Pond Boss
Posted By: SetterGuy Got him back from taxidermist - 05/09/19 05:01 PM
Seeing also if photobucket is working. Latest addition to farm house (barn house)
Posted By: John Fitzgerald Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/09/19 05:15 PM
That's a good buck, Jeff. I am glad that showing such is not censored here.
Posted By: ItalyBASS Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/09/19 05:23 PM
Beautiful!
Why it should be censored?
Posted By: Snipe Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/09/19 05:25 PM
Very Nice WT!!
Posted By: Acoursey Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/09/19 05:27 PM
Originally Posted By: ItalyBASS
Beautiful!
Why it should be censored?



Because it's got a huge rack! laugh Hahahahaha
Posted By: SetterGuy Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/09/19 05:53 PM
Ha! Thanks. I almost didn’t get it mounted. The guys at the processor talked me into it. I told them the taxidermists must be paying them.. There’s a bigger one out there, we’ve seen his pictures on the game cameras. Next year as a retiree, I may have a bit more time in the field.
Posted By: Pat Williamson Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/10/19 03:05 AM
Depending on your property and surrounding property and owners that is a nice buck. We try to let them walk til 5-1/2 year old but getting neighbors on board is tough
Posted By: RAH Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/10/19 11:37 AM
Nice buck and mount. Congratulations!
Posted By: wbuffetjr Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/10/19 01:10 PM
Nice one! Congrats!!
Posted By: SetterGuy Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/10/19 02:54 PM
Originally Posted By: Pat Williamson
Depending on your property and surrounding property and owners that is a nice buck. We try to let them walk til 5-1/2 year old but getting neighbors on board is tough


Pat, I’m not sure how old this buck is. I have always been a Quail hunter first, just started deer hunting. I’ve just got 60 ac. Many small farms in the area of similar sizes. The previous owner of our place shot anything legal (4 pts on a side). We’ve been a lot more selective. Starting to talk to neighbors about waiting. About 25% on board.
This was by far, the biggest buck I’ve seen on our place, but there are bigger ones out there.
Posted By: Joey Quarry Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/10/19 10:07 PM
Nice buck, but we grow them pretty large in Wisconsin too!

Attached picture Picture 004.jpg
Posted By: SetterGuy Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/11/19 02:20 AM
That’s a very nice buck Joey! Whew.. We had this guy on the camera, but I’ve not seen him during the season.
Posted By: Dave Davidson1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/11/19 11:11 AM
I have monster bucks on my place . I know because the game cam shows them. But, when the season starts they go nocturnal or someplace else.
Posted By: RAH Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/11/19 12:56 PM
Have the opposite situation because the does gather at my place. This is not near my biggest one, but likely the oldest (teeth worn to nothing). Unfortunately had lost a tine in battle.

Posted By: TGW1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/11/19 01:05 PM
Setter like you I have been a quail hunter most of my adult life. I bow hunt for deer today but truth is, I would rather be hunting quail over a Pointer, a Setter or Both at the same time smile I have done a lot of that.
Posted By: Dave Davidson1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/11/19 04:53 PM
Tracy, I used to be loaded with bobs. But, over time, they all disappeared. A neighbor tried to re establish them but it didn’t work.
Posted By: SetterGuy Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/12/19 02:11 AM
Missouri actually had better Quail numbers this year vs the last several years. My neighbor runs pointers, and said he and a buddy shot 120 birds this season. Nothing like our heydays back 20 yrs ago, but much better than a few years ago.
My Best Quail hunts were all down near Big Spring TX. We always went in late Jan after our Missouri season ended. Knew a guy down there that owned thousands of acres. Had two jeeps set up with built in dog boxes. Never had to hunt singles as we went from one covey to the next. Just got to go for maybe 7 or 8 years. This was maybe 15 years ago. What a blast. Some of the most fun days I’ve ever had hunting.

Edit. We did have a pretty rough winter this year. Had some deep snow that had ice on it. It was down for at least 2 weeks. I’m hoping the Quail survived it ok..
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/12/19 11:26 AM
My son was born in Big Springs, so I know that area really well. Hunted all around that area. I looked over a 3,500 acre quail lease for 7 yrs near there, where half the place had blues and the other half had Bob's. And hunted 5 days a week for the 4 month season. Hay! I had a good corporate job! But the best lease I ever hunted was in Hebbronville, so many bob's there we never got a chance to hunt singles. It was just covey to covey. No B S. Three of us guys had that 3,000 acre lease for about 3 yr's. Picture this, dog on point, we walked up busted covey dropped a few and watched singles. On the way to the singles we would bust another covey. In all my life I have never seen a place like it. We lost that lease to a large Corporate Co. because they had way more money to offer the land owner. I also hunted Okla quite a bit.
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/12/19 11:32 AM
Dave, back in the late 70's we worked with TP&W because the birds would be boom to bust in just a season or two and we wanted to know why? Answer was fire ants and food due to the right timing of the rains and was also told about a bird virus that would show up some years. I hope they come back for you.
Posted By: Dave Davidson1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/15/19 05:46 PM
Tracy, they disappeared about 15 to 20 years ago. That was before the fire ants or hogs showed up.

Lots of theories about the decline and then disappearance. Haven’t seen one in years and very.ittle has changed in my area.
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/16/19 12:18 PM
Dave, I hate to hear that for you. I am aware that in some areas the quail have declined to where almost none exist. In that case I believe it is due to the lack of food for them. When I moved to Shreveport from W. Texas I brought 4 English pointers and 1 Golden lab. I contacted the Louisiana Parks and Wildlife and spoke with the local manager. He told me how to hunt quail here and said when he grew up here there were a lot of quail due to farmers growing soybeans, etc. But when farmers went to growing trees the numbers of coveys dropped. So maybe something like mesquite or some other plant has taken over and reduced their food.
Posted By: SetterGuy Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/16/19 02:12 PM
A big part of the decline in Missouri is the predator increase. Used to be high fur prices had a lot of predators and nest robbers trapped. Not any longer. Some say our turkeys eat young quail, im not sure that’s having that much of an impact. The bulldozers have sure had their effect too, but it’s difficult to fault a farmer for maximizing what he’s getting off of his land. Our conservation Dept just doesn’t get as excited about Quail as they do deer and turkey. I don’t think Quail hunting brings in the $$ like bigger game. Three of the guys I used to hunt with no longer keep bird dogs. Tough to bring up a pup and train him right without birds..
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Got him back from taxidermist - 05/17/19 12:10 PM
I agree, to have a good dog you have to keep them in the birds. After moving here I needed to work with a couple of young dogs and few birds were around this area so I built a flight pin and added 400 quail. I also built recall pins, scattered them around the property. It worked pretty well for training young dogs and my 6 yr old son. My son shot his first quail over my dogs back then. I no longer have pointing dogs but have been giving some thought to raising some Chucker's for working my Golden Retriever on flush training/retrieving training. Maybe taking him Pheasant hunting/dove hunting along with his duck hunting. I am a firm believer that you have to get dogs into birds to make a good hunting/retrieving dog.
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