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Deer behind every tree

Lundy

Member
1,307
127
Or at least you would think so.

I drove down to Athens County today to pick up my deer summer sausage from Wood Road Smokehouse this morning.

It was around 10 AM when I arrived and there were a lot of deer tracks in the snow everywhere and I saw a lot of deer for the next couple of hours, especially considering it was mid day.

I saw 12-15 deer and 4 bucks still wearing their headgear as I was driving around.

Maybe they were all just out because the weather finally warmed up a little.

I KNOW for sure the population is down overall in the area I hunt in Athens, but it would have been hard for me to convince a non believer of that today.
 

Lundy

Member
1,307
127
I almost forgot, there were coyote tracks everywhere also and saw one standing in an open field 50 yd off of the road around noon.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
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Glad you saw some deer, Lundy. That always makes a nice day. Under the same circumstances, instead of 15 you'd have likely seen 30 a decade ago. Still, 15 is quite a few deer! It isn't all doom and gloom, but it sure would be nice to see the DoW get serious about pulling back the reigns a little vs continuing the drive to kill em all.
 

Fullbore

Senior Member
6,439
126
South Eastern Ohio
I remember about 7-8 years ago on my way home from work. I counted over 100 deer from the Athens city limits to Amesville. There were deer everywhere and Rt. 690 was polluted with deer. This was after deer season.
 

brock ratcliff

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Supporting Member
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Before the first Strouds outting, Mason and I went down to Mrex's to set a stand and have a look around. While driving around looking at deer, Mason would squeel when Mrex would continue driving as we passed deer. He wasn't used to seeing them! :). After 30 or so, he allowed Mike to continue driving - slowly. We saw 79 that evening. Mason thinks Athens is heaven. Its sad to think when we moved to our current residence, I could drive around to view deer most any evening but now rarely see them. Its all good, at least my hunting holes have treated me well the last two seasons.
 

Lundy

Member
1,307
127
It wasn't so much seeing deer, it was much more about seeing them out in the open mid day and actively feeding in the wide open spaces, even the bucks.
 

Gordo

Senior Member
5,515
121
Athens County
Mason thinks Athens is heaven. .

Kids got it all figured out!

I do alot of driving all around athens county and always see shit tons of deer. 10 + years ago my head really wasnt in the right place to know what the population was around this area to compare to now. Its hard for me to imagine there being that many more deer then there are now in this area.
 

bluedog

Junior Member
The cold weather and snow cover of the past week as made deer watching quite enjoyable on my farm. We have regularly been seeing anywhere from 6 to 17 nearly every evening since ML season ended. But the cold this week has them yarding up big time. Wednesday night I counted the most I have counted in one field (since last spring) and that was 35 deer. Last night I got to 30 deer before it got dark. About 8-10 years ago when the population was at it's highest, one late February evening I counted over 60 deer in that field. That was WAY too many. I'm still concerned that between our farm and the neighbors' farms that we might not have taken enough out of the population during hunting seasons to scale back the deer crop damage we had last year. I think we will be OK, but time will tell. It sure is fun to watch them though.
 

Lundy

Member
1,307
127
Its hard for me to imagine there being that many more deer then there are now in this area.

The 4 bottom fields, along one of the county roads. MREX knows where this is, where I hunt it was very common to see 50-60 deer at a time in them 10 years ago. Now a good evening there are 10-15. They have moved on or just don't exist anymore.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
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5 years ago I explained the difference in our areas. Around here, a good night of viewing would yield 20 deer. Now, we are lucky to see three or four during an evening drive. If you are used to seeing 20 deer in a field, and you only see 10 now, would you really notice the difference?

This area is made up of a lot of agriculture and a little cover. When I first moved here, you would run deer out of nearly every piece of cover you walked into. Now, you may walk through little pockets all day long and not see a deer. Joe can verify this as he was present one day a few years ago when about 10 of us got together to do drives. We did not see a deer until close to 5 pm. We did not even stop for lunch. Total sightings for the day; 3. Times have changed. With that said, the last three days I've seen 6-8 around 4pm in the field behind my home. They are apparently happy to see the weather starting to break too.
 

jlane

Junior Member
523
0
dunn nc
i have a ?, with the lower numbers, do you see bigger bucks or are you seeing about the same size bucks ,i know in the carolinas the larger the popolation the bucks gets smaller,maybe with the coyotes we will see a big decrease in numbers and a increase in antlers
 

Gordo

Senior Member
5,515
121
Athens County
The 4 bottom fields, along one of the county roads. MREX knows where this is, where I hunt it was very common to see 50-60 deer at a time in them 10 years ago. Now a good evening there are 10-15. They have moved on or just don't exist anymore.

I believe it.

I lived on CR 24 for four years. 2004-2008. Thats when i began hunting again after college. I was sold on renting the place once i knew of the land that came with the rental.

Me and my now fiance used to drive the area at dusk religiously. That whole area along the entire river was absolutely loaded with deer. Ridiculously loaded.

I still am out that direction often, and its not like it used to be in terms of numbers. I guess i have noticed the decline.

There's abother spot i could drive to any evening and see 40+ at one time without trying. Whenever i see that many, the first thought that crosses my mind is how those deer need to be thinned out.

For the spot your talkin about, would you rather have it like it was ten years ago, or like it is today? Or was the sweet spot somewhere in the middle?
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
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i have a ?, with the lower numbers, do you see bigger bucks or are you seeing about the same size bucks ,i know in the carolinas the larger the popolation the bucks gets smaller,maybe with the coyotes we will see a big decrease in numbers and a increase in antlers

The last time I spoke with Tonk he mentioned this. He said that for years now Ohio's buck mass measurements have started to decline. He thinks that a lower population will provide more food and nutrition for the bucks an make them bigger.

The problem I have with that is if you kill a bunch of the does you reduce the buck population also through less births. There are less bucks around and just as many hunters. while they may have the potential to get bigger through nutrition, there are less of them total around and just as many hunters. Which means even less of them will reach 4-5 years old.

Unless the number of hunters drops the same percentage as the number of deer I don't see this less deer makes bigger deer theory working. The thing that made Ohio's bucks great besides genetics and nutrition is the population size combined with short gun seasons and a 1 buck limit. This allowed a good number of bucks to make it to older ages. With less bucks and the same seasons and hunters you'll have less bucks reach older age. I don't think increased nutrition will overcome that enough to end up with a positive gain.
 

brock ratcliff

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I'd really like to know if there has been a uniform system of measurement on those supposedly shrinking young antlers. I'm willing to bet the way of measuring has changed far more than the actual size of pedicles. Perhaps they were once "rounded up" and are now "rounded down". The idiotic things the DoW has done and are doing... I just have less and less faith in their conclussions.
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
This allowed a good number of bucks to make it to older ages. With less bucks and the same seasons and hunters you'll have less bucks reach older age.

Add to that a check system that doesn't require an inspection of the carcass. it's too easy to kill a small buck, toss the rack along with the bones and hide, call it in as a doe, and head back out with a buck tag intact.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Add to that a check system that doesn't require an inspection of the carcass. it's too easy to kill a small buck, toss the rack along with the bones and hide, call it in as a doe, and head back out with a buck tag intact.

Same as before though. They just didn't bother to check it at all back then.