Andy,
When we first started out, we only had 600 acres but bordered a much larger club that had about 5,000 acres. They were way ahead of the trend, and were already planting year round plots, killing every legal doe they could, and had a 8 point or better rule. This was in Wayne County during the late 1990's! We pretty much patterned our's after theirs and have "tweaked" the management plan as the years have gone by. We are blessed to have like minded neighbors, and not have to worry about young bucks getting shot.
As other adjacent properties became available, we acquired them as well and now have 3,300 acres and only 13 members. Two thirds of our property is planted pine plantations ranging from 4 yr old to 18 yr old blocks. This provides a lot of sanctuaries that no one ever steps foot in unless to recover a deer. We also have several big hardwood hollows that have great spring fed creeks that continue to flow even during droughts. Currently, there are 35 food plots encompassing about 40 acres and we work real hard on making them as productive as possible. Several are now well established in clover which provide quality food during spring & summer growth periods.
During the early years, we took a lot of does off the place, sometimes as many as 50 per year (guests could only kill does). When EHD hit in 2007, we only found 3 dead deer and have to believe that the previous aggressive antlerless harvests had to attribute to us not getting hit as hard as other. Since then, we have backed off of killing so many does. However, fawn recruitement has been great this year, and have way more doe pics than in past few years, so we are planning on taking 20-30 this year.
Even though TN allows 3 bucks per year, we have always held it to a 2 buck limit, and very few members ever take that many. Everyone is content in just being able to see a bunch of bucks of various ages, and just maybe have the opportunity at a real wall hanger. Most of the members have been in club since the early days and have seen the fruits of their labor come to bear. Several of us are 50-65 years old; have years of hunting experience; been involved with numerous other clubs (some good & some bad),and remember how it use to be with brown being down. Our kids and grandkids are now heavily involved and are growing up embracing the QDM approach.
Our "buck rule" for several years now has been 8 point with 15" outside spread. I know that there are two sides of the fence on antler point restriction, but this works for us. This restriction automatically protects about 95% of our 2 1/2 yr old bucks, and is easy to judge. If the antlers are wider than the ears, then he is legal; if narrower, then let him walk. As years go by, everyone is getting better at determining age, and there has been a natural progression towards passing on 3 1/2 and even 4 1/2 year old bucks. This is self induced and not a club rule. On opening morning of gun season last year, my 12 yr old grandson had a nice 8 point walk right under his stand. He believed him to be 3 1/2 years old, but told me that "Pappa, I could have easily shot him, but in another year he will be a great deer". Two ridges away, his 14 yr old brother shot a 3 1/2 ten point that he had lots of trail camera pics of. He was tickled to death with the deer, and Pappa was beamming because of the experience that both of them had that morning!
We know that what we have, or how we do things is not for everyone, but we never set out for it to be. In 10 years, with lots of hard work from a great bunch of guys, it has progressed to something that we are proud of, and look forward to enjoying with friends and family for years to come.
Just aren't enough 3.5 y/o bucks to get passed up by the neighbors to recruit them into maturity in huntable numbers. Between myself and the 3 other friends I let hunt my farms, we usually only kill 1 buck 4.5 or older annually.
