gotta hunt where they are

[easy45]

And I guess I'm not, once upon a time I had a great place in a great area that had alot of big bucks on and around it and was managed for them until I got priced out of it and now I could get back in but the farm was cut in half but the price remained the same. I'be been fortunate enough to get permission on 5 different farms and I'm thankful for that but but I've only seen evidence on one farm of mature bucks and when the beans turn in September the deer completely abandon it. It's also really hard when everybody around you plus several that hunt with you shoot every deer they see, this is why next year I will try to find a trophy management club somewhere around here, I know many others have this problem but I just needed to rant.

 

[cecil30-30]

Im in the same boat, I have permission to hunt 3 differnt tracts of private property to myself,but finding a mature buck on them is a different story.I usually do good to get 1 2.5yr old or older buck off of them a year.Some years I don't even see a buck thats 2.5 yrs old or older.But i've never seen more than 2 in one season.

 

[easy45]

I don't want a 1 buck limit, I like the 3 buck limit, the problem I have is the genetics and potential in my area is not great and the people that hunt with and around shoot everything, but it still wouldn't matter if the farms I had could hold deer but they don't, they just pass through which means they have to make it off the other farms to get to me. The place I use to have had the genetics and terrain to be a great place where you could realistically kill 3 mature bucks a year. I'm lucky to see a doe on any of my farms now.

 

[cecil30-30]

Im with you on that too,i like the 3 buck limit and im not gonna tell someone that they shouldn't shoot small bucks.If thats what they want to do,then do it.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

I think there are many on here that will have less than zero sympathy for you. Many only have access to public land and may go years before seeing over a six pointer, and maybe weeks before seeing a deer from the stand period. I have three farms I have access to and I am thankful for each of them, even though the neighbors hunt and kill all the spikes and four pointers... I let them walk hoping one day one will learn to stay away from the other properties. All the while, enjoying all the does I see nearly every hunt.

 

[easy45]

I'm not looking for sympathy, heck some public land is better than my private places and I'm the same as you in that I pass on all small bucks, that's why I haven't killed one in 3 years but a big factor is I'm starting to have problems even seeing does, I guess I was just spoiled by the farm I use to have.

 

[waynesworld]

I think what a person wants to hunt is up to him as long as it is in the boundries of quality heard managment. To which i would have to let the pros decied how many the limit should be. But just because someone wants a 14 point wall hanger should not say i can not shoot more then one buck or a buck that is only a year old. TN has a lot of different mixes of buck and doe and age groups.

On privet land setting limits for members is fine but unless there is some heard reason i think we are doing great.

And yes i am a meat hunter and if i could pass a buck and shoot a doe i would but where i hunt the bucks are the majority of what i see. But dont worry i dont think i will kill the 11 bucks i leagly could :)

 

[Urban_Hunter]

I'm not looking for sympathy, heck some public land is better than my private places and I'm the same as you in that I pass on all small bucks, that's why I haven't killed one in 3 years but a big factor is I'm starting to have problems even seeing does, I guess I was just spoiled by the farm I use to have.

REALLY sounds like me. I lost my prime spot due to development and now I am left with decently populated areas, but almost no age structure to the deer. I killed the oldest deer I ever have off one of my spots this year, but I guess age or poor genetics had taken a toll on his rack. He was a small UGLY 7pt, but probably 5+ year old deer. Every other deer I have seen has been 1.5, I have YET to see a 2.5

 

[muddyboots]

Yea. If u get to hunt a good spot it kinda makes all the rest of em blow!

 

[deerhunter10]

It's tough when everyone around you is playing if it's brown it's down. The best thing I've found that helps is try to make your property a save haven for deer have lots of food try to stay out of the bedding area make it deer friendly. Then try to get the early. A lot of the people around here at least only rifle hunt so try to bow hunt and muzzle loader hunt a lot and try to get a good one before it turns to WWIII when rifle opens.

 

[easy45]

Yea. If u get to hunt a good spot it kinda makes all the rest of em blow!

And for me I'll keep hunting no matter what but my wife needs to see deer occasionally to stay interested and she is about done, that's really why I need to get something done in the off season

 

[easy45]

It's tough when everyone around you is playing if it's brown it's down. The best thing I've found that helps is try to make your property a save haven for deer have lots of food try to stay out of the bedding area make it deer friendly. Then try to get the early. A lot of the people around here at least only rifle hunt so try to bow hunt and muzzle loader hunt a lot and try to get a good one before it turns to WWIII when rifle opens.

Only problem with that is you have to have a bedding area first, lol

 

[deerhunter10]

Lol yes that helps for sure!

 

[bowriter]

Popcorn, crackerjack, soda water. get em here. :)

 

[Mike Belt]

Why not join Ames next season?

 

[Shed Hunter]

Why not join Ames next season?

Not trying to hijack but how much does Ames cost?

 

[Mike Belt]

I can't remember exactly but somewhere in the neighborhood of $1650.

 

[Spikes]

If some one wants to shoot a small buck that's fine but when that same person constantly complains about not killing any big deer I just want to smack them.

 

[Shed Hunter]

I can't remember exactly but somewhere in the neighborhood of $1650.

Thanks, I figured it was more than that.

 

[easy45]

Why not join Ames next season?

I would like too but that's out of my price range and I couldn't justify paying that without being able to turkey hunt also

 

[easy45]

Popcorn, crackerjack, soda water. get em here. :)

Your jumping to a conclusion that this is an argument about shooting small bucks but I'm good with folks shooting whatever they want, I was basically just saying that for my preference I need to find a place that calling be managed effectively with neighbors that think likewise

 

[TNRRANGER]

Let me throw another scenario into the mix. I don't shoot everything I see but the places I hunt are surrounded by county roads and the poachers and road hunters wipe out every buck they see. To try to "manage" at all is an effort in futility, this is not speculation on my part, I know because I see them every morning and evening going to and from work crusing the backroads. And don't tell me to inform the game wardens, my goodness they know, they put out dummy deer but the poaching just keeps on. Unless you have a large piece of property or a high fence operation, it is hard to manage small properties. And oh yea, about the 3 deer a day doe killers wipeing out the herds. I have worked stores and checked in deer all day long for several seasons and I have NEVER checked in three does from one person in a day. I have checked in 2 does and a buck on very few occasions but just because its allowed in the regs does'nt mean everybody is doing it. Sorry, my 2 cents worth.

 

[easy45]

Actually had a buck poached off my main spot Thanksgiving morning, they left its nuts hanging in a tree for is to see and a pool of blood in the road where they loaded it up