Great introductions guys.
I’m John and I’m located in central CT. I hunt mostly state forest land that’s a mix of mature hardwoods with thickets of mountain laurel under the canopy, and with some other areas of lowland swamps. The deer are definitely pressured by a good number of hunters in the state forests that I hunt. My scouting finds most of the sign in areas that are much too thick to make a quiet approach - thickets of laurel that require you to get down on your hands and knees to crawl, and swamps that require hip waders to explore or get across. Basically places where few hunters will go and no one can sneak up on the deer - if you try you’ll hear them blow and exit the other side of the laurel or swamp.
I find tons of droppings in the state forest mountain laurel thickets - and most of those thickets cover dozens of acres. I mostly set up on the edges of those areas where I find a good scrape or rub line and wait in ambush. Being elevated is essential in the laurel or your line of sight is really limited.
The trees around here are mostly white oak, hickory, and ash, but there’s some red oak, maple, and occasional beech trees too. There aren’t a lot of pines in my area of the state.
I started placing some trail cams on public lands around me in August and I’m getting a decent number of pics … mostly does, a few four and six pointers with an occasional small eight pointer. I haven’t located any impressive bucks so far.
Opening day for archery deer season in CT was this past Wednesday. I’ve done two evening sits so far with no shot opportunities. For my area, the heat and humidity have both been too high. Like elk yinzer, I dislike hunting when it’s over 70 degrees, but I’ve gotten out there regardless. The weather forecast indicates my area won’t cool down to 70 degrees before Friday.
I’ve seen white oaks absolutely raining acorns this week. With all the oak stands in these parts, that means the deer can feed almost anywhere they want. I’m not used to the mast dropping this early here - it seems about a month early. I think it’s because of all the rain we’ve had all summer long, which is very unusual for my area.
That’s all for now - good luck and happy hunting!