How many days do you rifle hunt specifically for deer in your home state?

[fishing4sanity]

I should have started at zero. My bad.

Don't worry about me, I hope I'm one of the very few that fit that dismal category.

 

[Farmerj]

Don't worry about me, I hope I'm one of the very few that fit that dismal category.

Unfortunately, you’ve got company

 

[Jason73]

If I could draw a tag.....

 

[Hammsolo]

I have started analyzing the data a bit. (This is not a valid Scientific study, but it is interesting data to ponder)
61 totals voters as of now
25 hunt 10 or more days (41%)
36 hunt 9 or less (59%)
24 hunt 5 or less (42.6%)
7 hunt 2 or less (11.5%)

I will need to do some digging into the thread to figure out median, mode, range, and statistically relevant trends. I wish I could have had more than ten possible responses. I also now see how I could have tweaked the question, and possible follow up questions.

A few quick observations are that the majority hunt less than 10 days, and that more of us hunt 5 or less days than over 10. After reading some of the comments, most of the +10 category are hunting whitetails predominantly and not in what most think of as “traditional mule deer state.”

I’ll dig into this more tomorrow.

 

[F250]

0 days this year as I shot a 4X5 buck during archery season. We are only allowed one buck per calendar year now. I have access to a really great property, and I'm usually tagged out within a couple days here.

 

[gwhunter]

In Michigan our Rifle season runs Nov 15-30. And then we have a muzzleloader season in December. For my count I lumped the number of days hunting both. Because the season falls on Thanksgiving I normally hunt the opening weekend and then again on Turkey Day and the 3 days after. Then normally 2 weekends with the smokepole.

But then again, I usually double my time in the woods with a bow in hand. I don't normally take days off work to rifle hunt deer, but will take a couple of ideal weather days off during the span of Nov 5 through Nov 10 to catch the peak movement periods of the rut in Michigan. Our Michigan Archery season runs Oct 1 through Nov 15 then again from Dec 1 through Jan 1.

 

[TOGIE]

i voted 3 days.

i've shot 4 mule deer in colorado and they all were shot 2 or less days into the season. so this year i spent 3 days hunting deer. because i did a buck hunt that lasted 2 days and a separate doe hunt that lasted 4 hours, which counts as a hunting day in the statistics as i understand it.

several caveats there. the big one is i'm a newer hunter, just completed my fifth season of big game hunting. that is relevant because i'm very much not yet the type to pass on a deer I find, and finding deer is too damn easy, frankly.

the twist is that i want to hunt deer for more than 2 days, more for the personal gratification of the hunt than anything else, just utilize more of the season adventuring. i could generally never hunt deer for longer than 16 days here by having a buck and doe tag covering two different seasons.

for us colorado folks hunting mule deer in the regular west of i25 rifle seasons, one deer hunt will always be between 1 and 9 days.

 

[thusby]

About 3 days of the 9 day season

 

[Bux_N_Beards]

Probably skewing the results being in the Southeast hunting whitetails in a state with a 3 month long season and sometimes hunting a neighboring state with a 4 month long season. Seasons in both areas of my home and neighboring state are either sex during that entire time period, 3 does a day locally for a bag limit, 2 bucks a year. As if that wasn't enough, with CWD they're allowing even more, plus exemptions for landowners to take unlimited harvest outside of normal season. Our deer don't catch a break.

 

[Islander]

2-3 nights sitting in the stand gets me deer. Sometimes a buck, but I'm not picky.

 

[oldillini]

Voted a "1" only because there was no zero. Only bow hunt whitetails here in Indiana. More than 30 days of archery hunting normally, but retiring in a couple months, so that may increase.

 

[Mallardsx2]

We typically kill 4 deer in Georgia per year. Sometimes less, sometimes more, depending on if we get an elk or hunt other states.
We are pretty selective in what we shoot so the season kinda drags on for us.

We dont just kill deer to say kill them....And that happens a lot more than people think.

 

[drexal]

In Georgia, rifle opens mid to late October and runs through the second weekend in January. I hunt the first 6-7 days after opening depending on rut activity. Then I hunt a couple of three-day public land draw hunts (one in Nov and one in Dec). Sprinkle in a few hunts in between and I'm probably hunting around 20 days.

 

[Skynard]

In Louisiana, we can hunt around Oct. through Jan. 31 with a rifle depending on where and what kind of rifle you use.

 

[buck23]

Spend a lot more than 10 days hunting NC and VA. for deer but mostly just looking for them instead of shooting them. As I've got older just don't shoot as many anymore but still get a couple bucks every year.

 

[Lyfter1013]

I put 10 days plus, some years I don’t hit 10 days but for the most part I usually do even if it’s just taking my dad out driving around. Im In California by the way

 

[Jamen]

I've had 2 rifle tags the last 14 years in ND. 4 days for each of the last two hunts. Bow hunting different story i had over 60 days this year lol

 

[7mm08mo]

I usually hunt at least morning or evening of every day of Missouri’s 11 day rifle season. Weekends are both and during the week it is one or the other depending on weather and my schedule and gut feeling.

 

[88man]

what is the definition of a hunting day?
? dark to dark?
Dark til noon?
Noon til dark?
last 2 hours of the day?
first 2 hours of the day?
at hunting camp all day never loaded a gun?

 

[Islander]

In Louisiana, we can hunt around Oct. through Jan. 31 with a rifle depending on where and what kind of rifle you use.

Oh yeah? In South Carolina you can hunt with any rifle from Aug. 15 - Jan. 1. Checkmate.

I still only hunt a few days a year, because once I get my freezer full, I stop hunting deer.