Tough Season

I’m pretty sure I can consider this my worst season ever. Did not even lay eyes on a deer. In all honesty I’m just about ready to call it quits. Only have gotten 2 deer in the last 10 years. This was my 24th hunting season and still have not killed a racked buck. Can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong, I can’t for the life of me see a deer. It gets old going and going and never seeing anything. Sorry guys, just had to vent.

Where are you hunting. The property we hunt is nothing special but we see deer most all times we hunt. Is the hunting pressure where you hunt that bad? Are the numbers in your area just that low?

Keep your head up about it buddy! It dont ever hurt to ask a friend to give his opinions as to what you may need to do a little different to get better results. You may even go as far as to take someone out to your property to give you tips and tricks to make your land hold more deer. I kill 2 or 3 a year and still I find myself asking questions to buddy's of mine to see if I can improve anything the following year.

There's got to be something that you are doing, or are not doing. How often do you hunt this property? How big is it? Do you hunt the wind? Do you walk around on it a lot? Do you feed your deer? I can go on and on. There are a lot of steps that have to be taken to be a good hunter and see deer. I would love to help out any way I can. Most folks here feel the same way.

Agreed I fish for a living and have done it for over 25 years and I’m always asking others questions. You always need to be willing to learn or you will end up way behind the pack. Hunting is the same way. I hunt deer several places and Alabama deer still have me puzzled. I’ve had success but this year I hunted 12 straight days without seeing a mature buck. Nothing like a big piece of humble pie lol. Good luck!

Though we killed two mounters and about 15 other bucks/does on our 1,200 acre lease this year, it's felt like one of our worst season too. The number of deer seen was lower than normal and our rut was nearly non-existent. I maybe saw four scrapes that were fresh and barely any rubs around our property. The huge tract below our lease said it's the worse season they've even had in terms of killing bucks. They say it's due to a bumper acorn crop and the deer not using the food plots as much this time of year.

Oh well. That's why it's called hunting, not killing! Bring on them thunder chickens!! At least i don't have to get up and shower every morning, spray down head to toe before heading in, and worry about the wind!

I saw 10 deer while hunting this year luckily 3 were good bucks and one small buck I got with bow..all good bucks were seen aroumd 11am..least I've ever saw in woods..

Years ago, I hunted Georgia exclusively and the hunting was fair to poor at best in the club I hunted. I started hunting years later on public land near Columbus, MS and the hunting was so much better. A few more years I started making road trips to hunt public land in the Midwest and again, the hunting rapidly improved. My advice.....move as much of your hunting time to states other than Alabama. You have decent public land within 2-3 hours and fantastic hunting within 5-6 hrs in Kentucky. The hunting in Alabama can be ok in my opinion but not nearly as good as other states that have higher deer numbers, bigger bucks, less pine trees, far less hunting/rifle pressure, and controls in place to prevent unchecked harvests.

Where would you recommend going in Kentucky thats public

Fully endorsed.

I went with this philosophy for the 18-19 deer season. I did all of my hunting through December in TN on both public and private land. Killed my best buck to date on public, and missed on a buck bigger than him in the private club I was in. Saw deer on 95% of hunts and saw more mature bucks than I ever have in 1 season. There are absolutely states within a short drive of Alabama that have better deer numbers, better habitat, and better conservation plans which equate to a higher hunter success rate.

Find some new land to hunt.

I will vent with you buddy, but that's why they call it hunting, you don't always see deer and you may never kill a trophy buck, they don't get old for no reason. I had a bad season too, I made some bad decisions that cost me, and needless to say i didn't kill one this season, but you live and you learn and if God allows me to see another hunting season I'll be back out there again. Don't give up, keep trying and one day it may pay off.

If the area you hunt is shooting all the legal bucks your chances of a rack deer are almost zero!

I don't understand why someone hunting in the southern half of the state would continue to hunt a place where they don't consistently see deer. They are all over the place

Well that last statement is so far from the truth it’s freaking hilarious.

I realize I have a skewed perspective from living and hunting where I do, but where is the deer void in southern Alabama that I'm unaware of?

Plenty of places. I cover a lot of ground here in SW AL. Access to hundreds of gates and a couple hundred thousand acres. I do recon (walking timberland tracts) to plan harvest schedules. We could drive to 5 tracts in X location that have good deer numbers that meet perceived expectations of South AL. I could then take you to Y location and visit 5 tracts that have very low deer numbers. I’m talking hard to find a fresh pile of deer droppings.

I’m in a club almost solely to turkey hunt. Me and my son saw 5 deer all season. We traveled two times to my fathers property in North AL and saw almost 20 deer one afternoon.

This has been discussed here before and a lot of guys agree with me. Some will argue. Cause it all depends on where you hunt and what you see. I’m just in a position to see a lot of various tracts in different places and landscapes.

Definitely.

Interesting information. What counties do you work in and where do you see the lowest populations?

I don’t know where you’re located but I can at least help you see a deer next year.

Just come sit in the lazy boy I'm sitting now and look out the window until dark and you'll probably see several deer. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself, but its true

Hang in there ,, every hunter has his day

Appreciate all the input and advice. Going to spend this offseason reevaluate how I do things. I’m going to make it a goal to get a deer next season!!!

Where in LA you hunting?

I don't know any place in AL where you could sit any length of time and not see a deer. Maybe downtown B'ham or Mobile? What's up with that?

Sounds like you need to change zip codes..

I can take you to a few in Mobile county that used to have plenty of deer that you can now sit all day and not see a deer .....easy

12 whole days without a mature buck sighting? Very few places in Alabama will you see a mature buck for every 12 days hunted.