I missed the entire bow season with a hurt back. Very few sightings when I could finally get into the woods. Shot at a buck three times and figured out my scope was off. I had a similar season about ten years ago where I was tempted to shoot a 1-point with such few sightings. I've got Monday to hunt and I'll be done and have an empty freezer.

I’ve seen bucks on almost every hunt. I’ve seen 2 that I would mount, but never had an ethical shot on either, and the 3rd was one I just misjudged until I saw a camera picture of him. I’ve let too many walk. I’ve hunted more than I have in the last 2 years and I’m tired. I know that if I decide to keep hunting next year I’m shooting the first decent deer I get a shot at. I only kill one deer a year and I ran out of time thinking I would finally put it all together. Won’t make that mistake again. I have an almost empty freezer.

Saw one deer during bow season and killed it seen about 12 deer total all year luckily some decent bucks in that mix which is about normal for me but it sucks not seeing deer sit after sit...luckily I see more bucks than does tho

Saw 1 deer the entire season my second year rifle hunting as an adult. SUCKED

Weird season for me. Have seen more deer than I've ever seen on public land, seen more bucks than I've ever seen ever, and missed 3 different deer with my bow. I don't think I took my rifle once this year. Only shot one deer, and it was my best deer yet and it was with my bow. So a lot of ups and downs. I'd still count it as a great season. Wish I had a couple more chances to get out there but after my Oak mountain hunt work got crazy and family has been sick, so my season basically ended then.

Blessed to never have what I'd call a bad one

Worst season I ever had was 2016-17. EHD killed off amy and all mature bucks we’d worked for leading up to that season. It was awful.

Can’t remember one I’d call my worse but I’ve had some better than others! Saw more deer this year than I can ever remember so it was a good one

Stationed in England from Sept 1993-97. Missed 93, 94 and 95 seasons. Had two fun weeks of bowhunting in 96.

2009 for me. Managed to kill a doe the second weekend of bow season. Had my treestand accident the following weekend on the morning of my 42nd birthday and broke my neck.

Last year, I didn’t kill one deer. I saw one decent buck, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I changed clubs.

Do you need meat in your freezer?

This year is my worst in alabama in a long time so far. Glad I went to Texas some. I’ve seen piles of young bucks or the decent 3 year olds that I let walk and the neighbors shoot. I have hunted hard this past month or so and have been struggling just to see a shooter buck. But by god everyone else I have been putting them on the deer.

You had a pretty good season last year if I remember correctly?


Nah, it's just the frustration of putting the seat time in and not having anything to show for it.

You had a pretty good season last year if I remember correctly?

Yea the last several years I have done very well. This year was one of those years no matter what you do it just ain’t meant to be.

Seems like my deer seasons change over time. This year wasnt great for sure. I completed my goal. My son did not. Saw fewer deer this year than we wanted to for sure. Dogs had us screwed up all season but that has sorted itself out. Didnt have a terrible season compared to my average season but i was sure hoping for and expecting above average.

Last year and this year we’re rough

Worst AL deer season ever. Saw only 8 deer.

This year

I don’t see how you guys stay interested seeing as few deer as you are seeing.Honestly I personally would probably be looking for a new hobby.I like all aspects of hunting but without seeing deer regularly it would get old pretty quick.

Agree

2015-16 season was horrible. Timber cutters started on my russell county lease the first week of how season, then another set of cutters started on my Lee county place first week of december. I couldn't buy a deer for 2 years. Those properties are finally starting to hold deer again and I picked up some other places that are even better. Last year was pretty good and this year has really renewed my interest in deer hunting. I let some really nice bucks walk this year so next year should be even better.

This has been my worst season! Didn’t hunt as much as previous years but my sightings were way down I pray my turkey season goes better

Any season I live to see is a good season. I will say this year the rut has been underwhelming to put it mildly.

Dr. B

Lucky enough to own property in GA that has a good population. Killed a good 8 with my bow there and probably saw 20-25 different bucks. Lots of potential still walking for the future.

I didn’t kill one but I still had a great year. Had probably 10 different three year old bucks And one that was at least four in my scope. My sons each killed a few and filled my freezer as well a couple more, I’m with BradB, I’d find another hobby if I didn’t see plenty of deer,

It took me a long time to admit that 99 cent a pound pork shoulder tastes better, is easier to prepare/cook, and is 20x less expensive than any deer meat I have ever had. Hunting is for sport, not meat. I believe you still have an ethical obligation to not let game meat go to waste, but there is nothing logical for 99% of us in the modern world about deer hunting for the sole purpose of filling a freezer. I personally enjoy the process of cleaning, preparing, and cooking a deer, but that is part of the sport for me, not out of necessity. Find me a mountain man living off the land, roaming a national forest to kill a deer to get him through the winter, and I will tip my hat to him. The rest of us weekend hunters do it because we enjoy it, not because of empty freezers.

They like rats, everywhere.

I’ve been blessed to get in the woods every year for 34 of my 48 yrs. You can’t buy that type of therapy anywhere else. Never had a “Bad” year.

Yeah and they only come out when the light goes out around here.

My worst season was 14 years ago on January the 25th. My best friend since childhood and the one that introduced and taught me how to deer hunt lost his battle with cancer. “ Hey Leroy! Did you see any bucks?”
Deer hunting hasn’t been the same since then. His love of hunting is what always motivated me and I sure do miss him.

This one wasn't good but it wasn't the worst. I'd have to say '15 or '16 was the worst for me overall.

I was talking to one of the fellas I lease from and he said he’s had more people telling him this is their worst year ever and already asking about different pieces of land. He said he feels like a lot of people are gonna be dropping land and looking for new stuff since everyone is struggling with not hardly killing or seeing any deer. My question is I never really remember a lot of people saying it’s the worst year ever and wanting to drop all kinds of land so what has changed. Is corn and feeders every 100 yards in every food plot now making the deer more scattered out or moving more at night or more people being in the woods because of the stupid virus or people knowing the economy might tank and wanting some meat in the freezer.

Great post and I totally agree. I hunt for the challenge of connecting with a nice deer on public land. I'll eat the venison but prefer beef.

my best season to date. Was able to hunt out of state a couple of times. Killed the biggest buck of my life, several does on different properties, a backyard doe and had a dang good time.

Been a long season for me. I'm tired and really glad that it is almost over.

Killed a doe with my ML that I donated to someone who needed it. Figured I'd have plenty of chances on a good buck later and a doe or two to fill the freezer. Have not laid eyes on one single shooter buck all year long and have had a hard time finding a doe big enough to shoot.

I have seen a lot of deer but most were small, younger deer. I was blessed to finally get a big doe this past weekend for the freezer. May be the biggest doe I have ever been able to kill. She was a good one.

I wouldn't say this has been my worst season ever but it sure hasn't been a great one. I have enjoyed it though and I am thankful that God blessed me with the health and strength to hunt.

This is by far, one of, if not the best deer season I’ve ever had. Saw as many or more deer than any year I have recorded, killed some great deer, both of my boys got great deer, and just had an overall great time. To wrap it up I got to mentor someone who’s new to hunting and we had some absolute great hunts. He got to see some things that a lot of hunters never have seen. So this year ranks up among my best.

2018-2019 was the worst season for me. My dad was dying of cancer and our business was as wide open as it had ever been. Add in a wife and kids that needed to see me occasionally and all of a sudden pine goats just didn’t matter. I still haven’t gotten back into the groove like I was before that year. Perspective and priorities have been realigned.

This has been one of the worst years for me in 15 years of living here.......Deer populations right here locally around my place are half of what they were 4 or 5 years ago.......I've talked to several folks in the area that have had slow years and a lack a mature buck sightings......The rut was the slowest I've ever seen it......It makes me wonder if we had an EHD outbreak

I've had a good season even though I haven't clicked the safety off. I am truly blessed that I was able to buy my place 20 years ago that has a couple of good old hard wood bottoms that circle my house. I decided to let the undergrowth get thick in places and have a good habitat for the deer even though its not a huge property, I join unhunted large property. I feed year around and the deer are low stress, unpressured herd. I do not even go to the back of my property until the right time, right wind. I just was not fortunate enough to get my target buck this year as he was killed across the road from me. I had a lot of history with this deer and got real itchy on him last year. I saw several nice bucks that I let walk and that gave me satisfaction to know the potential for the next year. I guess i have read too much Aldeer and only am going to be happy with the 4+ year old buck. We eat a lot of deer meat, but I have a connection for meat from the place in Waverly where if not picked up than I can buy it at a great price for great meat. So, I read of people that have neighbor problems, thieving issues and I am just happy all around when deer season comes and goes. It's just hard to beat sitting on the porch watching deer cross the road or slip in the back bottom and have a cup of coffee with my binoculars.

To top it off I have two Original Mountain Cur's that won't even bark at a deer, I'm ready for deer hunting season to be over now, that's where its at watching them do their thing. Not my worst season by far.

This guy gets it it ain't always about seeing 25 at a time or killing a goodun even though that is what all really wanna do

I hav had seasons where I hardly shoot - May shoot a doe - some years not even that

This year was probably one of my best years - killed more deer than I ever remember killing - i never been a big shooter even in high school

I shot 3 solid bucks - 2 with bow (cross bow) and one with muzzleloader and 2 bow does. It was my first year to really bow hunt

I got a solid 6 year old showing up in daylight last 4 days according to camera but I done w bucks - maybe he make it

Worst season for sightings was many years ago, when I saw a whopping two does all season and that was when season was winding down. Worst season for enjoyment was about four years ago when they cut the timber on the property I was hunting, the summer before. The neighbors realized they could now get their 4wheeler in there and I couldn’t keep them off the place. I even ended up giving a GW a key to the gate so he could come and go as he pleased to try and catch them. This was a place that if I went hunting on any given day and saw less than six deer, it was considered a bad day. An absolute great place to take the kids. The trespassing, and poaching, locked the deer down and I ended up seeing three does on two separate occasions all season. That was it. I gave it one more season and just gave up on the place. I got tired of chasing people instead of deer.

My worst years were right after they changed it from two weeks of "doe days", to a doe a day. When was that, around 2000? Then the brilliant idea of 2 does a day. We went from Seeing 15-20 deer every weekend, and killing a lot good bucks, to 10-15 deer sightings a year. It stayed that way until about 3 years ago. I guess all the doe killers finally figured it out.

I had a good year and looks like several will make it to next year that I got on cams. I went from 2 to 7 cams this year and was pretty amazed what was around and basically nocturnal.

This year. Looks like I’ll be buying more meat because the freezer is empty.

This year was my worst, I did kill one that I would have let walk last year because of some people will shoot if it’s legal so I got my freezer full, anyway I’ve had way better years and not killed any deer , I didn’t see many like previous years and had more seat time than ever since I’ve been off since Jan 3 and retired Jan 31 had plenty shooters on camera before season and they disappeared and the few we saw during rut were at night, we only had 1 wall hanger this year , maybe better next now time to fish

Worse season...what...? Who has one of those? Sometimes you just have to celebrate the little victories and being able to get out there and see the amazing sunrises and sunsets. The rest is like gravy on top of a good biscuit.