Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Opening Day!!

Thanks guys. It was an awesome hunt. Pretty boring to begin with, but got really interesting in a hurry.

Gotta love a double. I've done this a few times over the years...buck and doe once, 2 does a couple of times. The way I look at it if you're going through all the trouble of dragging, gutting, skinning, etc you may as well get hip deep all at once!

Congrats! Good looking buck there.

Nice job ! How many more do you need to harvest to keep your population in good shape ?

I am a not a farmer so as far as I am concerned the more the better. It seems like the numbers are pretty healthy right now though. I think blue tongue disease or CWD has killed quite a few. Definitely not as many as when i was young, but there are a lot more hunters now too. Hunting brings big bucks and the farmers are making good money leasing their land which really increased the hunting pressure. I think the numbers are probably pretty good.

Looked bigger through the peep on the last day of bow. He was behind brush and I drew before he walked into a small lane at 25 yards. I thought he was much bigger. I let the arrow fly and the next thing I saw was the back part of my arrow go flying. He took off for another block of my woods. I got down and only found the back part of the arrow, but could not see any blood or find the bottom of the arrow. I assumed I hit a tree or something. I took off for the other block of woods and there he lay without a drop of blood on the outside. The front of the arrow must have come off as he immediately passed a tree. It was a double lung, but he still went 100 yards. Unfortunately he was the smallest buck that I have shot in years (150 lbs field dressed), and his size fooled me on judging the antlers. I shot two does since with the 44, and one field dressed at 140 lbs. Well there is always next year...

RAH,

I wish more guys in Michigan messed up and shot that "small of a buck"... We would have the opportunity to see more bucks like you just killed. Even in well managed areas, bucks of that size are rare.

Congrats on a very nice buck! Be proud of him!

Our primary buck rifle season opens on Monday. I was just down at a creek in a state forest getting some chub minnows. I must have seen 30-40 deer on the three mile trek back home. There were eight standing behind my barn as I drove by. It was dark enough I couldn't tell what they were, but they all appeared to be antlerless.

It got up into the 60s here today, but the temps are supposed to crash into the teens by tomorrow night, and it is supposed to be windy. The deer will all be in Florida or Arizona with the snowbirds by Monday.

I've already cleaned, oiled, and stored/locked-up my guns for the season. I've got at least 90 lbs., of de-boned venison in the freezer.

I've got my eye on several fat fox squirrels that may become dinner in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow may be the day to clean out the two fish cages at the end of the dock. Lots of nice big bluegill and LMB fillets swimming around in them for the winter eating season.

It looks better in the pics than it really is. I am trying to let small ones walk, but I have some neighbors that let folks in that shoot anything and everything. Its like a public restroom - nobody cares when they have no stake in the long-term management. Same goes for ponds I guess.

Today was opening day of bear season in PA. My dad of course saw a couple of nice bucks, one of which came within easy bow range. Gotta love it! Of course, on the opening day of deer season in 8 days, they'll be nowhere to be found... I will join him on Monday. Wednesday is the last day of bear season. That is the day our Mennonite friends come down and we put on a 25 man drive(largest allowed by law). With than many guys pushing, you can sure put the deer, bears and maybe even some wild boars out. Last year we put out 4 bears and killed two of them. I am hoping we do even better this year!