% of their deer population because of the snow fall / wolf population last winter.

I got to my stand and it was 24 deg celcius on Thursday. Had a few small does eating hay 135 yards in front of my stand at last light and I let them walk.....next year is another year I guess. Only 3 were taken in our group the first week.
 
We hunt in 64A (north of Perth) and saw a total of 8 deer last week - we got 4. During the same week we saw 10 coyotes and shot 5 of them.

I'm not sure if it was the weather being too warm was keeping them in the thick stuff, the result of a bad winter, or the increase in the 'yote population that has done it.

We hunt about a 1000 acres of farm land with bush lots and swamp. Usually we would see 50 plus deer in a week of hunting.

Dave
 
We had an absolute crap hunt in WMU 47 this year. We got a shot at 2 deer, missed them both:(. There was a pack of Wolves in our Hunting area, we spotted 6 in one group, and various others during the week. I ended up taking the head off one Grouse with the .44 Ruger Carbine, and cooked it over the lunch fire. Temps were around 17 Celsius most days

Grouse1.jpg


Grouse2.jpg
 
daveg01 said:
We hunt in 64A (north of Perth) and saw a total of 8 deer last week - we got 4. During the same week we saw 10 coyotes and shot 5 of them.

I'm not sure if it was the weather being too warm was keeping them in the thick stuff, the result of a bad winter, or the increase in the 'yote population that has done it.

We hunt about a 1000 acres of farm land with bush lots and swamp. Usually we would see 50 plus deer in a week of hunting.

Dave
Click to expand...

We hunt in the same area, and ended up seeing more yotes than deer this year, and shot 2 of them. It was a pretty disappointing week, but still better than work!
 
Lots of wolves in our area as well, I had 6-8 around me the one night but did not have any come out of the swamp, we only got one but should have shot 4 or 5 if we hit what we shot at. The trees jumped into the way of standing animals this year.
 
cityhunter said:
Hi all,

I hunt in area 56 in ontario. We hunt for the first week of the rifle season. Ussually we see tones of Does/Fawns and the occasional buck. This year we didnt get shooting until thurs and saw VERY few deer. No fawns at all !! ....
Last year we had 8 hanging by WED of the week and saw tones of deer throughout the week, we actually went BIG bucks only by thurs.

This year we managed 3 young bucks but nothing else. ( 9 guys) We spoke with 3-4 other camps in the area and everyone agreed that this was the worst year in a LONG time. Could the warm weather all week shutdown deer movement? Or maybe the harsh winter caused alot of young week to die off?

Thoughts....

3 bucks shown below. Atleast I got the biggest one and won the Buck pool :) 2 years in a row!

3013338145_81d16613f9_b.jpg
Click to expand...


How come you buried your deer up to their necks????
 
I have been at it for almost 2 weeks now in area 71 and haven't even seen a deer yet. We are usually tagged out by the second day of the hunt. Same thing in 71, a tonne of coyotes and they are howling like crazy. Well looks like the slug gun will be replaced by the .204 Ruger
 
Yeah, it has been a tough season all around. I was in 63A and there was very little sign, let alone sightings. I know one party of 8 who usually tags out, got 1. Another party of 6 got none. I saw 1 running doe in 5 days out there, didn't take the shot. I heard that Quebec lost an estimated 100 000 deer over the winter, so Ontario was probably just as bad. So we had an antlerless tag for area 50 as well and so headed there, to a tried and true spot. Same result, very little sign, saw no deer. It looks like they just aren't there. Here's to hoping we have a few milder (in terms of snowfall) winters to help bring the numbers back up. I think we have been spoiled over the last 15 years in ON. Just my $.02.
 
WMU 47 isn't bad this year. We have seen tonnes of tracks. We got 2 bucks and a doe yesterday. Very odd to see them all together. It was an old 9 point buck, with an eight point buck that was starting to grey a bit on the face. They had a big doe with them as well that was looking a little old.

One guy (my dad), seven shots at three running deer and dropped them all. Five shots were hits, so not too bad. He did the same thing three years ago with a doe and two fawns!! Obviously I haven't inherited that gene since I am still waiting to shoot my first deer!!!
 
oneskilledshooter said:
Yeah, it has been a tough season all around. I was in 63A and there was very little sign, let alone sightings. I know one party of 8 who usually tags out, got 1. Another party of 6 got none. I saw 1 running doe in 5 days out there, didn't take the shot. I heard that Quebec lost an estimated 100 000 deer over the winter, so Ontario was probably just as bad. So we had an antlerless tag for area 50 as well and so headed there, to a tried and true spot. Same result, very little sign, saw no deer. It looks like they just aren't there. Here's to hoping we have a few milder (in terms of snowfall) winters to help bring the numbers back up. I think we have been spoiled over the last 15 years in ON. Just my $.02.
Click to expand...

All the deer in Ontario are in the cities now where you can't shoot them. There are herds off them in North Bay. I could shoot three a day for a whole week off my buddies front step and still have lots running around. I have heard the outskirts of the GTA have been heavily populated with deer this year as well.
 
We are in 64 between Carleton Place and Smith Falls.

Same as everyone else, saw more Coyotes than deer. Unfortunately the land owner would not allow us to shoot the Coyotes???

6 hunting and we got 2 small bucks.
Found only one Rub and a couple of small scrapes, nothing like past years.
 
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