• Help Support TNDeer:

Frustrating not seeing deer

Several things to attempt. One- quit putting out scent. Two- watch how you go to your spot. If you drive a 4 wheeler in, walk. If it is through a bedding area, change your approach. Three- if the blind is not out there 24/7. Put it out and leave it or move to a climber. These all should help with seeing more.
 
Speedwell-Hunter said:
Thanks for this

Also the blind has been there since Turkey season , months


And ya this is hard , it's wearing on me

How often you hitting the woods Calder ?
Click to expand...
From no Nov 13 thru thanksgiving day I hunted everyday day, with about half of those being all day sits. Skipped thanksgiving and hunted that Friday. Hadn't been back till today. Cameras are dead and I just don't think they're using. But I know of 2 solid bucks that were killed my area this week. So I'm hoping, something has made it thru to this point and will come back to my little area. I'll probably just hunt saturdays until it picks up and around Christmas to New Years I'll possibly take off that week, or just half days and hunt every evening. My place usually cools down between muzzleloader and mid December. Historically, late December I'll get some good activity. Just gotta be here when it happens cause it's not everyday.
 
Remington700 said:
Several things to attempt. One- quit putting out scent. Two- watch how you go to your spot. If you drive a 4 wheeler in, walk. If it is through a bedding area, change your approach. Three- if the blind is not out there 24/7. Put it out and leave it or move to a climber. These all should help with seeing more.
Click to expand...
The approach is a big one to consider.
 
Stop using scent, make
Yourself scent free as possible and wind should
Always be at your face. Thermals go up even when there is no wind. So like for me yesterday I was not concerned much with the north face of ridge while hunting low. I was concerned the wind and thermals were not going into the thicket between me and corn field.
930 am yesterday had deer chasing doe no big mature bucks but the wind direction was correct.

They never new I was there. I put meat in the freezer.

I have been hunting hard since Muzzle load and have seen very few deer. Then yesterday it came alive for me. Saw a nice buck 2 hours later while I was cleaning my deer. Hope to get my son on it.

Time spent in the woods and patients, trust me I was frustrated too, especially with the amount of time I have been in woods.I had to stop worrying weather I was going to see deer or not. I had to go back and enjoy myself being in the woods.

Take the pressure off!
 
Also if you had corn out all summer long consistently and then you stopped they went from an easy food source to another food source.

They will come back
 
After several years of hunting from a Ground Blind without success. I changed my set-up this year. They will see your blind and know it hasn't been there. I set it in Sept. and didn't return to the area till M.L. opened. Just moving around checking your camera's can put them on edge. In the past I've brushed it in trying to hide the blind. . This year It's sitting in a Clump of trees. 1 Holley , 1 Cedar, and a Oak. . I set my chair with my back against the Oak tree. They can see thru netting as easily as you when it's stretched out. Try bunching it up some. Love having deer walk by so close now. 2 8pt's and a doe this year from the ground has been exciting. I never hunt it more than a few times a week.
 
Are you hunting the same blind every time? It is always helpful to let a stand or blind rest for a while. I have areas with multiple stands set up that let me cover that area in different wind, but it also lets other stands rest.
 
Keep at it …..

in Unicoi you can go a season and not see a single deer
last year I saw a total of 2 while on stand.

try a few of just get in and don't use any scents
sit and wait
 
Been there. Tried all sorts of things scent-wise and nothing worked for 6+ years. Shot my first deer only in the 7th year of hunting, from a blind I popped up at random at 7am in a new-to-me hunting property. Last year (8th year), I shot 3 including my first buck and saw plenty of deer that I let walk. This year, had 12 sits and saw deer only twice. One didn't present a shot and the second was a yearling...this year deer sighting has been bad for me.

Keep trying and you will eventually figure it out...
 
One of the worst times of the year for deer activity in middle TN. Don't get discouraged. I didn't see a single thing either this morn.
 
As others have said, this time of year is usually slow. That coupled with an extremely heavy mast year for most of the state has plenty of food on the ground for deer to eat. Just takes patience.

Good thing you weren't deer hunting in the early 1970's. I went 3 years in a row before I ever saw a deer in the woods. That was from archery season til the end of gun.

Good luck to you.
 
I've been there man. If you're getting them on camera but never seeing them in person... the x factor is you. Meaning, they are either seeing, hearing or smelling you walk in. Change your access if you can and definitely try a different spot. I've all but quit hunting from the ground, I've never had much success. Being up in a tree is WAY more forgiving.
 
Make a ground blind opposite your other blind and see if that makes a difference. Quit spraying that crap too.
 
Do you leave the windows up when you aren't hunting and open them when you do hunt? I can tell you deer will absolutely spook at that blind if they are used to seeing it with the windows closed and then they see it with the windows open. I would leave the blind exactly the way it is when you hunt.

I'm not a fan of blinds in the woods. Tree stands are overwhelmingly the most effective method for seeing and taking deer in eastern US hardwoods.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top