Those deer can hear you the moment you come down the road. Someone probably walked over your area last weekend, even if you hunt a mile off the road. Some folks on private have the best land and a few the good leases. Folks encouraging people to scout until they find sign pushes deer more into a nocturnal state and into the thick stuff. Dumb deer don't live long. After a lot of pressure the living deer may only move outside of legal hunting hours. Some areas have a small window of a good time of the year to hunt. It may be tough now to figure out what is going on, but it will come in time. Now, trying to time up the correct time to be at a spot with a deer that has to find food, may bed in 40 different places, and may travel for miles, that is the difficult part. You are not hunting a corn pile, or greenfield with limited access. So, seeing 3 deer in 26 sits may not be so bad cosidering the pressure those deer have on them. Sounds about right for some public land.