Reflections after the deer season

This year, I saw more deer than I have in the past three years.  I think the reason for this was obsessive scouting, and gaining experience.  The longer you stay in the woods, the better you are going to be at figuring out what the deer are doing.

I only killed 2 deer this year, but I passed up several. 

Anyway, here are my reflections from the season:

Early season: Tons of deer.  I saw much more deer during this part of the season.  The key to this is to find where the deer are.  Unlike the rut, in the early season, a deer might only move a couple of hundred yards, if that, during the day.  The food is plentiful, so there is no real reason for them to go very far.  If you want to kill deer during this part of the year, you need to find exactly where they are, and put a stand up near there.  Try and find a huge oak tree that is dropping acorns, and set up on one of the game trails leading to the acorn tree.  They are there, you just need to find them.  If you do this, you will see deer.

Rut:  The rut is the rut.  It is exceedingly difficult to figure out where the deer are going to be.  What makes this fun is that the deer are much more responsive to calls and esterous scents.  Also, you have the chance to see lots of deer that you haven't seen before.  The rut is not my favorite time to hunt.  Its too unpredictable.  I like figuring out where the deer are, scouting and hunting a single deer, and killing it when I want to.  During the rut, it doesnt take too much skill to shoot one.

Post-Rut:  For me, the post rut part of the season was abismal.  I think I saw maybe 2 deer, and one was a fawn.  It seems that post-rut, hunters are getting more aware of the end of the season and putting lots of pressure on the deer.  Their response is to lay low.

My plan next year is to hunt like crazy during the early bow season.  Now that I *think* I have figured out the trick (sitting on acorns and scouting like a mad man) to early season hunting, I am looking forward to it.

Who am I kidding.  I am going to hunt like crazy the entire season.

From here, I am going to try and take advantage of the Urban Archery Season that a few cities in NC participate in.  My girlfriend's family lives in Elkin, so I will probably be hunting around their house.  The urban bow season is pretty fun because the deer have not had any pressure all year, and feel extremely comfortable in close proximity to humans.

Good luck to all!