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tired

8K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  scribe 
#1 ·
im realy starting to think that if i get skunked again this year im gona have to take a brake frome hunting. tired of going out there every chance i get, just to get skunked year after year.
 
#3 ·
and before anyone post it. yes i know its called hunting, not killing. and yes i know getting out into the woods even when you dont get somthing. but the sucsess rate hear in NH is somwere around 1%. and seeing one or two deer that i cant even shoot at per season gets old real quick.
 
#6 ·
I hear you hunt NH. and I am weary of that cliche as well. no one goes deer hunting with the intent to not kill a deer. I have seen exactly what you are describing the last 4 outings and I thought I was sitting in a potential slaughter house this year. Im not seeing anything while in the stand and very little on trail cam, and what is, will never get shot during it activity time.

you have to have the occasional rewards to fuel the fire.
 
#9 ·
I hear you hunt NH. and I am weary of that cliche as well. no one goes deer hunting with the intent to not kill a deer. I have seen exactly what you are describing the last 4 outings and I thought I was sitting in a potential slaughter house this year. Im not seeing anything while in the stand and very little on trail cam, and what is, will never get shot during it activity time.

you have to have the occasional rewards to fuel the fire.
with all due respect. this is not what im facing. i could stand getting skunked for a year or two. and only seeing a deer once every 4 or 5 outings. but this year i went out opening day (wich was a wednesday) end gone out bolth saterday and sundays each weekend sence. yesterday i saw what i thought might have been a deer, but am not shure. last year i hunted just as activly, but through bolth muzzel loader and rifle season. i saw one doe durring shooting hrs, but could not shoot it leagley with a gun. and i saw a few bucks chaising her after legal shooting hrs had ended. the season before that i hunted bow, muzzle loader, and rifle. (again just as activly throughout all three seasons) and saw nothing all season. season before that............ ya its been a wile. my brother inlaw is also an avid hunter. its been three years sence his last kill. a friend of mine got his first deer this year after hunting for 6 years. and o got alot of firends who hunt, and only one of them got one last year. none besides the guy mentioned above got any this year. only one of them last year, and none the year before. i work with several hunters, none have got any this year, none last year. iv been hunting sence the season of 1999, and have only killed 2 deer. one in 2000, and one 4 years back (and i wasent even hunting at the time i shot it). i was out wheeling my bronco, saw one and just happened to have a gun with me. dont worry i broke no laws doing so, and it was an ethical shot, and a clean kill. (just pointing out that i wasent "hunting" at the time.) so ya last time i killed a deer wile hunting was 11 years ago. and this is not from being too selective. this is hunting wiith the mentality that if its leagle, and i am offered an ethical shot, that i will take it. a few times, and i do mean only a few times in the last 11 years i have seen shootable deer wile out hunting and passed only because i was not offered an ethical shot. its brutal hear. so i hate to sound like im complaining but ya sitting in the woods, day after day, year after year and not seeing deer is getting old. and im tired.
 
#7 ·
I'm new on here but dadgum old to hunting. I guess I am fortunate in that I really can't recall a year when I was totally skunked. I killed my first one in 1954. However, for many years, I was not too particular about what I killed. I had years I did not kill a buck over 130 but I did kill a doe or two.

I no longer hunt horns at all but I can understand someone being skunked if they discriminating in what they shoot. That said, If a hunter is just hunting for a deer and continues to be skunked, I would suggest he closely examine what he is doing.

I'll hush now, forgive an old guy for rambling.
 
#10 ·
trust me i have examined, and re examined my hunting. read books on it, talked to guys hear about it, learned form everay teachable experiance in the woods that i can. im not claiming to be a hunting guru, but i know what i am doing. i know im scent free. (iv had coyotee under my stand wile hunting and there nose is just as good as a deer) and i know im not amking to much noise or moving too much. (iv had wild turky under my stand, ad there just as good at picking up on movment). i dont over call, but i do use calls some. its just that i live in a place were there are not as many deer as in most parts of the country, and there are alot of "big woods" for them to hide in.
 
#8 ·
I am, as I have stated in many past postings, A venison hunter first and everything else is a bonus. and since opening weekend, I have not seen a legally shootable deer. things are really disappointing on what initially looked to be a banner year. had I not shot a buck the first weekend, hunt NH would be replying to my post so-named, Tired.
 
#15 ·
I know where HuntNH is coming from as I am also from NH yall need to understand the state of NH we have a heard of approx 60,000 deer we have well into the 100,000 hunters in the state bow season you can shoot either sex Muzzleloading & rifle it is pretty much buck only (depending on where you are in the state you could get up to the first 3 days of the season to harvest either sex some have 0 days. I have been where huntNH has been I started hunting when I was 16 I harvested my first deer in 2001 (14 years later) I only really hunted with a firearm so it was pretty much buck only as most know NH is a small state so with that many people in the woods it doesn't take the deer long to figure out it is hunting season. this is why I am now back into bow hunting & more serious about it then I ever was & why I had turned into a meat hunter rather then a trophy hunter ( even though there are a lot of trophies to be had here ) I have scored more deer now with my bow then I have with my firearms & with high priced licenses I know it can get fustrating
So HuntNH all I can say is Hang in there I really know where you are coming from & this is why I spend more time hunting early bow season less hunters & either sex also why I hunt western NY
Good Luck
 
#16 ·
Hunt NH... are you finding signs of deer in and around the woods you hunt? I feel your pain man, and you're right, if it had been 11 years since I last shot a deer while out hunting for them, I'd do one of two things... quit or move to another state! Now, that said, if you are finding sign of deer in your area, I would not give up. I guess all I can offer you is good luck and I hope you have more success soon!
 
#18 ·
Hunt NH... are you finding signs of deer in and around the woods you hunt? I feel your pain man, and you're right, if it had been 11 years since I last shot a deer while out hunting for them, I'd do one of two things... quit or move to another state! Now, that said, if you are finding sign of deer in your area, I would not give up. I guess all I can offer you is good luck and I hope you have more success soon!
yes i have good sighn. from one of my stands i can see a small rub line, and two scrapes, and also the exact spot i found that realy clumpy scat. at my other stand you have to watch your step so you dont step in a pile of scat. moving out of state is just not an option. NH's hunting my stink but it offers one of the highest quality of living. extreemly low crime rate, good schools, good jobs. pluss i got a ton of family hear. what i am thinking is insted of what im doing now. (hunting hear as much as i can. using up all my Vacation from work to hunt, and turning down Over time to hunt.) what i might do is not hunt next year. rake in all the OT i want derring hunting season sence all my co workers hunt. then the year after that take all the saved $$$ and the extera$$$ from working all next hunting season. then plan a trip down south to hunt for a week.
 
#17 ·
That is tough and I don't blame you for feeling that way. I will say that I'm glad I decided to settle here where I have in northern Tennessee. I hunted Maine quite a few years and even N.H. one year. I had luck 50% of the times I was in Maine. I also once travelled there, hunted two full weeks and never saw a deer.

Here we have a very healthy population (about 1,000,000) and deer sightings are pretty frequent. Our rifle season runs for 6 full weeks and just prior to that we had a two week M/L season. Our bag limit is 3 does a day for the entire season (with proper licenses) and additional does taken cost nothing. We are also allowed 3 bucks per season.

Living so close to the border, I also hunt Kentucky and although our Ky area holds just as many deer in it as our Tennessee areas, the bag limit is one buck & one doe (additional doe tags available for more $$).

All that being said, it's a shame that the N.H. DNR cannot do anything to try and increase populations there. People I've spoken with recently in Maine when I've gone up for bear in September tell me that Maine's population seems to be declining as well. Too many harsh winters lately? :confused:

I would also be the first to admit that the "Big Woods" hunting you all have up there is more difficult than the typical farm/woods hunting we have here. The smaller tracts of land with lots of food typically available keep herds healthy and deer numbers high. Big Woods hunting is tough, without a doubt!
 
#19 ·
That's what I suggest, maybe even you and a few buddies go in on a lease and just lease the hunting rights out on a pice of land in another state. Then you all would have an official "deer camp". Here in ky hunting land lease runs around 10 to 15 dollars an acre. But usually not offered any smaller than abouth 150 acres, but if you got like 4 people going in on it that wouldn't be so bad. There are places online to find hunting leases but might be easier and maybe cheaper to find someone on here that could hook you up with a contact in an area close to we're you would want to travel to. Good luck
 
#22 · (Edited)
going out of state, especially several states away is a really extreme remedy to a sour hunting environment. I'm talking from a financial and time related aspect. I would hate to be faced with that as the extent of my deer hunting alternatives.

GOOD LUCK IN THE FINAL HOURS OF THIS SEASON!!!
 
#24 ·
well on my way home from hunting i discovered the major mistakes i make that keep me from harvesting a deer. 1. i hunt in a state were there are a few 100k hunters, and only 60k deer in the entire state. 2. i follow the game laws. 3. ill only take an ethical shot that will result in a clean kill. seeing as how i wont change nubers 2 and 3, i ether need to change 1 or it aint even worth going into the woods.
 
#25 ·
only other option is buy some land and high fence it and make your own hot spot like all the tv shows but that will get into your pocket for sure lol.
but congrats on keeping your ethics and staying in the laws, i would say with that kind of deer population its hard for a lot of people not to bend the laws on harvesting deer.
i dont know your location in NH but how is the hunting over in Maine? if it was me I would look at a map and see whats in a 3 to 5 hour drive, and see if a budy or two would go in on a lease with you and start a deer camp every year. the property beside where i gun hunt has been leased to some guys from florida, they've leased it for 6 years straight now and their is 4 of them they come up for the gun season only, camp for two weeks load up n go home.
 
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