I hate to see a hunter wait 10 years to get drawn for a hunt and have a mature buck like that walk within bow range only to let him walk because he doesn't have 9 points.
It would've been my son's biggest buck ever. The buck stepped behind a tree and Hunter drew his bow back. When the buck stepped out he was 15 yards. Had him at 15 yards at full draw and couldn't let it fly. He was sick.
Man I really hate that for him and hate to hear someone missed out on their biggest buck on such a difficult to hunt to draw for.
Again my point exactly! Go look at pictures of the deer that have been killed over half or more are not that big or mature. Nothing wrong at all In taking a big mature 8 like that. I hate that for your son. Again we all know the rule when we put in but man I don't understand their point.
Correct. Not likely to see a wide buck. I picked up a deadhead on my last hunt and it fits that profile. Scored 129+. Heavy but narrow. He was a legal nine point however.
If they inserted a main beam rule, more mature bucks will be harvested that will never meet the 9 point / 20" requirement. With the current approach, there is a good amount of smaller 2.5 year olds being killed just by having 9 points.
After my Saturday morning hunt I was thinking if I see a 9 point of any size or age it would probably be my only opportunity to punch a tag, but the fact that it's not a bonus buck would have deterred me from shooting a small buck just to kill a buck on PI.
Where?
That's a great question. I wish I knew but your odds are so low right now, you'd be better off hunting your own place. I went with two buddies who also got drawn and after two days, we threw in the towel. I saw one buck from the stand and I wouldn't have shot him even if he was legal. I've been stacking points hoping for a miracle somewhere else will emerge as the go to spot.
Yea I was just reading it the yesterday after going through and reading this thread. From TWRA:
Well if I would've kept reading I would've seen that others answered this before me ha! Sorry for the redundancy everyone lol
I'm doing kind of the same thing. I guess I will put in for the Island, but I am hoping some place that hasn't been hunted in 15 years or something gets a draw hunt, during the rut, preferably with a rifle
DID not know you could hunt there!
I didn't know TWRA had control over the Mississippi River flooding. I think you should discuss that with a higher power. Just saying.
I was just gonna say the same thing. Can't do much about Mother Nature submerging thousands of acres underwater and dumping gravel everywhere, repeatedly over several years.
Nothing to do with flooding, the regs they use have no basis in any kind of whitetail management. And you have very limited opportunity to legally kill a buck, and you make one of the hunts in the middle of October. Really? Like I said, TWRA completely screwed the pooch on that one. Most likely one person who has the "power" instead consulting a biologist or even the hunters in Tennessee. The hunters in Tennessee could easily do a better job of managing a limited draw hunt. I believe a non hunter or someone who doesn't care about deer management came up with the regs. I am far from alone in my thoughts.
I agree with some of your conclusions HH. An age and /or antler score restriction would have been a better approach to restricting harvest. However, what happens when a buck comes in too young or too small? It's rack is confiscated? That's what happened in our club. Can you imagine the backlash? Maybe a better approach was to cut the number of hunters in half and allow hunters to shoot what they want. I had to pass on more than one P&Y 8 pointers. I think there was a lot of pressure from surrounding landowners not to over harvest which could have resulted in the harvest rules. Even still without the flooding it would be a great hunt.
