I didn't. Most of the people in my area weren't successful for the opener. I'm a beginner, but I saw a lot more bear activity than I did deer. On a couple occasions, I found some fresh deer pellets and would follow them only to find even fresher bear scat. I feel like I could have hunted a better region of the Blues, but I was only there for a short time. I'm going to try somewhere else next weekend and hope that I don't get skunked for my third season of hunting.