giving up


NHOUTLAW

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have spent the last 60 somthing days hunting just about everyday. havnt seen a deer or any sign for that matter. iv walked over 20 miles. and have over 70 hours in stand. and when i finaly find a spot to hunt, I drive in and there are already 4 trucks parked there. so I think its time to pack the gear up and drink beer. What do you think

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i don't blame ya! 60 days hunting and not seeing anything is rough. i do however, think you need to hunt elsewhere. i also think that if 4 trucks are there, then there must be deer somewhere in there. you're stands are in the wrong spots. not many places i've gone and haven't seen a deer with even close to that many hours on stand or still hunting through the woods.

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just about everything here in nh is public land. iv been to 4 diffrent towns in 2 county. everyone is killin deer i just cant find any. and the spot the trucks where at its a small ridge like thats maybe a half mile long and about that in width. and everything around it is has yellow posters on it. so you cant hunt it. and i own 200 acers with 2 food plots on it making up 30 acers and it has mostly oak on it with some beach but not deer her or anywhere around it

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If you've got 200 acres with 2 food plots, and you know deer are in the area, then you need to take a moment and really analyze the situation from every angle. You're probably just needing to adjust some of the things you're doing. First thing id do is keep working your own land. If you've got 200 acres with food plots you shouldnt need public land. It could be something as simple as controlling your scent or working with the wind. It could also be that the deer are there and you haven't found where. I hunt on 180 acres and for an entire weekend I didn't see two huge scrapes that were 15-20yds from my blind right out in the open. One of them we think was possibly made while I was in the blind. Deer are pretty sly when they want to be.

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My grandad always use to say " sometimes life sucks but you've got to suck it up and keep going cause you never accomplish anything when you quit." Kinda rough sounding but he was in 187th airborne during the Korean War. Had 157 days in combat and made several risky jumps so I figured he knew about life sucking and should probably listen. Just don't give up hard work always pays off.

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Get a better seeing eye dog!

Obviously I'm messing a little here but something is way off.

Buy a trail camera.

i'm typing this not knowing how much experience hunting you have....

as Hoosier said get a camera - one that has field scan mode (takes a picture after a period of time regardless if something is in front of it or not). put one facing out into each of your food plots. check it after 5 days or so. see where the deer are coming into the food plot. go to the food plot, find that spot, and setup a trail cam to watch the trails coming into it closer. keep doing this and work your way back into the woods until you have pictures of deer during legal shooting hours. then setup a stand and hunt it. all the while you should keep in mind that you've got to be able to get to the stand and hunt in it without the wind blowing your scent toward where the deer are coming from. remember to sit quiet and still without moving much or fast for hours when the photos were taken of the deer (you'd be surprised at how many hunters can't do this worth a darn). you will see deer eventually if you do this.

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Decided after seeing about 7 or 8 buck in the back of truck today id take off the rest of the day and rewalk my land. and nothing at all. so i packed up and went to a friends far about 70 miles away and we walked it for 6 hours. up one side and down the other. and nothing. as far as the trail cams have 10 on this property. and 6 on anouther. amd havnt gotten a pic sence the week befor youth season. seeing eye dog wont help eather. all my hounds are for bear and lions. and iv been hunting for 16 years or so. have killed a few nice bucks 150 inches or so. but cant find any deer sign at all anywhere iv hunted.

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how is walking the issue?? If im not finding sign or getting pic of deer how els am i saposed to find them? This isnt the midwest where you can sit on a field and see deer and pattern them. And baiting isnt legal here. What i dont understand is how are the rest of them finding deer and i cant find anything anywhere. And I HATE golf.

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giving up

Walking around only creates disturbance and alerts animals of your presence. You said this was big woods with food plots. If those food plots aren't drawing deer then the wrong thing is planted or you simply have a very low deer population.

It doesn't matter that it isn't the Midwest. Deer are creatures of habit and can be patterned anywhere. By walking the deer have "patterned" you on your property as a danger area and they are not using it.

Do you have bedding cover? Is there water on your property? What foodies planted? Can you post a aerial of your ground?

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there is one small pond and a few streams that go all over the place. One plot is imperian clover and the other is imperial winter greens. I dont kwno how to plot pics of the map but its a 200 acer piece with some mature pines and mostly oak and beach. and 2 small apple orchards. have logging roads all threw the land. basicly cuts it into 5 smaller pieces. it buts up against national forest that gets pushed realy hard first week of rilfe and muzz season. I havnt walked this land sence oct 29 and befor that was some time in september. but cameras get checked every 2 weeks. all the walking iv done has been other chunks of land that i hunt.

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stay after it. Everything you have said says deer should be there. Just keep working hard. If you could do some cutting and create a few bedding areas that are close to the water and food I think it would help a great deal.

Is there any way for you to turn your winter greens into a row crop plot? I'd recommend like eagle seed forage beans broadcast out. Use a cultipacker if possible and they should grow.

The aerial would just be to show us exactly what your talking about so we might be able to help pinpoint a few areas. It's easy to get comfortable on your own land and miss sign that others might see. I rountinely send aerials to my buddies when I want a second look to help out.

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