WMA's

[TheSpecialist]

Been hunting the same one for a couple of weeks. I get in from the back side through private property. The place has been crowded the since the opener of shotgun. Yesterday a guy took 2 shots at another hunter hitting a tree 10 yards from him, the guy yelled at him, and he just walked away. WTF is wrong with people. Makes me glad I am in a stand, I can see for a long ways all the way around me, and I see these guys way before they see, and sometimes they don't even see me I get nervous just being in the stand, it kind of sucks.

[mikecc]

I have an original flo orange vest from Otis AFB that has in large letters on the front of it "don't shoot I'm a man" .
Thats why I do not hunt on state land.

[snake slinger]

last year iam in my stand this guy comes walking up i whistle at him he stops and then starts walking rite towards me again i whistle again same thing he sits on a rock 20 yards from my stand so i yell at him (your not going to hunt write there are you) he about jumps out of his skin and says he didnt se me i had a flouro orange vest and hat on.i asked him if he heard me whistle he said he thaught i was a bird.

[Goose]

Bill the best thing you can do is do as much off season scouting as you can. I'm sure you can think of lots of peices of woods off highways, then look at them on topos. Get your compass and hit them woods you'll be surprized how much deer sign you'll find. Think out of the box. My hunting grounds all most all public and I only ran into one hunter this season. It takes years of hunting the same peices to figure good stand placement (wind ,time of year ect.) late summer you should have all your stands trimmed with plenty of shooting lanes. Guy's that you know on this site that consistantly take #'s of deer every year know their woods....like fishin put your time in and do ALOT of leg work...call me this off season

[TheSpecialist]

Tony I hear you on the off season scouting, but sometimes it is hard to find the time. I have been hunting the same piece of propety for 13 years. For the last 7 or so we were seeing lots of deer, granted mostly does but thats fine with me. Well the road we use to get in had a new house built on it, this is an area where the deer were bedding, and I think that and all of the noise drove the deer further into the swamp. We have seen very little sign, some fresh rubs, little track, and no scrapes, we usually find lots of track, and scrapes. So we decided to give it some time off this year, and we are hunting a WMA, where we can get deep into the hardwoods away from the parking lot on some good runs. We get in from private property, and during the last week of bow season I was on a real hot run. I hunted three days, and 2 out of the three days i had deer close enough for shots, but one time I ould'nt stand to take a shot in time without getting busted, the second time my arrows ( got 2 shots at the same deer) hit a limb , and a tree. Once shotgun started the deer changed their patterns quick, and I have not seen a deer since. We did find a couple of new places near us, one is litterally across the street from my house, but we are gonna scout it during the spring and summer and hunt it next year. I would love to hook up in the spring and do some scouting with you. Maybe you can come up this way and give me your opinions.

[mikecc]

Once shotgun started the deer changed their patterns quick, and I have not seen a deer since.

Don't forget it is post rut. Whe the buck is done with the does he will go outside his area to look fore more to bread.
the deer will be back to those areas soon. keep an eye on them and I'll bet within a week you will see them again.