To be sure, I'm not advocating that inferior 2 year old bucks be killed or even removed from protection, I'm just interested in hearing the arguments for an against. Keeping the breeding season compressed is definitely a good thing, and I think that is one way that we are lucky, as I mentioned earlier.
This has been a frustrating year for me as far as antler development and buck sightings go. If you notice the pics I posted earlier, that was from the '13 and 14 seasons. We had drought conditions and no acorns in '13. None of my bucks seemed to put on any growth in '14, and that's understandable due to the tough year before. But now we've not had drought and had plenty of acorns and soft mast in '14, 15, 16 and 17. Yet I am seeing more poorly developed bucks this year than I have in years, and no great ones. I had several mature deer that made it through last seasons, and I can't track them over to this season either because they're not here or the racks not recognizable....I suspect it's a combination.
I was expecting this to be a great year. But I have seen virtually no bucks 2 or older while hunting. A couple dozen yearlings, and a ton of does. The yearlings slowly disappeared through 2 week rifle season and no doubt many have been killed. Saw zero rutting activity from the stand this year. It seems the rut was late and mostly at night. I had hot does in the vicinity of my cams three times this year at night, and got lots of photographs during those events. But none of this played out during the days I was hunting.
The strangest day for me was Nov 10th. I sat the whole afternoon in my best stand. Saw 2 doe/fawn groups move through, one with 5, the other with 7, and one lone buck cruising. I shot a mature doe out of the first group. Very strange to see them grouped up that early.
Anyway, I am still getting night pics of some of these not so great 2-3 year old bucks, rifle season's over, so most of them should be around next year.
Also for the record, I shoot my share of does every year...at least 3 up to 7 every year. I do think a reduction in overall deer numbers would be helpful for the deer here. Also, the 160 acre property next to mine is brown it's down...they have told me they shoot average of 25 deer a year with 7 guys hunting. The last time I talked to the owner he said they had never taken a buck over 110", but that was a few years ago.
This has been a frustrating year for me as far as antler development and buck sightings go. If you notice the pics I posted earlier, that was from the '13 and 14 seasons. We had drought conditions and no acorns in '13. None of my bucks seemed to put on any growth in '14, and that's understandable due to the tough year before. But now we've not had drought and had plenty of acorns and soft mast in '14, 15, 16 and 17. Yet I am seeing more poorly developed bucks this year than I have in years, and no great ones. I had several mature deer that made it through last seasons, and I can't track them over to this season either because they're not here or the racks not recognizable....I suspect it's a combination.
I was expecting this to be a great year. But I have seen virtually no bucks 2 or older while hunting. A couple dozen yearlings, and a ton of does. The yearlings slowly disappeared through 2 week rifle season and no doubt many have been killed. Saw zero rutting activity from the stand this year. It seems the rut was late and mostly at night. I had hot does in the vicinity of my cams three times this year at night, and got lots of photographs during those events. But none of this played out during the days I was hunting.
The strangest day for me was Nov 10th. I sat the whole afternoon in my best stand. Saw 2 doe/fawn groups move through, one with 5, the other with 7, and one lone buck cruising. I shot a mature doe out of the first group. Very strange to see them grouped up that early.
Anyway, I am still getting night pics of some of these not so great 2-3 year old bucks, rifle season's over, so most of them should be around next year.
Also for the record, I shoot my share of does every year...at least 3 up to 7 every year. I do think a reduction in overall deer numbers would be helpful for the deer here. Also, the 160 acre property next to mine is brown it's down...they have told me they shoot average of 25 deer a year with 7 guys hunting. The last time I talked to the owner he said they had never taken a buck over 110", but that was a few years ago.
