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I had a great rifle deer hunt, 2 days hunting with my dad in the middle of the day (seeing a doe and 2 yearlings) then hunting with my dad and wife in the evening. It was warm enough out that my wife really enjoyed herself and we were not burdened by having to clean, skin and wrap a buck (read WE GOT SKUNKED) :). It was a great couple days out, we still have the bow hunt in the snow to look forward to.
I shot two but out of 5 I was the only one who saw anything
7 of us in the lower part of 47 near Maple Island had 21 sightings of deer. We really didn't start hunting till Thursday.
The camp south of us park their vehicles at a locals place and he said the deer there had a 2nd hard winter in a row. Right there we decided we wouldn't shoot does.
First 8 pointish buck is still running. Shell didn't fire and he was too startled for another shot.
2nd came up from behind my uncle on Thusday morning who had just crossed a beaver dam and moments later the buck came. He thinks we who were further up the trail put it up and it was going around us. He got it a 2.5 year old wide 7 pointer.
3rd buck on Thursday afternoon was big and no shot was taken. The guy who saw it said it should of came near me, but I didn't see it.
The 4th buck on Friday morning was the granddaddy of all bucks and the shooter only had 1 good shot and he missed.
That same fellow an hour later or less had a doe running hard pass really close to him. It was so close he could hear it labouring to breathe. Shortly after and about 80 yards behind was a single wolf.
Camp 7 had shots one day and the next night we could hear wolves in their area howling and even during part of the morning.
We found the remains of a dead bear. It was widely scattered and only hair and and a patch of hide was found.
There was tons of moose sign. Lots of raked up trees, but we only saw one cow.
The were a few tree rubs and very few scrapes.
I only saw 4 deer. A doe and fawn quite aways off on Monday morning. Had a doe sent over to me by my partner on Wednesday morning within 15 feet of me and she never saw me. Had another doe run broadside 30 yards to me Friday afternoon. Had 2 otters come within 15 feet swimming up to a beaver dam I was watching. Wish I had brought my shotgun as I could of shot grouse the first 3 days.
It was the quietest week of hunting in recent memory. Camp 7 had nothing midweek, camp 9 had seen 2 tails all week, camp 12 got 2 deer, and King Eddie only got 1 doe.
The bush was very dry. Not much water laying around. A lot of holes had nothing. Beaver ponds were all down. Our well had very little in it. Had very hard rain Friday morning and high winds. Later that morning we found many snapped off jack pines and aspen's.
As we never got any bucks last year, there as $24 in the pot. This year $28 was added and my uncle won first and biggest buck.
A friend was hunting in the very bottom part of 46 and they saw tons of does and fawns. Neighbour hunted the controlled hunt in 90A and they ended up with 6 for at least 14 guys. They saw less deer this year. Another friend who hunts near Cayuga ended up with 2 bucks for 3 people. They had over 20 sightings the first day.
Up in 82a and 84 we saw 13 deer and only got the three I shot. Nice days too be out walking in the woods though. That Friday morning though was just nuts with the wind and rain. Heard and found 7 trees snapped off at the base after the wind died down.
Spoke with the 'Hats for Hide' guy yesterday, this total is down almost 50%....less than 200 hides turned in.
Only one camp around here did well, with 6 deer for 10 guys. Everyone else only shot 1 or 2.
We doubled our kills over last year, we put up 2 Bucks with 4 guys...which statistically, make us one of the better camps :)
In 53A 8 guys hunting 300 acres - no shots. 3 Doe sightings, only one decent shot and passed. 7 Cameras running, maybe 1000 pics, as many as 4 does on a feeder at night. Not a singe buck pic.
We hunt 82A our gang of 6 guys and 2 gals got 3 does over 5 days of hard hunting 2 came on morning stands a 1 pushed out on a drive 7 other anterless deer seen and one young buck no shoots taken. We normally get 4-6 deer last year was 4 but 2010 back always 5 or more. Seems to be less deer around but i think the bucks are what is missing. I haven't seen one since 2013 in or out of deer season. Usually bump a few when grouse or rabbit hunting but haven't in the last 2 years? We do see fawns so there must be some bucks somewhere...
We must be in a hot spot of 47, not far from Restoule. 7 deer down after 4 days and seen another 8-10.
My friend and I got 2 does on the first day of our hunt on Wednesday. We were in WMU46. It was cool and pouring rain all day. There were no bucks to be seen. Only does. We saw 6 that morning.
Just returned from 47, 8 hunters, during the week we saw 2 does and 2 bucks. My grand daughter shot her first deer a nice 7 pt buck.on Saturday afternoon. Made her and her poppa very happy. You could say we were almost skunked, but not quite. old243