Let's get serious about Older Bucks

[landman]

I'm all about reducing the firearm days, but in full disclosure and absolute honesty it is because I am an archer to the core. I would love to see it happen, but it never will and I really wouldn't support it--however, the archer in me would be screaming!!!!

Since I've been researching this 2-3 buck limit thing and gathering information from other States, some items have stood out like a sore thumb in the data. I always assumed that the shortened gun seasons in the Midwest had everything to do with managing for antlers and was quickly corrected by the time I got to the 3rd State. Almost everyone of these big-buck States have 2-4 times the amount of licensed hunters as we do!!

I understand that every State collects data differently as far as harvests, so I'm not going to even try to rewrite the data to make a point, but when you have States like Iowa and Illinois that have 2½ times the number of hunters and 70% of land is ag fields, you better have a very short gun season or you're not going to have a deer herd left. We have significantly less hunters and 70% woodland habitat, so I'm comfortable saying our season is at least acceptable all things being equal. (My inner bowhunter really did not like that being written)

Iowa has 220,000 hunters
Illinois has 320,000
so TN has more hunters than Iowa

 

[dirtyhands]

i kind of like white lettering on the outside of my tires

Really? I'm the complete opposite I always have them put that side facing inboard.

 

[huntforme7909]

Bow hunt!!!! Bow hunt!!!!! Bow hunt!!!!!!!! Hahaha

 

[Bone Collector]

I'm all about reducing the firearm days, but in full disclosure and absolute honesty it is because I am an archer to the core. I would love to see it happen, but it never will and I really wouldn't support it--however, the archer in me would be screaming!!!!

Since I've been researching this 2-3 buck limit thing and gathering information from other States, some items have stood out like a sore thumb in the data. I always assumed that the shortened gun seasons in the Midwest had everything to do with managing for antlers and was quickly corrected by the time I got to the 3rd State. Almost everyone of these big-buck States have 2-4 times the amount of licensed hunters as we do!!

I understand that every State collects data differently as far as harvests, so I'm not going to even try to rewrite the data to make a point, but when you have States like Iowa and Illinois that have 2½ times the number of hunters and 70% of land is ag fields, you better have a very short gun season or you're not going to have a deer herd left. We have significantly less hunters and 70% woodland habitat, so I'm comfortable saying our season is at least acceptable all things being equal. (My inner bowhunter really did not like that being written)

Iowa has 220,000 hunters
Illinois has 320,000
so TN has more hunters than Iowa

I thought we only had 180-200K?

 

[PillsburyDoughboy]

TN Deer guy should have the numbers on that


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[TNDeerGuy]

TN Deer guy should have the numbers on that


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Last figure I remember seeing was around 230,000-240,000 licensed hunters in TN

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

People are never satisfied, and it is disgusting to me to put it mildly. Everyone bitched and moaned for a two buck limit until they got it. Now people are wanting a one buck limit and a shorter gun season. Pretty soon you will want no buck to be killed and no gun season. Some people like to hunt and enjoy the rifle season just the way it is. Be careful what you ask for,you just might get it.

 

[102]

People are never satisfied, and it is disgusting to me to put it mildly. Everyone bitched and moaned for a two buck limit until they got it. Now people are wanting a one buck limit and a shorter gun season. Pretty soon you will want no buck to be killed and no gun season. Some people like to hunt and enjoy the rifle season just the way it is. Be careful what you ask for,you just might get it.

Truer words NEVER typed.

 

[blueball]

This will be an interesting thread...

Of course if you really need meat, probably cheaper at the store in the long run. If you need antlers you now can buy mounts online. If you just want to hunt, there's all kinds of different animals you could hunt through out the year. If you hate to get up early and be cold, you could always stay home in bed.

My point is that many people hunt for different reasons and trying to make them all happy would be impossible... Carry on...

x2 , i usually sleep in and just hunt evenings,usually get a early start though :lol:

 

[blueball]

People are never satisfied, and it is disgusting to me to put it mildly. Everyone bitched and moaned for a two buck limit until they got it. Now people are wanting a one buck limit and a shorter gun season. Pretty soon you will want no buck to be killed and no gun season. Some people like to hunt and enjoy the rifle season just the way it is. Be careful what you ask for,you just might get it.

main people whining are the ones wanting it back to 3,or thats what it looks like to me.I like the 2 buck thang,but aint gonna lose no sleep no matter what they do cause i got a bow,muzzle loader,and a gun and know how to use them,lol

 

[Grill-n-man]

Weapons and or season length ain't got jack to do with it. We can do a fact based comparison with Tennessee. Lets make it short and sweet. TN has basically 3 different regions. !st is east - mountainous and rough 2nd - eastern middle part mountain, decent farmable land, many waterways, many highly populated areas, and very industrialized 3rd western highly agricultural, lower population density, less industrial. Well where is the highest deer populations along with on average the larger racked bucks in TN found? Answer that and you will understand how Ohio and Illinois and others like that have. And the season length and weapons used are based on herd population.

 

[knightrider]

bucks are way to precious and rare we should have a few doe only hunts for say 3 days, with sharpened stick only, then just photograph them as we graze on the salads in the field with them. oke:

 

[The_Utility_Dude]

I have had the good fortune to hunt out of state quite a bit over the past couple decades or so. And one thing has REALLY impressed me when talking about older aged class deer.

I seldom see it talked about in this forum but in all seriousness, why does anyone think Tennessee can grow older aged class bucks with a rifle season (muzzleloader included) that lasts for 2 months?

If one only looks at other "big buck states" like Illinois and Ohio, they will quickly learn that their seasons are shorter and there is little or ZERO (Illinois) center fire rifle season AT ALL!

If the hunters pushing for older aged class of bucks are really serious, why not push to restrict season lengths and weapons?

Because until this is restricted, nothing else will really make as much a difference.

Shorter gun seasons in some states are required to keep from completely wiping out the deer herd. When comparing the number of deer killed during the 2014 season for Tennessee's two best counties to Ohio's two best counties , the harvest numbers are not that compelling for a shorter gun season. Tennessee: Giles County 4646, Fayette County 4369. Ohio: Licking County 5050, Coshocton County 5504. Shorter gun seasons don't necessarily equate to less deer taken out of the herd. IMO shorter gun seasons would make MOST hunters less discriminating about what they shoot .

 

[farmin68]

I have had the good fortune to hunt out of state quite a bit over the past couple decades or so. And one thing has REALLY impressed me when talking about older aged class deer.

I seldom see it talked about in this forum but in all seriousness, why does anyone think Tennessee can grow older aged class bucks with a rifle season (muzzleloader included) that lasts for 2 months?

If one only looks at other "big buck states" like Illinois and Ohio, they will quickly learn that their seasons are shorter and there is little or ZERO (Illinois) center fire rifle season AT ALL!

If the hunters pushing for older aged class of bucks are really serious, why not push to restrict season lengths and weapons?

Because until this is restricted, nothing else will really make as much a difference.

Shorter gun seasons in some states are required to keep from completely wiping out the deer herd. When comparing the number of deer killed during the 2014 season for Tennessee's two best counties to Ohio's two best counties , the harvest numbers are not that compelling for a shorter gun season. Tennessee: Giles County 4646, Fayette County 4369. Ohio: Licking County 5050, Coshocton County 5504. Shorter gun seasons don't necessarily equate to less deer taken out of the herd. IMO shorter gun seasons would make MOST hunters less discriminating about what they shoot .

That is a VERY interesting point on shorter seasons causing hunters to be less discriminating. And I believeyou are right.

Something else I don't see being discussed by those wanting to shorten rifle season is how many hours or days the average TN rifle hunter actually hunts. I wouldn't be surprised to learn it's less than many hunters hunting in states with a two week firearms season.

 

[Headhunter]

I have had the good fortune to hunt out of state quite a bit over the past couple decades or so. And one thing has REALLY impressed me when talking about older aged class deer.

I seldom see it talked about in this forum but in all seriousness, why does anyone think Tennessee can grow older aged class bucks with a rifle season (muzzleloader included) that lasts for 2 months?

If one only looks at other "big buck states" like Illinois and Ohio, they will quickly learn that their seasons are shorter and there is little or ZERO (Illinois) center fire rifle season AT ALL!

If the hunters pushing for older aged class of bucks are really serious, why not push to restrict season lengths and weapons?

Because until this is restricted, nothing else will really make as much a difference.

Shorter gun seasons in some states are required to keep from completely wiping out the deer herd. When comparing the number of deer killed during the 2014 season for Tennessee's two best counties to Ohio's two best counties , the harvest numbers are not that compelling for a shorter gun season. Tennessee: Giles County 4646, Fayette County 4369. Ohio: Licking County 5050, Coshocton County 5504. Shorter gun seasons don't necessarily equate to less deer taken out of the herd. IMO shorter gun seasons would make MOST hunters less discriminating about what they shoot .

That is a VERY interesting point on shorter seasons causing hunters to be less discriminating. And I believeyou are right.

Something else I don't see being discussed by those wanting to shorten rifle season is how many hours or days the average TN rifle hunter actually hunts. I wouldn't be surprised to learn it's less than many hunters hunting in states with a two week firearms season.

Length of gun season doesn't affect what buck a hunter shoots for the most part. If you want to shoot any legal buck within the legal limit, and that is perfectly fine, you will no matter the length of the season and also true for those who are waiting on a better deer. More people do hunt in a shorter gun season and probably hunt more times (this comes from several years experience hunting in Kentucky), where I think Tennessee's long gun season, is in my 30 years of hunting, after the first week of December, I can count on less than one hand the number of bucks (meaning a buck I would shoot) on less than one hand. Sometimes does will show up regular late in the season, but it sure gets tough from the end of the first week of December til the end of the season.

 

[fairchaser]

The key to shooting older bucks is staring you right in the face and you don't have to change the regulations just follow the example of the Ames Plantation hunting club. Their real life example proved without a doubt that you can have a mature age class buck in the herd in good harvestable numbers if you will balance the herd and harvest bucks that meet a minimum antler score criteria or age criteria. Of course, this is difficult to accomplish on a state wide basis but it does work! The discussion should be about how to implement this on a state wide basis or within certain areas of the state. I'm not saying it should be but if you want older bucks that's what it takes.