What are your goals?

[Griswold]

Private owned, private permission, and some tva ground. My goal is to kill all the does i can with my bow, kill a couple does with muzzleloader, and hunt my best bucks with a rifle during the rut, than try for a couple more does during Christmas .

 

[BSK]

Wow all but 2, now just imagine if that outdated actually worked

 

[Snake]

I hunt a mix of private that I own, small private parcels that I have permission on, and public.

My goals are based on the area that I hunt that will give me the best opportunity to pull the trigger on a buck at least once during the season. As I have gotten older, I have basically quit hunting with a bow and focusing most of my time in November during the rut, and I like having both tags rolling into this time.

My goals are as follows:

- First and foremost is to do my best to put my kids on a buck or two a piece that makes them happy. As they get older and have killed several deer, their standards have gotten higher as well. Also, my son can pretty much do it on his own now but still consults ol Dad on thoughts.

- For me, my personal goals are to put myself in a situation to kill at least one buck that is at least 3.5 and 120" of antler on his head which is a realistic goal for my area. This will most likely start in November unless I know of a deer on the velvet hunt or during bow season that trips my trigger to hunt then. It will have to be bigger than the above for me to pull the bow out. My son usually calls dibs on early season deer to bow hunt, lol, so I have basically sat on the sidelines and let him bow hunt the past couple of years.

Your children kill the heck out of deer especially bucks . You do too and you've taught them well brother .

 

[7mmWSM]

He will !

He'll be sitting behind it.

 

[Woodsman10]

I could give a quick answer, but I prefer to describe why we watch this statistic so carefully.

The question for most who run or want to run camera censuses is "How accurate are they?" In essence, what percent of the deer population are you actually catching on camera? For smaller properties running just a baited summer census, the data can be VERY misleading. Bucks may have very, very different ranges summer to fall hunting season (and then again during the rut). So, data from summer may not represent "who you have to hunt" in fall.

I developed the season-long unbaited census to account for this problem. But how accurate is THAT census? To date, no specific statistical calculation has been developed for testing this hypothesis. However, statistical tests designed for other questions can give some insight. One of those tests was used in the past for estimating local deer density, and that process is called "Capture-recapture," or "Mark-recapture." In this process, deer are captured at random in a given location (usually by drop-net over a food source) and then marked (usually with an ear tag). This process is then repeated several more times in the same area. What is being tracked is the percent of deer in the subsequent captures that were marked from the first capture. This has been found to produce fairly accurate estimates of local deer density. If, say, 17% of the recaptures were "marked" deer from the first capture, that tells you that first capture was approximately 17% of the local population. For example, if the first capture was 11 deer, and once marked and released, marked deer make up 17% of subsequent captures, then that 11 deer from the first capture make up right around 17% of the total population. Multiply that out and the statistical test suggests there are around 65 deer in the area. Although this test seems oversimplified, it actually works quite well.

So what does this have to do with bucks killed not on camera? We use the same test to estimate the accuracy of our season-long census. The first capture and "mark" are the photo census pictures. Each unique buck on camera is identified. The "recapture" is what we kill. Now, of what we kill, what percent is made up of bucks "marked" (caught in the photo census)? We have been running season-long censuses every year since 1999. During that 27-year timeframe (1999-2025), we have killed 84 bucks. Now how many of those were caught on camera? The answer is 82. Since 1999, we have killed 2 bucks not on camera. But this produces marked-recapture percentage of 97.6%, which statistically suggest we are capturing with our census 97.6% of the bucks using our property during hunting season.

So there's my long-winded answer to your question! In 27 years of running season-long photo census, 2 out of the 84 bucks we have killed were not on camera.

Were those two killed in the early years of your data collection? Camera technology has came a long ways since 99. Just wondering if those two deer would have been captured if cameras were better.

 

[Specializedjon]

Simple….to hunt

Didn't hunt once last year, which was a first for me. I've got two freezers full of deer, turkey and cats to finish. Until they're done, I'm not hunting.

Would love to get a nice buck with my long bow, but I'll be happy with anything that God blesses me with.

Better yet, hunt with my daughter, who turned 7 on 7/7.

 

[BSK]

Were those two killed in the early years of your data collection? Camera technology has came a long ways since 99. Just wondering if those two deer would have been captured if cameras were better.

No. One was in 2007 (the big drought/EHD year). I actually captured him on camera mid-summer. This was back when "homebrew" cameras were all the rage and I was testing a builders first attempt at making an IR homebrew. I had the camera on a salt lick and picked up a buck that looked like he would become a whopper. However, this was not a part of the "official" census, so he wasn't counted. Yet, opening weekend of MZ, here he came and I shot him.

The second was in 2021. We were having a particularly bad year, buck antler-wise. We picked up no top-end bucks at all on camera that year. Opening week of MZ and I'm hunting right in the corner of our property, overlooking a 10-acre clearcut. I'm watching a 2 1/2 year-old buck pestering a doe right in front of me, when looking off my property I see a decent heavy-bodied buck coming through the woods towards the edge of the clear-cut (the clear-cut is our property line). He is interested in the chase going on in front of me. He follows the road I keep open through the clearcut (which I'm hunting over), and I shoot him at 30 yards when he steps out of the clearcut (3 1/2 year-old 8-point). If I had not shot him, in 15 yards he would have walked in front of one of our cameras covering that road. I shot him about 20 seconds before he was photographed the first time.

 

[lafn96]

Goals for me this year are:

- hunt with my sons
- find my #1 buck from last year; he didn't move into my area until post-velvet last year
- take a 4+ y.o. buck with my bow
- 2 does any season/weapon
- get smoother/faster getting up the tree and saddle hunting
- hoping a few uncles/cousins make it here from out of state to hunt with me and my sons
- hunt the TVA land near me

 

[Grnwing]

Goals for 2026 Deer season are to spend more time hunting some public land bucks. I had a great season last year and that has given me the motivation to crank up the intensity. I have been working on my velvet hunt plans and my November trips. My local WMA has gone through a down spell over the last 3 years but have been able to see some quality bucks(120s) last winter. I will be filling in days on it when not out of state. On my farm, I want to invite some guest to shoot their first deer and help introduce some new guys/kids to the sport.

 

[gtk]

Hunting private property in CO in 2nd season. Goal is to fill my freezer with the first legal elk I see, and not be picky. Then get a mule deer buck and will probably be picky on mule deer this year.

Then if I feel like whitetail hunting, go to MS and hunt private land at our camp. Hunting whitetail all depends on CO success, my mood, and weather :)

 

[killingtime 41]

I've had a dismal couple of years. I need to break the bad luck streak. I really need to be out there more. I don't think it's a coincidence that last couple of years I have not killed anything. But I've also been the laziest. i get pumped up to go the night before. . Only to roll over and turn off the alarm and go back to sleep the next morning. Killing a good buck would turn that around.

 

[Rackseeker]

I hunt mostly mountainous public land. I'm lucky to be able to hunt 5 weeks straight most or all of gun season. My goal is to shoot the first 2 mature bucks that peaks my interest. That usually takes me until the end of season. I try and make sure my son-in-law has a few good hunts. He works hard; him and my daughter have blessed us with 3 beautiful grandbabies so the least I can do is do a little scouting for him.

 

[Snake]

I've had a dismal couple of years. I need to break the bad luck streak. I really need to be out there more. I don't think it's a coincidence that last couple of years I have not killed anything. But I've also been the laziest. i get pumped up to go the night before. . Only to roll over and turn off the alarm and go back to sleep the next morning. Killing a good buck would turn that around.

Sounds like me but I did go some and killed one for my daughter some venison.

 

[Snake]

Goals for 2026 Deer season are to spend more time hunting some public land bucks. I had a great season last year and that has given me the motivation to crank up the intensity. I have been working on my velvet hunt plans and my November trips. My local WMA has gone through a down spell over the last 3 years but have been able to see some quality bucks(120s) last winter. I will be filling in days on it when not out of state. On my farm, I want to invite some guest to shoot their first deer and help introduce some new guys/kids to the sport.

Mighty nice gesture brother.

 

[Snake]

Simple….to hunt

Didn't hunt once last year, which was a first for me. I've got two freezers full of deer, turkey and cats to finish. Until they're done, I'm not hunting.

Would love to get a nice buck with my long bow, but I'll be happy with anything that God blesses me with.

Better yet, hunt with my daughter, who turned 7 on 7/7.

One of my daughters birthday as well brother.

 

[619]

Kill anything I can get my hands on. Learn how to kill, skin, and cook it in the most efficient way and hopefully save money on groceries.

I've abstained from eating fish because I was scared of the high concentrations of microplastics I'd assume would be in them because of pollution, but I read just now they're mostly centered in the stomach & skin, the muscles are mostly untainted. Makes me happy, since I want to learn how to fish, and it wouldn't be of much use if I never ate anything I caught.

 

[Popcorn]

My primary goals are to continue to provide the quality experience my property owners and their guests have grown to expect with my care of their properties. I run cameras from august through December for deer, yotes, trespassers and cats, January through May for turkey, yotes and trespassers. I pattern mature bucks and other game, manage cover, crops, plots and much more.
I have rights to hunt less than half of what I oversee and usually wait till after everyone else is done. I am a meat hunter and will take my cut in doe meat unless a true mature buck comes along. I have picked up a few acres of my own adjoining one of the best properties I have had the pleasure of working and am abstaining from hunting it while I turn it into the best small property it can possibly be. Working that goal is my goal for this season.

 

[Sitsbytree]

• Fill my freezer
• Get a rack on my wall
• Laugh a little
• Enjoy

 

[BSK]

I hunt mostly mountainous public land. I'm lucky to be able to hunt 5 weeks straight most or all of gun season. My goal is to shoot the first 2 mature bucks that peaks my interest. That usually takes me until the end of season.

Taking two mature bucks out of mountaineous public land is some doing! My hat's off to you Rackseeker.

 

[DeerMan66]

I have killed plenty of deer in my time and hope to get a few more. My goal this year is to get my 10 year old grandson on his first buck. He is so excited about getting out there. He got his first gobbler this year. He has been practicing shooting with his 350 legend and is a dead ringer with it. All my effort this year is going toward getting one in front of him.

 

[BSK]

I have killed plenty of deer in my time and hope to get a few more. My goal this year is to get my 10 year old grandson on his first buck. He is so excited about getting out there. He got his first gobbler this year. He has been practicing shooting with his 350 legend and is a dead ringer with it. All my effort this year is going toward getting one in front of him.

Very cool! I remember those days, and they are so fun. Some of my favorite memories are getting kids their first deer.

 

[DEDDY]

We talk about this every year, but then people's goals change every year. And much depends on each hunter's personal hunting situations. Private property hunting with permission, owned land, public land, etc.

What is your hunting situation (type of land you're hunting) and what are your harvest goals for the 2026-27 season?

I hunt my property of 102 acres. I had an amazing year last year both seeing and killing good bucks. I believe a big reason is the development of properties that surround our land.
Goal is to always appreciate the blessing of hunting my own property and of being able to see lots of wildlife. I want to kill a buck 3.5 and up.

 

[hammer33]

My goals are to Have fun, Relax, Soak up the outdoors during the absolute best time of the year.
Spend time with friends. Be grateful for whatever deer I decide to put in the freezer. See some new public land.

 

[CBU93]

1. Just deer hunt after not getting to go a single time last year

2. Kill a deer with my pistol

3. Help a buddy's son kill his first since his dad travels for work a lot and won't be here during deer season

 

[Wooden Arrow]

go back to sleep the next morning

and it gets easier to do as you age, for me anyway. ;) gotta work on that between now and September.

 

[quackaholic]

I dont set goals per se. I only have 40 acres which cattle graze and bull doze. It is a permission farm, and it isnt full of deer. I have one other permission 15 acre patch of woods near my house I may hunt this fall, it is full of deer because it is surrounded with houses. I really want to get my son in law a deer with his bow. That's his goal, so I'll try and make that happen. He's still pretty green at he deer hunting game. I would like to shoot one with my bow also, I suppose. It has been awhile since I have done so. I have been working on shooting some and tuning my bow for upcoming season. We'll see how it goes.

 

[DillyDilly]

Gonna be hunting public land for my first season here in TN, unless I get lucky enough to happen onto some private land to hunt (which I highly doubt). Had success hunting public land back in NY, and hoping that'll continue in my new stomping grounds, but I know it won't be easy, and that's half the adventure!

My goals are humble this first year. Explore public land, log as many hours in the woods as I can, and learn to hunt TN deer in terrain different than what I'm used to back home. I want to be a sponge and soak up all the information I can. I'd be happy at least filling the freezer with a doe or 2, but any legal, decently mature Tennessee buck will be a well earned trophy in my eyes.

 

[jejeffrries71]

My goals are pretty basic. Don't get hurt. Put a deer in the freezer. Donate another deer to the local foodbank. Oh - need to add that I am on my own property. Less than 200 acres, only about 50 forested, but it adjoins hundreds of acres on multiple sides.

 

[DMD]

My goals have changed over last few years. I was very fortunate for 24 years to hunt 1600 acres of private property where me and my hunting partner basically had it to ourselves. I had pretty high goals of killing a couple mature bucks each year. But, it all sold except for about 200 acres and this year, I gave it up. I'm now hunting WMA and TVA land. I have set my goal to kill a mature buck since I've been hunting mostly public land the last few years. But, i will settle for less if things don't trend that way as the season progresses. I also set a goal for one mature doe per year to put in the freezer. But, I'm really particular about the where and when I kill a doe.

It's a big change - I miss my lease, but I am enjoying the new challenges of learning new ground and trying to get on a mature buck in heavily hunted public land.

 

[Ski]

It's a big change - I miss my lease, but I am enjoying the new challenges of learning new ground and trying to get on a mature buck in heavily hunted public land.

As much as I love working the habitat and learning my property so well I can hunt it bling, there's still nothing quite like the adventure and challenge of brand new public ground. It's how I grew up and learned to hunt.