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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 6,980 Likes: 15
Ambassador Lunker
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Ambassador Lunker
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 6,980 Likes: 15 |
I'm not frightened by anything in our woods either. It's not because I'm brave, it's because a lifetime spent in these hills and hollers has taught me I have nothing to fear. Unless I'm squirrel hunting, I never carry a gun when I'm out there. I would love to see a bobcat or cougar.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7 |
I am shooting for 2:1. I think the coyotes and bobcats help keep the overall population down. I also think they take mostly fawns and weak adults. We have plenty of small game that is probably easier than taking healthy adults deer. Your trying for a 2 bucks to one doe? My son had a deer run right at him last year during our shot gun hunt. We were to the right of my boy and watched this deer run right up the game trail crawling. My youngest and I were like WTF and my middle boy shot him right in the chest. Dropped him in his tracks. I am saying him but at the time there was no rack. After closer inspection when field dressing it was a buck with no rack. This buck was so beaten up that his testosterone level had dropped so low that he lost his rack in the first week of December. Long story long if you have too many bucks its not good for them ether.
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57 |
A scary time for me was when we were Rattling up bucks once. We rattled up 6 one day. And during this one rattle up, I had a buck come running in all pissed off. He was so close to me I could see the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Like a fighting dog when his hair stands up. Anyway, he almost ran over me and I was just a couple of feet away from him. He was pissed off to say the least. After him seeing me he just made a 20' circle around me till he finally cooled off and then he took off. It all happened so fast I got no shot off and it was a nice buck on a trophy ranch I was invited to. Something I had never seen before at the time and have never seen since. All the other bucks I have rattled up come in at a much more cautious stance.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289 |
Two does to one buck: https://www.qdma.com/reality-doebuck-ratios/Was sitting in a cut spot on the ground inside of a cedar tree last evening. Had an very symmetrical 8-pt come in, just out past the ears. Turned broadside at 20 yards and looked away. Came into 10 yards and looked right at me without busting me (I was up-wind). I had walked right where he came in and his behavior told me he could smell my foot prints. He then turned back and walked back 70 yards and turned into the path where I saw his new scrape while I was walking in. I exited by another route since a couple days earlier, I had a similar experience an hour before I left a tree stand and spooked the buck still by his scrape. It was hard to resist shooting this handsome buck and someone else will probably take him, but it won't be me. He'll be spectacular next year if he makes it, and will hopefully sire more like him in a couple weeks. I accidentally shot a shed buck during muzzleLoader a few years back. He was a big bodied healthy animal.
Last edited by RAH; 11/07/17 09:34 AM.
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57 |
RAH, thanks for post up the link. It's been awhile since I read that information. makes me feel better about my deer count. Pretty much supported how I figure my ratio
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289 |
I am a scientist, but wildlife management is my hobby. Sometimes its just more fun to try things that should not work, but could work. Many times these trials fail, but not always. Its just part of the fun. Most of my deer hunting buddies can outshoot me on the range every time, but I have more trophy antlers on the wall. Groups of 3 or 5 shots don't put racks on the wall. Most times, you get one shot and the target does not show up where you planned. I make sure my gun is on, and then I make the shot count. I have made my share of mistakes, but they are fewer and further apart as time goes on.
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 222
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 222 |
All I can say is, future prospect to fill the freezers.
Leo
* Knowledge and experience yield wisdom. Sharing wisdom expand the generations with crucial knowledge. Unshared wisdom is worth nothing more than rotting manure.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,386
Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,386 |
Airborn, if ya see and bag one that fine ya don't need to se ANY others. Congrats
Do nature a favor, spay/neuter your pets and any weird friends or relatives.
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7 |
A scary time for me was when we were Rattling up bucks once. We rattled up 6 one day. And during this one rattle up, I had a buck come running in all pissed off. He was so close to me I could see the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Like a fighting dog when his hair stands up. Anyway, he almost ran over me and I was just a couple of feet away from him. He was pissed off to say the least. After him seeing me he just made a 20' circle around me till he finally cooled off and then he took off. It all happened so fast I got no shot off and it was a nice buck on a trophy ranch I was invited to. Something I had never seen before at the time and have never seen since. All the other bucks I have rattled up come in at a much more cautious stance. Creepy, my oldest son and wife bumped up a big buck last year. He was pawing the ground and grunting at them. They were not there to hunt just out for a 4 wheeler ride and my boy wanted to show my wife the big scrub on the tree. Needless to say it didn't take my wife long to skin out of there.
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892 |
RAH, I shot a great big doe a few years back in early December during out ML season. Turned out to be a buck that shed early, but his right rear leg was broke, the bone slid up and overlapped each broken end by 1 1/2" and it was knitting back together. He had a 6" dia lump on that leg where it was broke. I didn't see it walk, I turned around and it was standing in the food plot.
Around here, history has shown that if I pass up a good buck wanting to see it get a year more age on it, I never see it again. Someone else most likely shoots it,
The farmer on the adjoining property hates deer, and gets depredation tags every year.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289 |
I understand your position on passing nice bucks, but fortunately one of my adjoining neighbors with sizable deer habitat lets a single fellow hunt his place that only shoots a big one or none. He says that after shooting a buck last year, he saw an even bigger one. I got a 9 and 10 on cam running together after the season last year that should both be nice this year if they made it. It took me years to let a big one pass and wait for an older one to come buy. I take mature does for meat and if I don't get a buck, that is OK with me. I am in it for the long haul and am concentrating on herd management.
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892 |
RAH, I hear you. I'm more a "fill the freezer" type of guy than looking for one to put on the wall. I've passed a number of deer with the thought "I'd love to see him next year" but that rarely happens. 80/160 acres just isn't enough to keep deer on one property, and nobody around here wants to manage deer.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289 |
Somebody in the area has to be the first to start managing the herd. Build it and they will come! I have 100 acres of dear habitat and a wall full of respectable racks. This guy was photographed after last season. Mounted on 6x6s
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892 |
I know, I know but in the area that I have the best chance of that happening, (habitat wise) it ain't going to happen as long as that farmer owns the land. Every year he complains to the DNR about crop losses, and they issue depredation tags. I talked to the biologist and she said he even has a block of CRP land on his place that attracts deer.......
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289 |
Best herd reduction method is a lot of doe harvest which is perfect for managing for trophies. May just need to see if you can work with him to get what you both want?
Last edited by RAH; 11/12/17 06:00 AM.
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57 |
I need to do Coon management at my place. And RAH, what is that thing hanging from the ceiling in the photo? Been trying to figure out what it is. Hornets nest? Some type of flying dinosaur?
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,732 Likes: 289 |
Its a metal blue-heron mobile that flaps in the wind. Unfortunately, one of the wings is a casualty of a very strong wind gust that we are still cleaning up after (still works but has a metal tear). Blew the tops out of mature trees all over our place. My son and I will be bringing in logs this late winter and a friend will be bringing in his portable saw mill. We will share the lumber and my son wants to build some furniture with it. We did a piece out of reclaimed oak last year and he really enjoyed it. A chance to pass on some knowledge that my father passed on to me. Every cloud has a silver lining. I would not have been willing to take down some of these cherry, walnut, and hickory trees. Now we'll have some nice wood to work with.
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 6,980 Likes: 15
Ambassador Lunker
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Ambassador Lunker
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 6,980 Likes: 15 |
Ah, the annual meat vs.trophy vs.genetics vs.management discussion. Our local feed store just got in their annual shipment of cajun, in-the-shell peanuts. Both are hallmarks of the season in my mind.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,686 Likes: 892 |
Ah, the annual meat vs.trophy vs.genetics vs.management discussion. Our local feed store just got in their annual shipment of cajun, in-the-shell peanuts. Both are hallmarks of the season in my mind. Tony, FWIW, a trophy could be a spike to a hunter, just like a big old smart doe could be a trophy. A number of years ago I had an old doe that was missing her tail bust me one day in the stand, and she led the whole herd of does on a wide path around the stand for weeks. I DID get her finally when she forgot it was gun season instead of archery season. She was a trophy to me because of all the hours I put in on the stand trying to get her.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 226 Likes: 9
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 226 Likes: 9 |
That is funny. I had a decent doe on camera the year before last that was missing her tail. Last year I didn't hunt that woods much so I didn't mess with the cameras much either so we didn't see her. This year we watched the cameras pretty hard trying to pattern a few deer and that doe is still there but much bigger. I have never seen her from the stand though. Hopefully during gun season she will mess up. I want to have her hide tanned just because it is a little special to me and my daughter thinks she is cool. LOL
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,668 Likes: 57 |
For me, a Trophy deer may be a trophy only to me. I hunt or try to hunt older and I don't see very many of those deer. I usually hunt from a tree stand and in doing so I have had many a buck under me for me to just watch and see or learn from. And even when I see the deer I am looking for I may not have the opportunity to take the shot. Things like, he comes up on the wrong side of me (I can't pull and aim with my left arm or left hand). And so now, even more so he becomes my trophy deer. Or like last season while hunting a scrape, there was a beautiful 10 pointer just a few feet away and I could have easily made the shot but he was just 2 and a half yr old or so I thought at the time. He was no doubt a young buck. For aging, I make a fast glance at a deer's neck and then I look fast at the front shoulders. For this buck these were all small sized and his rack had no mass and the antlers were only a 1/2" thick but the rack was high and a perfect 10. For me he was a trophy deer or he will be.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7 |
We dropped off a deer at our local wild game butcher yesterday. This past week was the first shotgun hunt for white tail of the year. He had 74 deer brought in this week and my buddy's Adams was the biggest of the year dressed with out head, hide, and gutted at 209#s.
He said that once he had the deer's pajamas off it was heavy with fat. He was the boss in that area and didn't have to fight for does.
Cheers Don.
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