Bill Cochran Field Reports: Sorting out the ups and downs of deer hunting
roanoke.com
The deer kill in Virginia is down 16 percent, or 20,700 animals. The rut has been weak; the hunting pressure light; the acorn crop heavy; the quality of bucks so-so; the number of deer spotted disappointing.
That’s what hunters are telling me. I asked four of them to brief me on how their season is going:
I am a woods hunter more than a field hunter, and this was the year to be in the woods. The places I hunt had heavy mast crops and the deer really keyed in on that.
I saw several good bucks this year and was blessed to take one of them while he closely followed a doe.
I haven’t really taken advantage of the Sunday hunting law, but I have friends who did and it increased their success.
The rut seemed a little earlier to me this year. My encounters with bucks on the move seemed about a week ahead of most years.
Chris Vaughan
Hunts Bedford County
This has not been a good season for me so far. I guess I got spoiled last year when I was seeing a lot of deer each day, mostly in green fields since there were no acorns.
That is not the case this year and I am finding it very hard to see deer. The ones I am seeing are does and fawns. I killed my second deer a couple days ago, and that’s the total. By this time last year, my buddy and I had killed seven.
As far as the rut, what rut? I have not seen any bucks chasing does. There is a real good 10-pointer on the farm that I hunt, but he is only showing up on the trail camera in the middle of the night.
John Wright
Amherst County
I would sum up the 2014 hunting season thus far as “unpredictable.” It has been hit or miss for most folks. One day, the deer movement is good, and next day, nothing.
The heavy mast crop makes the deer harder to find, since they move far less and you see fewer in the fields.
Most hunters have experienced a “trickle rut,” observing chasing as early as bow season and throughout rifle season, but no real consistency from day to day.
The weather has been very accommodating for the most part. This was the coolest bow season I can recall in the last decade, and the cooler temperatures have continued.
Sunday hunting is reported as a definite plus by most hunters, especially those who work Monday through Saturday.
Jeff Phillips
Host of www.coloradotwinpeaks.com
(Readers of Phillips’ blog contributed to his report)
What kind of season has it been? Terrible; the worst in 20 years. I have spent tremendous time in my stands and have only heard one shot in the last 3½ weeks, and I have dog hunting clubs all around me. Something is surely wrong with the deer herd, and it isn’t the fact that there are too many acorns this season.
I saw one buck running a doe on the opening morning of regular season, and that was it as far as the rut. I never saw a buck worth shooting. I would say that 99 percent of the bucks were nocturnal, as also were the does based on what I saw with my five trail cams.
Sunday hunting was a positive. The best day for me seeing deer was a Sunday afternoon when I saw 22.
Elly Robinson
Star City Whitetails thanks Bill Cochran for letting us share his report.