What Can "Kill" a "Spot"???

[Deep C]

I kid Deep Deckhand about a lot of stuff but hunting he's got game... I guess about seven years back he got owner permission to hunt a section of Jersey suburban woods that has provided a steady stream of back strap as long as he and a select couple of us have worked it...
Me I suck with a bow so my kill rate hasn't been the best in there but almost every trip I have seen deer and most of them where a good bow man could take em pretty easy. Most any time I have been in there with him or him and his cousin somebody comes out with meat.

Then we get to this year... Lots of good prep... Mountains of apples distributed... All the pieces in place except one... Deer?
Im talking about not just meatless hunts but no sightings even... For him six blanks running and I did my first run at it also with a blank...

That leads to the question... Why? What could kill this great spot from consistently one of the most productive places I know of to barren waste land? Acorns thick on the ground. The usual squirrels working them over... Plenty to eat... Apple pile not even disturbed. I did notice more chipmunks than I have ever seen in there along with groundhogs that I never saw there before... Can their presence have something to do with it?
I know from time to time guys sneak in surrounding access points and on occasion either blow the deer out or get them edgy. Even at that though we at least see some... No fresh worn path or good sign or even tracks. I just don't get it?

[rarhomes]

Apples ? I have seen deer turn inside out over apples if they are not use to smelling them.

Also if you are a having big acorn crop deer can go anywhere they want and they don't need to move very much once they find their favorite side dish - corn, soy beans, alfalfa etc.

Plus it's hotter than shit a they just aren't movin.

Good luck,

Capt Rick

[Deep C]

No farms up here... No soy and the only corn is next to the apples... We're in full swing fall change with patchy frost here already... All the ingredients except the deer.
Over here on my side of town they have been working mid day on the lawns. Construction, leaf blowers, landscapers, don't seem to phase em. Hell, me pulling into the driveway seems to be a reason for them to gather around and taunt me...

For me it sucks... I took the splurge to get a crossbow, which became unilatterally legal this year here in Jersey... Feels kind of weird sitting with one in hand instead of the bow or the blammerator. I'm anxious to see just how it stacks up...

[Joey Herring]

Deep....I think that the heavy mast crop may be your problem. gGive them a couple weeks and see what happens.

[weekender]

without knowing the area, it's a tough guess but here is mine. Where ever the deer bed has been disturbed. Maybe it was a ticket that has been cleared, maybe a field or powerline that has been mowed. If they haven't been killed, then something pushed them out. Trespassing in a deer's bedroom is a sure ticket to "elsewhere".

[Deep C]

Words of wisdom... All possibilities... keep on bringing the maybes boys...

[gottaflylee]

Best thing I know of to kill a Spot is a 100 yards of 1 & 3/8 mesh...

[Joey Herring]

Best thing I know of to kill a Spot is a 100 yards of 1 & 3/8 mesh...

good one!!

[Deep C]

Best thing I know of to kill a Spot is a 100 yards of 1 & 3/8 mesh...

Now dog gone it Lee, I'm gonna be in your neck of the woods in a week or two and we're gonna have to talk...

I know you got your spots but our "spots" are a little different...

[gottaflylee]

Now dog gone it Lee, I'm gonna be in your neck of the woods in a week or two and we're gonna have to talk...

I know you got your spots but our "spots" are a little different...

Looking forward to seeing you here... Time to go play...