Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Discuss deer hunting tactics, Deer behavior. Post your Hunting Stories, Pictures, and Questions/Answers.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


cedarsavage
500 Club
Posts: 1137
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2015 4:42 am
Facebook: No facebook
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby cedarsavage » Sun May 01, 2016 3:45 am

mainebowhunter wrote:
JoeRE wrote:
mainebowhunter wrote:
Winter kill dead? Or hunting season kill dead?


I couldn't tell for sure on most, but time of death suspiciously lined up with early to mid December, meaning Iowa's gun seasons. That is typical, deer drives are a great way to loose a lot of deer if hunters don't know what they are doing, or just don't care. One clearly died earlier in the fall as the bones were pretty much free of tissue, another I did find what looked like a slug hole in the hide around the stomach. Given the mild winter decomposition was a little faster that usual but a poorly placed shotgun slug combined with a lazy hunter unwilling to follow the trail is the culprit many times.

I am up to 12 total dead bucks...half of them 2 year olds or older. That is more than twice as many as usual, and I am covering about the same amount of ground as average.

I also found a total of 3 broadhead tipped arrows and 1 crossbow bolt all of them fired into animals as there was traces of hair or tissue on them still and they were all bent or broken...weird because before that in my entire life I only ever found one arrow in the woods. Strange spring.


That is a strange spring. Coyotes make fast work of the deer around here. Only thing usually left is hair. Found a 2yr old in February. Nothing is left but couple bones and hair.

Do you have wolves there too?

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby Lockdown » Sun May 01, 2016 4:10 am

A couple weeks ago I had 2 bucks bust out of a bedding area and run right past me. I could see regrowth on both and I'm thinking the one was a 3 yr old. They looked like they were in pretty good shape body/fat wise.

I don't see why it wouldn't be a great year for antler growth. Like others said as long as drought stays away.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
User avatar
Dewey
Moderator
Posts: 36727
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:57 pm
Location: Wisconsin
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby Dewey » Sun May 01, 2016 5:48 am

JoeRE wrote:
mainebowhunter wrote:
Winter kill dead? Or hunting season kill dead?


I couldn't tell for sure on most, but time of death suspiciously lined up with early to mid December, meaning Iowa's gun seasons. That is typical, deer drives are a great way to loose a lot of deer if hunters don't know what they are doing, or just don't care. One clearly died earlier in the fall as the bones were pretty much free of tissue, another I did find what looked like a slug hole in the hide around the stomach. Given the mild winter decomposition was a little faster that usual but a poorly placed shotgun slug combined with a lazy hunter unwilling to follow the trail is the culprit many times.

I am up to 12 total dead bucks...half of them 2 year olds or older. That is more than twice as many as usual, and I am covering about the same amount of ground as average.

I also found a total of 3 broadhead tipped arrows and 1 crossbow bolt all of them fired into animals as there was traces of hair or tissue on them still and they were all bent or broken...weird because before that in my entire life I only ever found one arrow in the woods. Strange spring.

Joe I have been finding the same thing but can't confirm if any were truly mature because in many cases the skull was missing. I did find one with the horns cut off that looked big boned and mature. I assume we are in the same general area so that concerns me that this many dead deer are being found. Been finding lots of other scattered bones too without the rest of the carcass. Kinda strange as I am accustomed to only seeing this in the far northwoods after a severe winter.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
mainebowhunter
500 Club
Posts: 3448
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:45 am
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Sun May 01, 2016 7:18 am

cedarsavage wrote:
mainebowhunter wrote:
JoeRE wrote:
mainebowhunter wrote:
Winter kill dead? Or hunting season kill dead?


I couldn't tell for sure on most, but time of death suspiciously lined up with early to mid December, meaning Iowa's gun seasons. That is typical, deer drives are a great way to loose a lot of deer if hunters don't know what they are doing, or just don't care. One clearly died earlier in the fall as the bones were pretty much free of tissue, another I did find what looked like a slug hole in the hide around the stomach. Given the mild winter decomposition was a little faster that usual but a poorly placed shotgun slug combined with a lazy hunter unwilling to follow the trail is the culprit many times.

I am up to 12 total dead bucks...half of them 2 year olds or older. That is more than twice as many as usual, and I am covering about the same amount of ground as average.

I also found a total of 3 broadhead tipped arrows and 1 crossbow bolt all of them fired into animals as there was traces of hair or tissue on them still and they were all bent or broken...weird because before that in my entire life I only ever found one arrow in the woods. Strange spring.


That is a strange spring. Coyotes make fast work of the deer around here. Only thing usually left is hair. Found a 2yr old in February. Nothing is left but couple bones and hair.

Do you have wolves there too?

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


No wolves. Thankfully.
JoeRE
500 Club
Posts: 4576
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:26 am
Location: IA
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby JoeRE » Mon May 02, 2016 3:06 am

Dewey wrote:
JoeRE wrote:
mainebowhunter wrote:
Winter kill dead? Or hunting season kill dead?


I couldn't tell for sure on most, but time of death suspiciously lined up with early to mid December, meaning Iowa's gun seasons. That is typical, deer drives are a great way to loose a lot of deer if hunters don't know what they are doing, or just don't care. One clearly died earlier in the fall as the bones were pretty much free of tissue, another I did find what looked like a slug hole in the hide around the stomach. Given the mild winter decomposition was a little faster that usual but a poorly placed shotgun slug combined with a lazy hunter unwilling to follow the trail is the culprit many times.

I am up to 12 total dead bucks...half of them 2 year olds or older. That is more than twice as many as usual, and I am covering about the same amount of ground as average.

I also found a total of 3 broadhead tipped arrows and 1 crossbow bolt all of them fired into animals as there was traces of hair or tissue on them still and they were all bent or broken...weird because before that in my entire life I only ever found one arrow in the woods. Strange spring.

Joe I have been finding the same thing but can't confirm if any were truly mature because in many cases the skull was missing. I did find one with the horns cut off that looked big boned and mature. I assume we are in the same general area so that concerns me that this many dead deer are being found. Been finding lots of other scattered bones too without the rest of the carcass. Kinda strange as I am accustomed to only seeing this in the far northwoods after a severe winter.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


Yea, there will be always lots of dead deer every spring, regardless of winter strength. I dozens of dead deer every spring, most does and young ones. The unusual thing this year was just the number of 2 year old or older bucks for me. I am pretty certain 75% or more of deer I find are killed and lost during the gun seasons. Usually most bucks I find are missing heads, just this year for some reason I stumbled across a number of larger bucks before anyone else did. One was a big shed buck.

Having done some scouting in WI and IL public land here and there I can say Iowa has a lot more dead deer in the woods at the end of every year. Several times more. Deer are plentiful so unfortunately I think that makes some hunters value them less. There are slob hunters everywhere I know but here there just seem to be a higher proportion of hunters (even though we have less hunters overall) who won't track a deer, if it doesn't fall in sight its not worth following up. That combined with gun hunters predominantly using deer drives, which makes for more challenging shooting if they don't know what they are doing. If you were around here in gun season, you wouldn't believe Iowa has a bunch of bucks that grow to maturity because it sounds like a war. Far more shooting here than any gun season I have experienced in Wisconsin. If even 1 out of 2 shots hit a deer, there wouldn't be any deer left....obviously that isn't the case, my guess is 1 in 5 shots or less connect with a target.

Even though there are a lot of dead deer around every spring, it used to be much worst. In the mid-2000s the DNR began advocating herd reduction, and issued a lot of antlerless tags. One would think that means hunters would shoot more does, tag them, and drag them out of the woods....some did for sure, but some just seemed to get bloodlust shooting every deer they saw and leaving most lay. The kind of thing a psychologist could write a good paper on I guess. For several years I saw so many dead deer every spring (almost all does) it made me sick some places....I could see where standers were by piles of shotgun slug cases, and there were deer scattered in a line through the area. That behavior tapered off but I still find more dead deer than any other state I have been in.
mainebowhunter
500 Club
Posts: 3448
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:45 am
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon May 02, 2016 3:32 am

JoeRE wrote:
Dewey wrote:
JoeRE wrote:
mainebowhunter wrote:
Winter kill dead? Or hunting season kill dead?


I couldn't tell for sure on most, but time of death suspiciously lined up with early to mid December, meaning Iowa's gun seasons. That is typical, deer drives are a great way to loose a lot of deer if hunters don't know what they are doing, or just don't care. One clearly died earlier in the fall as the bones were pretty much free of tissue, another I did find what looked like a slug hole in the hide around the stomach. Given the mild winter decomposition was a little faster that usual but a poorly placed shotgun slug combined with a lazy hunter unwilling to follow the trail is the culprit many times.

I am up to 12 total dead bucks...half of them 2 year olds or older. That is more than twice as many as usual, and I am covering about the same amount of ground as average.

I also found a total of 3 broadhead tipped arrows and 1 crossbow bolt all of them fired into animals as there was traces of hair or tissue on them still and they were all bent or broken...weird because before that in my entire life I only ever found one arrow in the woods. Strange spring.

Joe I have been finding the same thing but can't confirm if any were truly mature because in many cases the skull was missing. I did find one with the horns cut off that looked big boned and mature. I assume we are in the same general area so that concerns me that this many dead deer are being found. Been finding lots of other scattered bones too without the rest of the carcass. Kinda strange as I am accustomed to only seeing this in the far northwoods after a severe winter.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


Yea, there will be always lots of dead deer every spring, regardless of winter strength. I dozens of dead deer every spring, most does and young ones. The unusual thing this year was just the number of 2 year old or older bucks for me. I am pretty certain 75% or more of deer I find are killed and lost during the gun seasons. Usually most bucks I find are missing heads, just this year for some reason I stumbled across a number of larger bucks before anyone else did. One was a big shed buck.

Having done some scouting in WI and IL public land here and there I can say Iowa has a lot more dead deer in the woods at the end of every year. Several times more. Deer are plentiful so unfortunately I think that makes some hunters value them less. There are slob hunters everywhere I know but here there just seem to be a higher proportion of hunters (even though we have less hunters overall) who won't track a deer, if it doesn't fall in sight its not worth following up. That combined with gun hunters predominantly using deer drives, which makes for more challenging shooting if they don't know what they are doing. If you were around here in gun season, you wouldn't believe Iowa has a bunch of bucks that grow to maturity because it sounds like a war. Far more shooting here than any gun season I have experienced in Wisconsin. If even 1 out of 2 shots hit a deer, there wouldn't be any deer left....obviously that isn't the case, my guess is 1 in 5 shots or less connect with a target.

Even though there are a lot of dead deer around every spring, it used to be much worst. In the mid-2000s the DNR began advocating herd reduction, and issued a lot of antlerless tags. One would think that means hunters would shoot more does, tag them, and drag them out of the woods....some did for sure, but some just seemed to get bloodlust shooting every deer they saw and leaving most lay. The kind of thing a psychologist could write a good paper on I guess. For several years I saw so many dead deer every spring (almost all does) it made me sick some places....I could see where standers were by piles of shotgun slug cases, and there were deer scattered in a line through the area. That behavior tapered off but I still find more dead deer than any other state I have been in.


Trade ya. Lol

[ Post made via Android ] Image
User avatar
headgear
500 Club
Posts: 11625
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:21 am
Location: Northern Minnesota
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby headgear » Mon May 02, 2016 6:10 am

mainebowhunter wrote:
No wolves. Thankfully.


What no wolves over there? That is like bigwoods cheating! ;)
mainebowhunter
500 Club
Posts: 3448
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:45 am
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon May 02, 2016 8:23 am

headgear wrote:
mainebowhunter wrote:
No wolves. Thankfully.


What no wolves over there? That is like bigwoods cheating! ;)


LOL. Our deer herd -- there would be nothing left. Winter severity index in 2008 - 2009 just about wiped out deer herd out. Certain places in maine had over 200" of snow.
mainebowhunter
500 Club
Posts: 3448
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:45 am
Status: Offline

Re: Easy winter...deer are healthy!

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon May 02, 2016 8:29 am

The crazy part is ....whenever I am in the midwest, I see way more coyotes than I do here in Maine.
There is one less in Maine this year though...

Image


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 82 guests