• Help Support TNDeer:

What is "Seeing a lot of deer?"

BSK said:
We track how often hunters hunt as well as how much time hunters spend on stand and deer seen to calculate both the percent of hunts (a "hunt" being any time a hunter climbs into a stand) with deer/buck sightings, but also the average amount of time a hunter has to hunt to see a deer/buck (deer/buck sighting rate). I suspect what we see on our hunting property is pretty far below what most hunters would find acceptable, even though our deer density is not that low. We simply have very low-visibility habitat, which means most deer sightings are very close-range. Even in a moderate density herd, if deer have to be "bow-range" close to see them, you don't see them very often!

Over the last 20 years, hunter sighting stats:

Hunts with a deer sighting: 44%
Hunts with an antlered buck sighting (any age): 23%
Average treestand time between deer sightings: 2.6 hours
Average time between antlered buck sighting (any age): 9.2 hours
Average time between 2 1/2 year-old or older buck sighting: 23.8 hours
Average time between 3 1/2 year-old or older buck sighting: 83.3 hours

How many hunters would be happy with these sighting rates?
Click to expand...
Wow!
I have been spoiled, bad!

But could work with that if quality was there.
 
BSK said:
Rageman's thread about having quality or quantity of deer got me to wondering, what is "a lot of deer" and what is "seeing a lot of deer?" Having a higher deer density doesn't always lead to seeing a lot of deer. Much can be dependent on visibility on a given property. But how often do you need to see deer while hunting to be happy with your hunting experience?
Click to expand...
I am a lot more flexible than my wife and kids, but a "good day for us" is 10-15 deer on our primary stands. Sometimes possibly the same deer multiple times, but can be hard to tell with does and sometimes even yearlings.

I would say the Wifey on average would say it was not a "good day" if she saw less than 3-4 deer.
 
BSK said:
We track how often hunters hunt as well as how much time hunters spend on stand and deer seen to calculate both the percent of hunts (a "hunt" being any time a hunter climbs into a stand) with deer/buck sightings, but also the average amount of time a hunter has to hunt to see a deer/buck (deer/buck sighting rate). I suspect what we see on our hunting property is pretty far below what most hunters would find acceptable, even though our deer density is not that low. We simply have very low-visibility habitat, which means most deer sightings are very close-range. Even in a moderate density herd, if deer have to be "bow-range" close to see them, you don't see them very often!

Over the last 20 years, hunter sighting stats:

Hunts with a deer sighting: 44%
Hunts with an antlered buck sighting (any age): 23%
Average treestand time between deer sightings: 2.6 hours
Average time between antlered buck sighting (any age): 9.2 hours
Average time between 2 1/2 year-old or older buck sighting: 23.8 hours
Average time between 3 1/2 year-old or older buck sighting: 83.3 hours

How many hunters would be happy with these sighting rates?
Click to expand...
WOW!

Does this include all times of year? September - January?

We hardly see bucks at all in September and early October. If you factor those hunts in during bow, our buck sightings wouldn't look much better than yours.

In primetime November, its not uncommon to see 5 or 6 bucks in a single sit here.
 
For me, a "lot" is some combination or balance between recent trail cam pics (where I'm hunting), the number of separate deer sightings while hunting, as well as what I "hear" while hunting. Sometimes I "hear" a lot of deer, without actually "seeing" any.

Then there are the issues of the type habitat being hunted, the food sources deer are primarily utilizing for the date being hunted, as well as the stage of the rut.

EVERYTHING needs to be put into some kind of balanced perspective.

I hunt a lot in some very similar "ridge & hollow" land to BSK's.
It would be extremely unusual for me to see double-digits of deer in an all day sit.
An average day would be more like two sightings, maybe hear a couple not seen.
But many days, no deer are seen or heard, especially hunting thick areas late season.

This year we may have had the largest acorn crop I've ever seen. That, and that alone, has eliminated much of the post-rut linear distance deer movement because those acorns are still available and apparently still "good". This has also caused any significant linear distance movement to become almost totally nocturnal. This is not a hunting pressure issue so much as it's an acorn issue.

Adding to my irony where I'm hunting near BSK, I no longer have an "acorn-driven" deer herd. These deer have excellent year-round food sources, and acorns are more just a "bonus". It's just that the deer prefer those native acorns more than our cultivated deer food plantings!

Also, many may not realize that acorns are typically very slowly digested, so deer can fill up at night, then lay bedded most of the next day with very little feeding. During the days of a great acorn crop, deer will often spend most of their days just "chewing their cud" from all the acorns they've filled up on during the previous night.

Making it even harder to see a deer for me now, they are often bedding & feeding on acorns in the same places, traveling essentially no where over a period of days. Get close enough to intercept their movements, you often get busted before getting on stand, then those deer just mover over a couple hundred yards and resume laying around chewing their cud.

There is also the issue of bucks getting back into bachelor groups, and doe families joining up together post-rut. This means there are a lot more eyes, ears, and noses likely to detect your presence before you detect theirs. They often just slip away before you see them, but they saw, heard, or smelled you first.

In more average acorn years, I can usually hunt just inside field edges post-rut, and see quite a few deer, sometimes double-digits in an afternoon. But not this year, never mind we have more deer than last year.
 
Last edited:
It's all realative to what I'm trying to accomplish and where I'm hunting.

For example in TN during the rut, I'm hunting doe areas. If I don't see 5 or 6 in a hunt, I'm disappointed. I'm expecting to be where the does are, and expecting bucks to be scent checking them. Sure, I sometimes see a buck crossing/searching with no does out... but that isn't the purpose of why I chose that stand that day.

Another example, we are still a week and a half out from breeding here in south MS. Yesterday I hunted downwind of a bedding area a small racked but mature 7pt lives in. I didn't expect to see ANYTHING, didn't see anything, yet I wasn't disappointed in the least. Where I was at gave me the best chance of killing a particular buck.

Now after going 3 or 4 hunts without seeing a deer, it's almost like subconsciously my confidence is shaken, and I'll hunt a high traffic spot just to see ANY deer. But I've been overly lucky so far in MS... ive seen at least 1 deer on about 50% of my hunts locally.
 
I rarely let one pass, so seeing one while I'm in the stand is good enough for me. If I don't have a shot I don't push it, and of course as I've said, spots get a pass, but otherwise I am not picky.
 
On our Hickman farm we have very low sightings due to terrain, timber and cover, on average probably 1-5 deer if you hunt the TVA lines or if the food plots actually grow something other than rocks that year.

On the other farm I predominantly hunt, I see on average 10-20 does and a handful of young bucks (under 2.5 yo) and occasionally see the older class on their feet in daylight. It has hundreds of acres of ag fields so not really a fair comparison.
 
BSK said:
Rageman's thread about having quality or quantity of deer got me to wondering, what is "a lot of deer" and what is "seeing a lot of deer?" Having a higher deer density doesn't always lead to seeing a lot of deer. Much can be dependent on visibility on a given property. But how often do you need to see deer while hunting to be happy with your hunting experience?
Click to expand...
BSK I think the answer to your questions are relative to the hunter. I'm happy with my hunting experience without seeing any deer to be honest. Each day that I get to be out there is a joy and how I choose to spend my free time. Is the hunt more enjoyable while seeing deer? Sure but if none are seen it doesn't mean I was unhappy with the experience. Now what I would consider seeing "a lot of deer" would be 10+ in a day, but like you said that is dependent on the property that you hunt. For instance, with public land around me, seeing any deer is considered defying the odds. I would say if I were to go into Foothills WMA or South Cherokee odds are that I won't see one especially without scouting. Now I can go to some private property that I have hunted in the past here and see more deer on a hunt that I have seen ever. Now none of those will be considered mature bucks, or maybe not even a buck period. Where as I travel to Middle TN and my buck sightings outnumber the does on the property I am currently hunting minus this year.
Back when I first started hunting, I was 10 and didn't know what I was doing. Now that was 25 years ago but I hunted for about 8 years before I killed a deer and had to go down to Alabama to do it. But overtime you learn, can afford better gear, and the population grows so the number of deer you see changes. The last hunt I went out I watched 6 does feed in the field within 30 yards of me on the ground for about 2 hours without busting me. I consider that hunt one of the most successful I've been on all year. That time they were in the field flew by because I had to watch my every movement. I like to keep as many does as I can in the area, so when the rut comes the more bucks will come into breed them. That may / may not be the right strategy buck I can get all the meet I need with my two buck tags.
 
I might can provide some different insight on this. I'm blessed to have access to some high density ag land. Seeing a lot for us is definitely 20+ a sit, and while it hasn't happened often this year due to the acorn crop, I've had a few morning hunts lately where I saw that many antlerless deer. After hunting this property for enough years now to learn it well, I'd trade it in a heartbeat for a farm with more cover, and more specifically, cover that creates or has terrain that creates funnels. Seeing a lot of deer is great, but we typically see very little rutting activity. Our best buck hunts are almost always early season when deer are still on a feed pattern.
 
Where I hunt in West Tennessee, if I go more than three sits without seeing a deer of any kind, it's worrisome. The habitat ranges from thick timber/grown up select cut ( in this case, they selected every oak six years ago), to small pastures that are always chest high in broom sage during hunting season.

During November there, it's a flurry of deer activity, and not unusual to see 6-7 bucks a day during searching and seeking phase.

December is some tough hunting, this year particularly. Seems I can't buy a doe. Usually they're grouped back up by now and the last weekend of season is a great time to get a couple. The pressure around us is usually heavy, and I'll purposely wait to take them, giving them some sanctuary there.

I don't think it'll happen this year. I suspect food problems above all else.

The public that I hunt in middle, lol, the last two years have been rough. I won't hunt it unless there's no other possible recourse. It can best be measured by number of hunters seen now, versus number of deer in a sit. Even in those hard to reach, out of the way, nobody-wants-to go-there hideyholes, somebody stumbles in holding their phone with OnX pulled up.

Don't know if that answered your question, but there it is! 😂
 
Last edited:
DoubleRidge said:
On a good day in November it wouldn't be uncommon to have 15 to 20 sightings...on a really good day 20-25 sightings.

BUT......in November we are sitting all day....AND....sitting on a utility line right of way.....thick cover on both sides of the right of way with various areas mowed and other areas grown up....small plots planted at various locations.... allot of diversity on purpose....from some stand sites you can see 100 to 200 yards in each direction....one stand site you can see 300yards.....so when the deer are moving....and your sitting all day....not uncommon to have high sighting rate.
Click to expand...
Very interesting.
 
BSK said:
Rageman's thread about having quality or quantity of deer got me to wondering, what is "a lot of deer" and what is "seeing a lot of deer?" Having a higher deer density doesn't always lead to seeing a lot of deer. Much can be dependent on visibility on a given property. But how often do you need to see deer while hunting to be happy with your hunting experience?
Click to expand...
Very true statement. I understand your habitat visibility statement. We had a lease in Giles Co. (93acres) with only one small field at the front of the property so really no fields to hunt basically. Although Giles is heavily populated with deer I think the most on one set I seen was probably close to twenty only one time that I can remember. With this said I hardly ever did a set without seeing deer but have before . Also the area was known for bucks , don't think I ever went a year without killing at least one buck most times multiple bucks . East Tennessee I seen one decent buck in the last four years and did see seven deer in one set which is very uncommon . Seeing a couple deer a set to me is ok but the more you see the better chance one may be a buck IMO . So I'll vote for quantity every time , them you can work on the quality given you have alot to work with .
 
Last edited:
BSK said:
Very interesting.
Click to expand...

We have stands deeper into the timber....in thicker cover....and when we sit those stands no doubt sightings are less with reduced visibility.....love the utility line right of way edge...plus the edge we create with bush hog and cultivated plots...where the known natural travel corridors intercept the utility line right of way is where sightings are the best.... certain terrain features play a part in that as well.....and like you....my observations and experience pertain to the month of November for the most part.
 
This is only my 4th season hunting so I still want to see a lot of deer. On my local public I see a least 1-2 deer 90% of my sits (I keep a journal). With 6-7 being coming about 50% of that time. Normally those are spikes and doe groups though. I could feel a change this year in being wiling to sacrifice deer numbers for quality. I only had one opportunity on a large buck (I missed) and it left me wanting more quality vs quantity.
 
1-2 deer every other day of hunting is a lot to me. I usually see 40-50 a season, with about 20 percent of those bucks. Only saw 12 this year, with 2 of those bucks.
 
A lot of deer is more than 10. If I go and don't see any I'm whizzed. The last week I was seeing tons of deer until the 70 degree weather hit. My best afternoon this year was 18 does and 9 bucks. This has been prolly my best year for seeing deer but I have not killed. My daughter has. She's hunted 3 times and seen 6 bucks and 2 of them mature and killed 1 of them. I have learned a good property with low pressure makes a ton of difference. That's for sure.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top