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Where do they go!

Doubleaarc hery

Doubleaarc hery

New Member
Okay, I will get some pics up here in the near future, but Where do deer go!

I had a ton of deer on, or around my property until second season! I know they were pushed out by trespassers, and I am handling that. But I figured they would be filtering back in by now! I have been back to my land the last 3 weeks, and finally this week saw about 3 sets of tracks! I have 3 cameras out, one on a feeder and 2 over Corn dump piles! I am getting about 1200 pictures a week of squirrels, doves, crows, pheasants, bluejays, sparrows, woodpeckers, coons, rabbits, and more cardinal pictures than you could possibly imagine!! But in three weeks, over 4500 pictures, and not a single deer!
I know deer will herd up, but does there roam range shrink during the winter? I didn't know if this was common or not!

I went from 200 to 400 pictures of deer a week to Absofreakinlutely nothing over night!! Could those trespassers have pushed them away for the whole winter???

WTF!

Will my plots next year help keep them around in winter months?


Thanks for help or ideas, I am just lost!!
 
This happens every year in my area. This time of year 90% of the deer will be using about 10% of the land. They will be on a place where they have a good food source and aren't bothered. Sometimes these places are miles away! Many of these deer have moved because of shotgun drives and other hunting pressure, but mostly it ends up being a food and security issue. It's one of the reasons I don't bother shed hunting, my places are void of deer until they move back in the Spring. You'll notice when the weather starts getting better, you'll see more deer getting hit on the roads. Does return to their home ranges or look for new areas to drop their fawns. Yearlings get kicked away (especially young bucks) and may move to other home ranges also.

My 2cents.
 
I went out Saturday Jan 26th, and all the deer were gone from the place where I got the two-fer, however across the highway in that corn field I counted at least 15.

My neighbor also called me and said that the deer were out thick Saturday near my place.

I found fresh tracks all through my backyard where the deer where eating on my arborvidea trees.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: River Bttm Boy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> it ends up being a food and security issue. </div></div>

Security in multiple ways: shelter and lack of hunting pressure. With the negative temps and wind chills we had recently, many deer "yarded" up in the big thick timbers which weren't getting hunted. Take an evening drive past such cover that has an ag field next to it and you'll most likely see lots of deer.
 
Speaking of "yarding up"...

This gives a false impression of over population to a lot of farmers this time of year too.

Most of all the deer in my area are all keying on a Winter Wheat field right now.

My nieghbor is complaining about all the deer in his field all the time.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Doubleaarchery</div><div class="ubbcode-body">squirrels, doves, crows, pheasants, bluejays, sparrows, woodpeckers, coons, rabbits, and more cardinal pictures than you could possibly imagine!! </div></div>

Are you sure none of these were deer? /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
the deer defineately yard up by me. its not uncommon to see hundreds of deer in one area. GREAT FOR SHED HUNTING!
 
Andy I wouldnt worry about it. They moved out before you put your food out.

EVERY set of timber I hunt doesnt hardly ever have a single deer on it from shotgun till march. I have to drive around during second season and get permission to hunt because the deer simply dont stay where they were. a few of the farms are because of food sources and the rest are because they are public land and the deer just say screw it and bail after all the pressure. I would to...

The crazy thing is it seems like every year the deer change where they want to feed in Jan. I have never seen them in the fields they were hitting this year. they were going about 1 mile. CROSS COUNTRY in the wide open to get to their food source. All the deer harvest on my watch this late season were in the wide open.

I betcha if you get you food plots in and keep people out it will be different next year. But is your timber thick enough for the deer to stay in it when there is an inch of ice on the grounds and 1 foot of snow??
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">This gives a false impression of over population to a lot of farmers this time of year too.
</div></div>

I always wonder how much that has hurt the Iowa deer control issue. It's got to be a big misconseption IMO. I know it is around the city. I hear people talking on a regular basis this time of year about the high numbers of deer they are seeing. I always try to explain that they are seeing numbers coming together from large areas. I've noticed to most people, a dozen deer are "to many". /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif
 
Andy, I have been watching the deer in my area for years. All of the deer in my area actually move about 2 miles away from their homestead and hang out in an area along the bottom of the Des Moines River where there is a lot of winter wheat and picked and standing corn. Every night like clock work you can watch anywhere from 50 to 100 deer in one field. Same field every night. I can go walk through my timber and honestly not see one deer track. This time of year the deer in my area "herd up" on one of the neighbors farms.
 
I get tons of trail picture up until they plow the fields under. Nothing left for them to eat after that.

Then get very few after that. They all move to another food source. Another property or two over.
 
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