Nothin

they eat good.

a camera will help but when i went to pa we had around 6 cameras out and got only a couple pics of deer. so that was a learning experience for me, not to rely on the cameras to tell all. went out to check mine the other day. had 4 in one area and tracks all around but dang if they did manage to skirt every camera. how in the world did they know to stay just so far away or walk behind or turn just at the right time?

If you're hunting the same general area next year you should already know the lay of the land and just need to concentrate on rub and scrape lines. Bucks generally have their back trails and use them till the rut is on then scrape lines are the ticket. It takes a lot of leg work to figure it all out. I'm not a camera man yet but I sure like the photos being posted from the members. I think you can sort it all out without relying on the cameras but to each their own. The longer I hunt the more I rely on finding buck travel routes and using rub and scrape lines. When you tie in the natural funnels and landscape with the travel routes its like a topo map in your mind.

lots of people unhappy in the northeast this year.i m headed out for a full week of hunting Blackpowder,only hunt so far this year

good luck joel, I've got 3 weeks till I go.

yea its a good thing its not all about killing a deer. everyone of the long time hunters i know around here got little bald spots on their heads where they kept scratching them wondering what the heck was going on. everyone saw tracks and sign but rarely got a look at deer. I did miss a small buck with the bow and pass a spike with the rifle. other than turkey day, when i saw 11 does, i only had a couple other sightings/glimpses. thats in NH. pa was a whole other story. couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a deer.

i blame it on the weather ,to hot during the day plus lots of rain and wind.once the deer got its winter coat anything over 45 is gonna shut it down

Talked to my buddy in the UP of Michigan and same thing there what happened to the deer? As many as 14 camps didn't take a buck and many didn't see a deer all week. Our rifle hunt in PA was really poor also, but weather was the worst in my memory. 1 buck and 2 does shot thats it. Archery 2 bucks and my error on a nice 8pt so overall not too bad but there is still flintlock week! I have two doe tags or 1 buck and 1 doe depending on how I use them. I hope all that are still hunting can fill their tags and put some meat in the freezer.

while in pa the temp topped out around 40 but most days were colder than that and we got snow. maybe that was the key there.

1st day was rain/snow/sleet and wind. 2nd day light rain. 3rd day high wind couldn't sit in stands. 4th day rain. Temps were ok 32-40 but wind and sleet makes for poor hunting.

the weather here has been really weird this year

I am from the northeast and yes it has been very slow.With the temps kept them moving mostly at night during the rut.I have only seen a few does this year and there is only about a week of season left, I am going to give it my best! But if not there is always next year.

Sorry to hear you guys didn't have a lot luck. Here in west kansas it was pretty good. Back in Sept. i got a fork horn muley, first muzzleloader deer ever, so i was happy. My boy got his first whitetail opening day of rifle season, would have been a 10 point but it had broken off most of its tines during the rut. 2 buddies got 4 pt. muleys and one got a nice 3x4 muley. Didn't fill my doe tag but really didn't try either also still can hunt archery until Jan 1. Will be my first archery kill if i am successful, hopefully will get sometime to go.