Here's mine...
Having a large storage cooler as we do, sometimes storing 500-600 deer, we are able to gauge the kill in our area by what comes into the cooler and listening to the hunters that bring deer.
First of all this has been an exceptional year for nice bucks, the overall quality is better than any year before. This was expected however with the tremendous mast crops we've had the past few years. We did not take in as many "Super Bucks" as we thought we might, only one in fact a tremendous 9 pt with 2 stickers that scored 199 3/8 using the VA scoring system - I'll post a pic later.
The doe kill was down, say what you will but this "Earn-A-Buck" system is not working. We averaged 5-6 bucks for every doe stored in the cooler.
As a whole hunters reported not seeing as many deer as usual. Mornings seemed to better hunting as it was much cooler than in the evenings.
Hunters said they heard less shooting this year. I know several times I sat on our place and only heard 1 or 2 shots and several times did not hear a single shot, one of those was the last evening of firearms season.
The 2nd week of firearms season was really slow here at the cooler. From the Friday after Thanksgiving thru the last day we only took in about 40 deer where we would normally take in 100 or more during that time span.
Deer donated to the Hunters for the Hungry program is also below average

But the dgif says the deer kill is up i think the numbers are up because people just call in does without shooting one that is why you see the 5-6 bucks in freezer if the does were shot to get all those bucks you would have deer hanging to march why are the numbers down for hfth if kill is up

I have seen a lot of does and like killing them, cant eat horns !!!........soooo y would they do that and Who is calling all them does in ?

I know no one on vaturkey would just call in does without shooting one.

Brian

Haven't hunted a whole lot here since M/L season came in (did see 3 bear the first day)...then my son and I cut out to Lodgepole, S. Dakota and scored on a good Whitetail and me with a good Mulie...hope to post some pic's later...but the deer huntin has been very few and far between here on the NT...

I ment to say here on the NF=National Forest....not the Nt...sorry bout that

There was something in the paper that HFH donations are down and it's attributed to the economy...more people keeping more of what they shoot or giving to friends.

I normally bring you several does Barry but since I now live in an urban area where I don't hunt I'm keeping what I shoot in Bedford for myself.

Was not saying that anyone on here would do it i love to shoot does will try to fill all my doe tags during bow season sometimes have one tag for the rifle i take my deer to another processer he is closer then barry he had told me back in muzzleloader 95% of the of the deer he took were bucks so far this year

Catfish, where do u take your deer I have been lookin for a place to take them close to home (stewartsville)

Doe numbers seem to really be down in the area I hunt in Hanover. The last few years you could kill a doe in bow, muzzle and the last thirty days of regular gun. This year it is antlerless all season, bow through gun (3+) months. Not saying it is a bad thing at all, but I am really starting to notice a big difference in the deer numbers. I noticed a diff last year but this year its very obvious. It seems like the warm weather made for a tough season too. That major week or so of chasing just didn't seem to happen in my area, although I may have just missed the best of it. It seemed more drawn out. Most of the buck activity that I saw on my trail cameras was the second to last week of Oct. through the first few days of Nov.

Some of your observations are interesting. I guess there are a multitude are reasons. Weather, warm, doe numbers are down, EAB not really working, or is it working and causing doe numbers to be down. It could also be people don't have the expendable income to pay for butchering. I do all my own, pretty much always have. When nickels count it is hard to pay someone to cut them up for you.

Hope the freezer picks up for you all Barry. I am sure if late season cools off it could get better. I am pretty excited about this weekend. Warm now, supposed to be colder this weekend. Yowsa!

Vic

Vic, we also store deer for hunters that do their own processing.

On our little farm in Giles County the kill was way down due to not seeing any deer. I can't comment on other areas but the deer population where we are at is way down. Fields that 3 years ago we could count 20 -30 deer in we managed to count only 8- 10 on a good night for the last 2 years. The sightings while hunting reflected that fact. If I had to rank it, the hunting season would be a nose better than the worst ever, last year.

Way down in our area of Shenandoah County (close to I-81). This farm normally yields about 19-20 deer killed per year. Most of those are does with an occasional nicer deer or a cull buck taken. This year the total was 9 which is the lowest ever. We attribute the decrease to increased hunting pressure on adjoining properties during muzzleloader season. One adjoining piece of property (about 5 acres) is located immediately adjacent to two sanctuary's we had established on our property for several years to give the deer some safe havens. We discovered by talking to the local processor that the folks hunting those 5 acres had taken 8 deer this year. We also found 3 dead deer on our property (all spike bucks) that were killed either during the early muzzleloader season or the two week rifle season. So in short, 11 additional deer were taken this season that would normally still be around for us to see/harvest during the two week rifle season.

PS. I'll say the guys hunting on the 5 acres have it made. They are situated on a wooded strip which acts as a funnel for the deer traveling from one sanctuary to the other. I think we will have to change our sanctuary locations next year and will probably make one more in the central area of the property where the deer can't be harvested by adjoining property owners and then place an elevated stand (or two) within our old Sanctuary areas.

It is down up here in NOVA too.. I blame it on that Full Moon phase right in the peak of breeding more than anything .. that and the number of Yotes now eating the fawns.. I have not seen near as many deer as usual this year..

Besides yotes, do u guys think the numbers are still down b/c of the horrible winter we had 2 years ago?