Well...another rifle season has come and gone for me and this is the 2nd year in a row that I've been blanked! The worse part of this season is I didn't even see a single deer. I am only able to hunt on National Forest and saw plenty of sign, but nothing moving about. Not sure where they're hiding during the day but I couldn't find them. I also noticed that I didn't hear a lot of shooting yesterday which is highly unusual for the area I hunt.

Hey bud, don't worry, because you weren't the only one having this kind of season. And I hunt my own private land! I have seen one deer all season, and he is in the freezer (a small 4 point during muzzle loading), I haven't seen a deer since!

I've hunted every Saturday and a couple of other days since bow season and have only seen 2 does during archery that were out of range. It has been my worst season in at least 15 years.

Our two week season in Shenandoah County is over. Yes, I know muzzleloader will come back Monday, but we only rifle hunt this particular farm as that is what the owner wishes. For the first time ever, we had two of us that didn't kill a deer during the two week season. We attribute this abnormality to hunting pressure prior to the rifle season coming in (bow and Muzzleloader on the adjacent lands) and poor weather (rain and warmth) during part of the rifle season. What has become apparent for sure is numbers of deer seen/harvested are dramatically down in our part of the county. Whether it be from overhunting (my belief) or some other reason, we saw a significant drop off in deer seen in several trail cams stationed around the property. We are also rethinking our commitment to maintaining several food plots on the farm because the cost to plant/fertilize and maintain several food plots is expensive and perhaps not worth it. We believe the cost just to maintain several permanent stands and food plots to run a few thousand per year and those dollars are certainly hard to come by these days. Oh well, we will see what the rest of the winter season does and we will also see since the hunting pressure is now pretty much relaxed, that perhaps deer will start utilizing the food plots they have been avoiding for the most part.

PS. the good news for at least me is the food plots seem to really attract the turkey's and I'm pretty much on the only gobbler hunter using the property.

Hey Tut....if the adjacent properties have a lot of pressure before rifle season, but your property doesn't.....that would tend to push the deer onto your prorperty where they are not pressured at the time.

If there is a sudden drop in deer sigthings....consider what is going on within in a couple miles. Crop changes, timber cuts, etc. Deer can be pulled from a property by their bellies pretty easily.

About 10 years ago a place I hunted in KY had terrible deer sightings. It's 400 acres and usually great hunting. I hunted 2 weeks without seeing a single deer. There were a couple things. First no acorns, which were a major food source on the property. Second, the farmer running cattle usually has 30 or so acres in alfala, or wheat or something, but not at that time. Then the real factor, somebody finally tagged a deer and checked the stomach contents...it was filled with corn. Baiting is legal in KY and somebody down the road had a major feeding operation going on.

Everybodys going to have a bad year at some point. I haven't seen a single shooter buck this year. Got several in the freezer though so I won't complain. I also know it's time to change up my stand locations a bit.

Agreed, but this is a lot like spring turkey hunting and hunting pressured birds after they have been called to a lot. These deer got educated well before rifle season and basically went nocturnal. This is something we have never encountered before on this particular piece of property. We've also found 3 dead deer on our property. All bucks and 2 were killed during the early muzzleloader season, and one killed during the rifle season. All 3 were spike deer.

Huntingwhoas....I also hunt the NF in Augusta Co...this has been my worse year to see a deer in a long time..I have seen more Bear than Deer...I believe with lots of accorns, plus with lots of Bowhuntin (which I do), ML (which I do) and then Rifle season (which I do)....the deer lay up in day time and head out at night....plus not all of the accorn trees produce....just my opinion....And with the long season...not as many ppl in the NF at one given time to get them moving...just my thought....lets hang in there...