Glassing. Shining. Nothing.

[NorthStar]

Good afternoon!

I have been going out the last few weeks to do some glassing and shining and I have not seen a single deer so far. The public spots I hunt are 1/3 marsh, 1/3 CRP grass, and 1/3 timber.... completely surrounded by Farm country. Most of the spots near my house are between 50-400 acres. I have been looking mostly at bean fields as I have seen a couple nice bucks in bean fields on private and nowhere near public. Maybe I just need to start knocking on doors!

My question is, do I need to give up on these spots and move onto something else or should I continue to monitor them and assume they will show up with the right wind or something? I admit, I can't view all bean fields surrounding these properties from the road, so maybe I just need to start doing some observation sits to glass fields hidden from the roads.

[seazofcheeze]

I'd definitely check the more secluded bean fields. With that said, if you haven't seen a shooter after 3 trips, I'd scratch that particular area off the early season list, and by area, I mean that 50-150 acres. In general, bucks in September occupy a relatively small home range, if you're not seeing them after a few trips, I'd keep searching for greener pastures until you find them.

[live2hunt]

I can’t believe there isn’t a single deer. If you are on the roads you might need to change it up some maybe they have been glassed a lot and hear you coming. Observation sits might be the way to go. The weather here lately has been cooler and they are getting on their feet sooner but they haven’t really been hitting the beans like normal. I’ve seen a lot of action around corn and waterways in the corn right now. Take that for what it’s worth since I am in farm country but not near you. I am relying more on cameras and scouting right now since my best glassing spots are blocked by extremely tall corn this year.

[Tim H]

Good afternoon!

I have been going out the last few weeks to do some glassing and shining and I have not seen a single deer so far. The public spots I hunt are 1/3 marsh, 1/3 CRP grass, and 1/3 timber.... completely surrounded by Farm country. Most of the spots near my house are between 50-400 acres. I have been looking mostly at bean fields as I have seen a couple nice bucks in bean fields on private and nowhere near public. Maybe I just need to start knocking on doors!

My question is, do I need to give up on these spots and move onto something else or should I continue to monitor them and assume they will show up with the right wind or something? I admit, I can't view all bean fields surrounding these properties from the road, so maybe I just need to start doing some observation sits to glass fields hidden from the roads.

When you mean a single deer, do you really mean haven't seen anything or just shooters? If you haven't seen anything yet you gotta change it up. Move around and check a lot of spots. Check at different times of the night if you can (I know some states only allow to certain times). I would check fields several times before I gave up on them. Deer don't always use the same fields every night. I would recommend only checking fields near woodlots/swamps/marsh. Random fields surrounded by farms and houses most likely won't hold any deer.

[Lockdown]

I'd definitely check the more secluded bean fields. With that said, if you haven't seen a shooter after 3 trips, I'd scratch that particular area off the early season list, and by area, I mean that 50-150 acres. In general, bucks in September occupy a relatively small home range, if you're not seeing them after a few trips, I'd keep searching for greener pastures until you find them.

This. And make sure you can see the lowest spot in the field if at all possible. Check field edges for tracks, too. If you don’t find much for tracks you won’t find much for deer! It’s a lot of leg work early on (if you don’t have an inventory of spots built up).

The deer are often really spread out this time of year, and knowing the ground you hunt, many will be in the structure in the crop fields. Wooded fence lines, grassy swales, small tree groves, patches of dogwood, etc.

Get a good vantage point. Get up a tree. Bring bug spray with you, don’t just apply then leave it in the truck

[NorthStar]

Good afternoon!

I have been going out the last few weeks to do some glassing and shining and I have not seen a single deer so far. The public spots I hunt are 1/3 marsh, 1/3 CRP grass, and 1/3 timber.... completely surrounded by Farm country. Most of the spots near my house are between 50-400 acres. I have been looking mostly at bean fields as I have seen a couple nice bucks in bean fields on private and nowhere near public. Maybe I just need to start knocking on doors!

My question is, do I need to give up on these spots and move onto something else or should I continue to monitor them and assume they will show up with the right wind or something? I admit, I can't view all bean fields surrounding these properties from the road, so maybe I just need to start doing some observation sits to glass fields hidden from the roads.

When you mean a single deer, do you really mean haven't seen anything or just shooters? If you haven't seen anything yet you gotta change it up. Move around and check a lot of spots. Check at different times of the night if you can (I know some states only allow to certain times). I would check fields several times before I gave up on them. Deer don't always use the same fields every night. I would recommend only checking fields near woodlots/swamps/marsh. Random fields surrounded by farms and houses most likely won't hold any deer.

Not even a fawn. I have literally seen nothing on public. But I have seen deer on private and they are in the beans. I plan on continuing to monitor these areas and sit in trees where I can glass hidden fields from the roads. I will check for fresh tracks and other sign while doing this and report back to you guys. Thanks so much for your help!

[Bio1]

Just curious - are the deer on the private near the public and you just aren’t seeing them actually ON the public? Where I am the cover is in public but the food is on private so I just glass the private knowing they will end up on the public once the crops are out.

Bio1

[NorthStar]

Just curious - are the deer on the private near the public and you just aren’t seeing them actually ON the public? Where I am the cover is in public but the food is on private so I just glass the private knowing they will end up on the public once the crops are out.

Bio1

Its a good question. Where I am seeing deer is a few miles from public. I know they travel a little more in farm country but seeing deer in the beans on private tells me that this is their food source of choice right now. Just not seeing them on the private beans adjacent to public hunting grounds.

But to reiterate, I have been only been doing this for the last couple of weeks and have really only checked 4 pieces of public so far....

[Bio1]

That is odd. I would expect you to see deer in the beans adjacent to public assuming there is adequate cover.

One thing I do commonly see is deer, especially bucks showing up where the first beans are planted. If an area is planted at a later date I often see little activity around those locations. I surmise the deer gravitate to the early beans and don’t move much from those areas until they yellow. Even so, I would still expect to see something. Are you glassing pretty close to dark? I often don’t see the bigger deer until it’s almost too dark to see well.

Bio1

[NorthStar]

I'd definitely check the more secluded bean fields. With that said, if you haven't seen a shooter after 3 trips, I'd scratch that particular area off the early season list, and by area, I mean that 50-150 acres. In general, bucks in September occupy a relatively small home range, if you're not seeing them after a few trips, I'd keep searching for greener pastures until you find them.

This. And make sure you can see the lowest spot in the field if at all possible. Check field edges for tracks, too. If you don’t find much for tracks you won’t find much for deer! It’s a lot of leg work early on (if you don’t have an inventory of spots built up).

The deer are often really spread out this time of year, and knowing the ground you hunt, many will be in the structure in the crop fields. Wooded fence lines, grassy swales, small tree groves, patches of dogwood, etc.

Get a good vantage point. Get up a tree. Bring bug spray with you, don’t just apply then leave it in the truck

Great tips as always, Lockdown! Can't wait to report back!

[HuntingParadise]

I wouldnt be super discouraged now as deer tend to move. We have low numbers on our land right now, but I know deer and bucks move in come season. Id keep looking for where deer are and you might as well try to knock on some doors. Never know what may come from it. Surprised you havent seen anything at all though.

[may21581]

Just curious - are the deer on the private near the public and you just aren’t seeing them actually ON the public? Where I am the cover is in public but the food is on private so I just glass the private knowing they will end up on the public once the crops are out.

Bio1

Its a good question. Where I am seeing deer is a few miles from public. I know they travel a little more in farm country but seeing deer in the beans on private tells me that this is their food source of choice right now. Just not seeing them on the private beans adjacent to public hunting grounds.

But to reiterate, I have been only been doing this for the last couple of weeks and have really only checked 4 pieces of public so far....

Right now they are on prime summer food sources not really moving that far. Either you got it or you don't. Reguardless you should still be seeing something. Just curious, what time are you glassing?

[NorthStar]

Just curious - are the deer on the private near the public and you just aren’t seeing them actually ON the public? Where I am the cover is in public but the food is on private so I just glass the private knowing they will end up on the public once the crops are out.

Bio1

Its a good question. Where I am seeing deer is a few miles from public. I know they travel a little more in farm country but seeing deer in the beans on private tells me that this is their food source of choice right now. Just not seeing them on the private beans adjacent to public hunting grounds.

But to reiterate, I have been only been doing this for the last couple of weeks and have really only checked 4 pieces of public so far....

Right now they are on prime summer food sources not really moving that far. Either you got it or you don't. Reguardless you should still be seeing something. Just curious, what time are you glassing?

I was out today and took some advice from others to boot some boots on the ground and try to cut some tracks on field edges. It’s supper dry here so it was hard to see the tracks but saw some. Tracks appeared to be mostly does with fawns. I checked out all the bean fields that you can’t glass from the road and saw some sign of browsing in the beans. I did this 6pm-7:30. I hit two properties and bumped no deer along the way. I glasses a couple spots 8-9:15 pm and saw one doe pretty close to public and saw another doe no where near public.

[greenhorndave]

I haven’t had very good luck with my late evening scouting either, but the spots I’m looking at are not far off some relatively well-traveled roads, so it probably isn’t too surprising. I’m going to hit those areas super early AM and see what’s up. There’s also a lot of corn surrounding a lot of the public I hit, so that doesn’t make for good glassing.

The amount of browse makes it a challenge too. Some of the deer I could observe from a long way out were in no hurry to get to a bean field from the prairie grasses and forbs. In fact, I just saw this video from Dr. Grant Woods where he saw a buck on camera eating the tops of Queen Anne’s Lace. He hadn’t seen that before, so he sent them in for nutritional analysis. Turns out they’re very high in vitamins and minerals including calcium. So their diet is super varied and they’re tough to pin down if there are a lot of options.

[MN_DeerHunter]

Having messaged with you a little bit I know the "general" area and I will say the deer are there, but they are tucked back and do not like to be seen. The secluded fields are probably where they are at.

That area see's a lot of pressure so I think the deer are pretty skittish. Just my .02 cents. Even by me where its considerably more rural there is less pressure they still are hard to see from any roads.