.. yeah I came up with folks that went hunting… every-time anyone got a deer it was a cause for celebration

.. the good ol days

… now we got government mandated trophy hunting… kids scared to shoot for fear of getting a ticket if the spread ain’t just right

Had a neighbor that decided he was going to deer hunt for the first time last year. Owns a little ground beside a place I hunt. Since he's not much of a hunter he's been letting his step brother hunt the place. There was several really nice bucks in the area that his brother had got on camera and I'd got also. When he decided he was going to buy a tag to hunt on his own ground his brother told him that's fine but not to shoot any of "his" bucks.

Yep still searching

My brother would be finding a new place to hunt!

What was worse was his brother had already filled his tag for the year

I still think a 120” deer with a bow is a big deal, lol. I just like them to be 4.5 before I take them.

And whoever posted a pic of the funky antlered deer…you’d lose a bet with me and my son. We’d send an arrow in a heartbeat on both of those deer as soon as they got to 4.5 and be dang proud of it. Just because a deer has a messed up rack doesn’t mean it genetics, most likely an injury caused that. If he breeds he doesn’t pass on his injury. If you think management is only shooting high scoring bucks, then you don’t know much about management. Management for us is taking out as many does as we can and letting bucks live until 4.5 to see what their potential looks like. Do you really think all these deer posted will stick around? I hope so, but years of doing this proves it doesn’t always happen. Heck, they could be hit by a vehicle, die of old age, or even move miles off the property. It’s all a gamble we’re willing to take. We don’t wait until opening day to throw up a stand and go sit thinking we’ll shoot a trophy that day. Our prep work starts in July for our September archery season. You first have to see what you got that year. Decide which deer you’d like to devote your time to, then put in the work.

My son didn’t have a buck that he really wanted to kill this year so he picked one for next year and has devoted this season to tracking that particular buck from his Summer range to his wintering area. In the process he found the buck his coworker was after and they teamed up locating it and getting stands set. His buddy finally shot it…a 154” 9pt. In that time he also located a couple other bucks that needed killing and put people on those. He also located a buck that had eluded everyone on the property. This buck is guessed at 9yrs old. A wide 10pt. They figured they’d leave him be to die a natural death whenever that may be. 4.5yr old 8’s are encouraged if they are just average deer. See the 120” comment at the beginning of this.

If you want to discuss meat…we’re allowed 10 does each. So just my household alone could take 30 does. Get my other son to get his 10 and we’re up to 40. My other son and his wife would add another 20, so now we’re up to 60 total deer for the freezer. Why would I waste a tag on a 2.5 year old buck for meat? Why would I eat a rutted up stinking buck when I can eat does?

Deer management isn’t just shooting “trophy” deer. Trophy deer are a result of deer management. Trapping is a part of deer management. Not so much to keep predators from killing deer, but to keep predators from stressing deer. Healthier deer tend to be bigger deer. We all know what bigger deer mean…

Oh yeah…on our “trophy” managed property this year…a first for all these young men.
They were told they could shoot anything from a fawn with spots to a 200” deer.





Part of deer management is also encouraging kids to experience the great outdoors.

WB says "Deer management isn't just shooting trophy deer. Trophy deer are the result of deer management."

YEP ^^^^^

And I'll add that the deer management is the easy part. It's the people management that is difficult...sometimes.


But, neophyte kids have a green light to shoot whatever deer they want to shoot. See the pic I posted on page1 of this thread. That young lady had the go-ahead to shoot any deer, but two 3.5 years olds happened to cross that farm lane that morning....boom...boom!

This thread turned into a crapshow!

Killing deer is quite easy for me and I enjoy deer hunting. I'd rather hunt 20 days in cold weather targeting an older buck and not get one then sitting the first time and killing a squirt buck and be done.

We all hunt for different reasons. I'm fine with all of them.

First 2.5 days gun season no cameras. No food plots but a lot of grown up thick cover in areas done on purpose to hold deer

Good Lawd! How many acres? That’s a pile of bucks.

The midwest is a different world. Food everywhere, but heavy cover is not. I'd bet that wherever all those deer were killed that there will be just that many or more (the big bucks included) there next fall.....


Southern Georgia = heavy cover almost everywhere. Find an opening in that rough, with buck sign...that's where you hunt.

Northern Missouri = mostly fields/minimal acreage of woods and even those are open woods with thin understory. Find an area of heavy cover with buck sign around it and hunt there.

A couple thousand of my cousins farms spread out not in any big blocks , and SW you’re right the big boys are still running stupid in fawns now and will be no shortage next year . My cousin said 21 total gun kill and 31 total bow and gun on his ground he owns 50/50 buck doe and it usually is always that ratio but cover is the key if you can secure the does the bucks will come