Well, I can say first-hand that this season is off to a poor start. I was out here in Northern Illinois on Opening Day and I saw just one deer — a doe cutting through a small glade — all day. Maybe it was the cold: It was in the single digits with the windchill factor. I spoke with several other hunters afterward, and they all asked the same thing: Where are the deer?
The weather wasn't bad. Other than the first hour of the day, I didn't see any all weekend, which I attributed to several missig neighbors, no one moving them around. Registration station looked down too. This confirms I wasn't just imagining it. Nice to see license sales up.
Michigan started the same way. Opening weekend was cold and rainy. didn’t see anything saturday, nothing sunday until almost dusk. and i’m one of the ones that usually has one hanging by 8am opening day.
but between the guys that come out to the property i hunt, and the early sept season we had, we’ve gotten 5 so far- that includes 1 each for the young boys who are finally old enough to hunt, and 2 for me.