Where are all the deer?

ben

ben

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The Coast Mountains
Hey guys, I NEED some late season tips! Ive been having an aweful string of bad luck or something! The beginning of the season I kept putting off for something bigger and then went moose hunting, came back theres no more deer! Im hunting southern ontario this week for the muzzle loader hunt. Went to 2 farms tonight and no tracks anywhere in sight! Where are the deer hiding? Do they yard up and ship out this early? Ive never hunting the second muzzle loader shotgun hunt before. But being deerless im getting nervous!

Ben
 
Time to start driving around.
Deer may, or may not be yarded. There are a lot of factors, and I for one, do not believe it's soley dependant on snow depth.
I think it has more to do with food availability.
The amount of rain has changed things alot for deer this year. In my area, the yards are just now showing signs of activity.
I suggest you go for a drive on backroads, and look for tracks at the road edges, at crossing points like fence lines, creek bottoms, and bush. Find the deer, and then try to get permission.
 
.................The last two weeks of our season was like this. I contributed it to snow depth and the deer not moving as much. It didn't just snow gradually. We got pummeled hard and quick and i think our deer had a hard time to adjust and stayed holed up for a while.
 
The deer went to the wintering areas early this year, the frost came early killing the good feed and the snow came fast and deep. I cannot speak for Ontario but in central and nortern Alberta finding deer in November this year is like trying to find them in Febuary most other recent years.

Hunting deer in thier wintering areas is tricky. First of all you need to find where they hole up. I have found that the best areas are a mix of poplar and spruce, combined with many small hills and /or draws. You will notice that the depth of the snow is a lot less in these areas, the spruce keeps the snow out, the poplar gives a little space between the trees to see. The small hills give a stratigic bedding opertunitys depending on wind direction as well breaking the wind and causing it to swirl (deer and elk like to bed where the wind swirls)

Hunting the wide open feeding areas where you have seen deer all summer and fall can be a big mistake. Bush hunting is a must. I got my buck on the last day of the season by tracking him down and shooting him in his bed. I don't know Ontario but I could guess that it would be somewhat the same.
 
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By now up here the bucks are pretty much finished their snatch hunting.

I suggest hunting the feeding grounds. They are all rutted out and weak and need some re-coup time.

They won't be moving far.

What's the temp where you are hunting Ben?
 
it was around minus 5 two days ago when I was out last, its still storming here, just finishing up. Im going to try again in a few days after everything settles down and the snow is down for a few days for me to find tracks anywhere... I was trying to hunt the bush but I suppose if I didn't stumble right into them they wouldn't have gone far in this weather at all. We shall see.

Any more tips or stories??

Ben
 
I'm betting with -5 weather they aren't in a hurry to gt up in the morning (pending wolf population etc....)

They might be getting up after day break instead earlier.....
 
Well until yesterday they were all hanging in the drive shed.

Our party of 5 was finished our hunt on TUESDAY at 4:10pm.

5 shots.

5 deer hanging.

2 big does.
1 button buck.
1 8 pt 150lb dressed..

And a HUGE 6 point that dressed at 190 lbs!! He was a monster for our parts. Big angular face, grey fur, all the tines on the right rack were broken off. His right ear was torn in half. He must have had some great fights!

We butchered them up yesterday.

This morning I went out to buy an extra Doe tag so I can take Storm Jr out for his first "official" black powder hunt. I am pulling him out of school at 2 pm. He will miss Health and ODPA(physed). I figure gutting a deer is great education and climbing side hills is a great work out!
In past years I have taken him with me while I hunted....he bird watched. Now that he has his apprentice card. He will be doing the shooting.
 
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I took a nice 7 pt. yesterday at 3 pm he was in full rut just strutting around looking for does. Neck all swollen and did he stink!
 
If you are hunting just in the morning, and not going to be out near noon, you may be missing oportunities. I've found that deer are not neccessarily active early in cold weather. Their muscles are stiff too I guess. I've seen a lot of deer around eleven o'clock. But, me being me, I stay the whole day, just to cover all the bases.
 
Big Guy said:
I took a nice 7 pt. yesterday at 3 pm he was in full rut just strutting around looking for does. Neck all swollen and did he stink!
Click to expand...

Good to know. I thought the cold snap might have brought the rut on in our parts since it was so warm latley. I bet there all bedded down today with the high winds cool temps and flurries right now.
 
Im going to go out again, still snowing everywhere. London apparently got 3 feet, we only have about 6 inches here. All fresh, the hunt is only until the 10th then I'll be out with my bow. Enough is enough empty freezers suck!

Ben
 
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