Good article on 1-buck harvest rules

[BSK]

This is a well-written, well-thought-out article on the strengths and weaknesses of a statewide 1 buck limit. I agree with the author that they can be very helpful in some regions, while not necessary in others:

https://deerassociation.com/should-every-state-have-a-one-buck-rule/

 

[TheLBLman]

Hot Off the Press!

Ironically, considering the other thread talking so much about the 9-point rule, the "author" is holding up 2 "trophy" bucks he killed on public land in Georgia in 2020, and the 7-pointer has a more impressive rack than his 8-pointer.
While both would be illegal under a 9-point rule.

 

[Dennis]

I'm not a fan of the one buck rule in areas with a healthy population. Because I think the actual biological impact of it doesn't justify the reduced recreational opportunities. I just don't think it's necessary. I am a fan of earn a buck however.

 

[TheLBLman]

Well written article.

 

[casjoker]

The article was a good read. I think the part that was not given enough attention was not having a rifle season during the rut, and the quality of soils/habitat.

 

[killingtime 41]

So Georgia has a 2 buck regulation but one of them has to be so many points. That's not a bad idea. I've never even considered that angle. Not sure if that would be good for TN. But if it was considered to be beneficial by biologists. I could get on board. You'd still be able to kill 2 bucks. Which hasn't been a problem for me anyway.

 

[megalomaniac]

A 1 buck rule is almost never necessary for a healthy deer herd (save for properties (usually public) with excessive number of hunters, or unusually low deer densities).

A 1 buck rule is almost always necessary to produce the greatest hunter satisfaction across the board from a group of hunters who hunt the same property and who desire to kill mature bucks.

A 1 buck rule can even become counterproductive if hunters refuse to shoot mature culls, not wanting to 'waste' their 1 buck on a mature cull.

This comes from decades of experience on hunting clubs and private properties... Mature bucks arent an unlimited resource. One or two members killing all the mature bucks while the rest go buckless (usually because the member who killed state limit is a better hunter and hunts more often) invariably causes a LOT of angst. All members are paying the same dues.

 

[TheLBLman]

This comes from decades of experience on hunting clubs and private properties... Mature bucks aren't an unlimited resource. One or two members killing all the mature bucks while the rest go buckless (usually because the member who killed state limit is a better hunter and hunts more often) invariably causes a LOT of angst. All members are paying the same dues.

Yes Sir. This is a very true reality.

Then there are some hunters who believe they're entitled to "kill the limit" because (in their minds) that's what they paid for. Therefore, the 1-buck limit can be the most logical simple way of having a more level playing field for everyone, regardless of their shooting/hunting skills and/or time they can be afield.

And, this is not limited to private clubs.

On many WMAs, an annual 1-buck limit may be more needed than most private properties. Most TN WMAs, in attempt to level the playing field for the most deer hunters, have eliminated "bonus" bucks, whereby any bucks killed on a WMA (including quota hunts) count towards the statewide annual limit.

 

[BSK]

A 1 buck rule is almost always necessary to produce the greatest hunter satisfaction across the board from a group of hunters who hunt the same property and who desire to kill mature bucks.

We've adopted your rules on my place Mega. We used to go with 2 buck limit but no yearlings. Now it's just one buck of choice. Don't care what age it is. And strangely, since we moved to that regulation, hunters have become much more focused on killing the oldest buck they can get a gun on. It's working out really well.

 

[megalomaniac]

We've adopted your rules on my place Mega. We used to go with 2 buck limit but no yearlings. Now it's just one buck of choice. Don't care what age it is. And strangely, since we moved to that regulation, hunters have become much more focused on killing the oldest buck they can get a gun on. It's working out really well.

Its amazing how well it works in building comraderie between the hunters.

Here on my lease in south MS, members are very secretive about the bucks they are hunting... until they kill their 1 buck... then they really bend over backwards sharing information with the other hunters who have not killed yet. Even though only 1 mature buck was killed on that 1000 acres (and 4 bucks TOTAL) our membership has very low turnover. Not a single member last year dropped out for this upcoming year... and its $1100 per year... not cheap.

On my properties in TN, we have hardcore hunters and those that only get to hunt 3 days in a year.... everyone is pulling for one another... but since I control everything about those properties, an additional rule is that ALL information is shared with everyone. There are no secrets, there are no individual trail cams. It works out really well. We ended up with 8 or 9 mature bucks from 80in up to 148in last year.... and not a single buck killed less than 4.5.

 

[Iroquois]

Great read. A lot to consider with all the variables involved.

 

[TheLBLman]

We've adopted your rules on my place Mega. We used to go with 2 buck limit but no yearlings. Now it's just one buck of choice. Don't care what age it is.

Very simple, fair, & effective.

My private club had a 2-buck limit for all the years the statewide limit was three. But as Megalomaniac states, mature bucks are not an unlimited resource, and even more rare are the mature bucks with above average antlers for their age.

A few years age we went with two-year buck limit of 3 bucks. If you kill 2 bucks one year, then the next year your buck limit becomes one. This has seemed to work almost as well as going to a 1-buck limit.

 

[BSK]

A few years age we went with two-year buck limit of 3 bucks. If you kill 2 bucks one year, then the next year your buck limit becomes one. This has seemed to work almost as well as going to a 1-buck limit.

Fascinating idea.

 

[BSK]

On my properties in TN, we have hardcore hunters and those that only get to hunt 3 days in a year.... everyone is pulling for one another... but since I control everything about those properties, an additional rule is that ALL information is shared with everyone. There are no secrets, there are no individual trail cams. It works out really well. We ended up with 8 or 9 mature bucks from 80in up to 148in last year.... and not a single buck killed less than 4.5.

Similar. My place is family land. Everyone comes in for opener of MZ season. Some will only get to hunt 5 days for the entire season. Earlier, I was very careful about the total buck harvest. I had found, through trial and error, that we could kill 25% of our entire older (2 1/2+) buck population without harming the buck age structure for the next year. So if we had 16 older bucks using the property, we could only kill 4. However, in the last few years, the older buck population has sky-rocketed, hence we don't have to worry so much (last year we had 39 older bucks). We are also VERY cooperative in our hunting. Everyone wants everyone else to be successful. I run all the cameras and post all the good buck videos on a family website, and give all the hunters a rundown of which bucks are being captured on which cameras. Not every hunter killed last year, but the three successful hunters each killed a mature buck, and each buck was that hunter's best buck of their career.

 

[Gravey]

1 buck would be ok with me as some years I don't even kill 1. This year we didn't kill a single deer off our our lease (830 acres). There are 7 of us but not a lot of pressure due to other demands on our time. My brother and I probably hunted it the most which was primarily muzzleloader and a couple weekends of rifle season. One guy didn't hunt at all and another a weekend maybe two. We have several cameras and all pics are shared with the group and we tell each other what we've seen. If a good buck is seen we try to put a tag on him and nobody cares who does it.

 

[Andy S.]

I'd be fine with a one buck tag regulation, but understand why others prefer two. Wanting/needing more than 1 TN buck tag is not the norm for me. I've punched two TN statewide buck tags in the same season just 2-3x over the last 22 years, and it has not been for lack of hours on stand. I mainly hunt alone, I'm pretty selective and I know the real work starts once I pull the trigger on a mature buck. With that said, most of the deer hunters I know, rather a veteran or newbie, are A LOT more selective, when compared to just a decade ago. Hunters voluntarily practicing trigger restraint without regulation has been the biggest difference in my neck of the woods.

 

[Ski]

I am a huge fan of one buck limit, no bait, no firearms during main rut, no crossbows during regular archery season, and limited lottery draw for non-resident hunters.

But im not in charge of anything.

 

[Griswold]

Not everyone has enough does to go the 1 buck limit and still fill there freezer, i know most that want the 1 buck could care less about people filling their freezers but we do. I can go a month on a couple properties here and see the same two or three does once or twice a month, while watching multiple bucks everytime i go. Im blessed to have other properties yhat have healthy doe numbers that can stand a little pressure but not everyone does. Earn a buck is a great way to ruin doe numbers and kill lots of little bucks that are left to rot.

 

[Jcalder]

Not everyone has enough does to go the 1 buck limit and still fill there freezer, i know most that want the 1 buck could care less about people filling their freezers but we do. I can go a month on a couple properties here and see the same two or three does once or twice a month, while watching multiple bucks everytime i go. Im blessed to have other properties yhat have healthy doe numbers that can stand a little pressure but not everyone does. Earn a buck is a great way to ruin doe numbers and kill lots of little bucks that are left to rot.

Those with a good population will never understand this.

Until there's a biological reason to change it I hope they leave it as is, but we've also seen those that whine the most get the regulations changed. Now people get to bait and use rifles for half of muzzleloader season.

 

[fairchaser]

The biggest reason to keep a two buck limit is not so you can kill two bucks but so you can hunt two bucks!

After you kill your target buck, are you fine for the rest of the season? Most hunters will not shoot that second buck but they want to hunt for that bigger buck just in case.

One way to manage that is to sell a second buck tag.

 

[backyardtndeer]

The biggest reason to keep a two buck limit is not so you can kill two bucks but so you can hunt two bucks!

After you kill your target buck, are you fine for the rest of the season? Most hunters will not shoot that second buck but they want to hunt for that bigger buck just in case.

One way to manage that is to sell a second buck tag.

That's pretty well how I do, when I have a target buck. Some years I don't even have a specific target buck. If I do kill my target though, my focus typically shifts to killing more coyotes, but if an unknown mature buck happens along i still have that option. With having my wife and son also hunting our small farm, I most often pass on my second buck unless I feel like it's worth the work.

 

[BSK]

Hunters voluntarily practicing trigger restraint without regulation has been the biggest difference in my neck of the woods.

I think this is true in many parts of TN.

 

[BSK]

Not everyone has enough does to go the 1 buck limit and still fill there freezer, i know most that want the 1 buck could care less about people filling their freezers but we do. I can go a month on a couple properties here and see the same two or three does once or twice a month, while watching multiple bucks everytime i go. Im blessed to have other properties yhat have healthy doe numbers that can stand a little pressure but not everyone does. Earn a buck is a great way to ruin doe numbers and kill lots of little bucks that are left to rot.

Right there with you Griswold. I spent years advocating for doe harvests, and practiced that on my land, until Earn-A-Buck on a neighboring Refuge wiped out the local doe population. We haven't made an effort to kill does since (although that may change soon, as doe populations have finally rebounded). Now Earn-A-Buck has its place, for areas with serious overpopulation problems. An area that comes to mind is The Nashville suburb of Hendersonville. Drive through neighborhoods there and you will see 20-30 does and fawns in people's yards. It's insane how many deer they have. A true problem.

 

[Andy S.]

.........but we've also seen those that whine the most get the regulations changed. Now people get to bait and use rifles for half of muzzleloader season.

He is a "bare feet wearing oxfords" legislator, far cry from a real hunter.

 

[Andy S.]

I think this is true in many parts of TN.

Agree 110%.

 

[TheLBLman]

Earn-a-buck also has no place on any weekend quota deer hunt. In the real world, it has created much higher risks of hunters being accidentally shot, and has tended to reward the dishonest hunters while punishing the honest hunters.

Having been involved in some earn-a-buck programs on public lands (3 different ones), I was shocked to see the level of risk-taking & dishonesty among many hunters. I believe the number of fictitious doe kills (hunters would simply use tele-check, and other means, to check in a fictitious doe kill) greatly exceeded the actual number of does killed.

On a private club, with an entire season to hunt, and with more control in accessing hunter integrity, it could be a tool in situations with severe deer overpopulation. But in most cases, all that's needed is encouragement to harvest as many or more female deer as males.

In cases of decent deer populations on public land quota hunts, I generally like deer limits such as "two deer, only one of which may be antlered". If the deer population is a little on the higher side, then "three deer, only one of which may be antlered".

And then, if greater buck age is a management goal on that public land, make all bucks count towards the annual statewide buck limit, even for quota hunts.

 

[hammer33]

There is an underlying assumption that old big bucks have more value than a young buck. Biologically this isn't true. Scooter the young scrub has the same genes as he does in 5 years with a big rack. So why the hype about a 1 buck limit?
Monetization.
A big beautiful rack is rare enough to have a psychological value that can be monetized through license fees, food plot seed, management consulting, lease fees, advertising, hunting shows/channels...... the entire hunting industry has jumped on the "bigger buck" bandwagon and is marketing that message in pursuit of $$$
One buck rule is similar to a psychological marketing tactic that is often used on gambling addicts. "somewhere out there is the One big score" If you haven't achieved that ephemeral goal, then you must keep pushing....Pushing yourself, the regulations, spend more on leases, seed blends, food plots, gear......
As soon as a big buck is killed, it is compared to all the other big bucks in the whole world......Now its inferior again so the only answer is to keep going......gotta get a bigger one next time.....Maybe more regulations, maybe a better lease, Maybe if that guy down the road hadn't killed that spike 4 years ago he would have been a booner this year that I could have killed.....

Look at how TNdeer has changed. 20 years ago there were LBL hunts, camp outs, and tons of discussion about deer hunting and having fun in general. Only a few guys a season killed whopper bucks and most of the photos were of "normal" deer. Now the bulk of discussion is about leases, big bucks, antler scores, food plots, buck limits. Many hunters are opting not to post photos of their kills for fear of being ridiculed for it not being big enough, and often a photo is prefaced by some sort of excuse or deflection.

 

[megalomaniac]

There is an underlying assumption that old big bucks have more value than a young buck. Biologically this isn't true. Scooter the young scrub has the same genes as he does in 5 years with a big rack.

Actually, no

A mature buck has MUCH more value to herd health than scooter the scrub 1.5y/o.

Having mature bucks in the herd suppresses breeding by the 1.5y/os, allowing them to focus on food during the rut, instead of running themselves down, often to the point where they never can recover later in life.

 

[bloodtrailing]

I think we need to value the does more.

 

[mike243]

The biggest reason to keep a two buck limit is not so you can kill two bucks but so you can hunt two bucks!

After you kill your target buck, are you fine for the rest of the season? Most hunters will not shoot that second buck but they want to hunt for that bigger buck just in case.

One way to manage that is to sell a second buck tag.

I reckon I am 1 of the few that doesn't run camera's and have no target bucks, trophy hunting will be the death of deer hunting at some point, let CWD get a good hold on a area and the numbers will drop starting with the older deer. Some folks want what other states have but there are more to that than deer limits or weapons imo.