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2011 New Hampshire Deer Season

Buck Rogers — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:52:22 +0000

Planning your next dream hunt in New Hampshire? You may want to think again. New Hampshire is one of the most difficult states to hunt. Let’s put it in perspective with recent figures released by New Hampshire Fish & Game.

The current deer herd is estimated at about 85,000. With an estimated 60,000 hunters in the woods, the ratio is 1.4 deer available for every hunter. This year’s 11,167 deer kill was the highest since 2007. That means it took about 5.4 hunters to kill a single deer. One can also say, 82% of this year’s hunters went home empty handed. That number is probably higher since some hunters are fortunate enough to get more than one deer.

Granted these are rough deductions and somewhat silly. Will these results ever improve. Doubtful. The NH herd is limited by winter food sources. Cold winters also cut into the herd numbers. New Hampshire land owners can make a difference by planting natural winter food sources.

Soon I’ll add some infor comparing NH results with other eastern states like Virginia and New Jersey.

Food Plots

Buck Rogers — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:23:34 +0000

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Whitetail Books

Buck Rogers — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:18:26 +0000

These are some of my favorate whitetail hunting books.

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First Night’s Trail Cam Pictures

Buck Rogers — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:52:22 +0000

Hunting Videos from NH Fish and Game

Buck Rogers — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:08:02 +0000

Below are some nice deer hunting video posted on NH Fish and Game web site:

Bowhunting October Whitetails

Buck Rogers — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:26:22 +0000

The season is over and it’s about 20 degrees outside.Â A perfect Sunday to watchÂ Bowhunting October WhitetailsÂ starring Barry Wensel, Rick Blase, and Gene Bidlespacher.Â Â Â The DVDÂ was next onÂ my Netflix list.Â I liked the fact that both partÂ one andÂ two shipped on one disk, so I could finish both productions in one sitting.Â

It’s unfortunate that Netflix did not provide the “watch instantly” option for this DVD.Â The footage was shot in the late eighties with VHSÂ equipment and itÂ would have been well suited for streaming.Â Looking past the video quality, the movie makes some instructional points that still hold true.Â Â I found partÂ two to be more specificÂ about year round scouting tactics, tree stand location, shot planning and wind considerations.Â I also like that the terrain they hunt is somewhat similar to what we see here in New Hampshire.Â

These are obviously seasoned hunters and some of their techniques are not for newbie bow hunters like myself.Â Shooting at a runningÂ deerÂ that passes within ten yards seems right in the edge.

They end the production by listingÂ seven rules to help determine tree stand placement.Â As and African hunter still quite new to white tail hunting, the first rule made this worth the watch:

Rule number one. “Never hunt where the deer you want does not exists”.Â In other words, unless you know about a sizable buck in an area, your chances of success areÂ much lower.Â I spent myÂ first New Hampshire rifle season in new locations which I did not know.Â I ended up empty handed.

They go on to emphasize the importance of all year scouting with the other six rules.Â Rule two: never take a tree stand when scouting, rule three:Â never use hunting as a means to gauge a spot, rule four: better a poor tree in the rights spot than…Â Rule five talks about the 18 yard rule where a deer will often jump the string when they hear the bow before the arrow hits.Â They show a couple of good examples of misses that was caused by string jumping.Â Rule six coversÂ wind direction, and seven stresses the importance of having multiple stand location.

All in allÂ a nice production by some guys obviously passionate about bow hunting.Â I enjoyed it and would recommend it.Â Netflix has it.Â Check your library.Â Amazon also has a couple of used copies last I checked.Â