Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Deer Season '25/'26 Thread

Happy deer season to all of the PB deer hunters.

Had a guy out with his daughter at our property and he bagged his first ever deer while bow hunting. Got a very nice 8-point buck.

Hopefully, his daughter can get her first bow hunting deer over the next few days.

Heading out in an hour or so

Good luck!

Deer season around here in WNY has disappointingly petered out. When we moved out here in 2001, opening week was constant gunshots in the morning. This year? Slept late. Maybe one nearby shot.

We really need to do a better job encouraging youth to get out and hunt! The only ones I know of locally hunts our land and the land next to us. Youth sports and electronics has carved into young adult spare time far too much.

Opening morning of gun season here. I got a nice 8 point, as big as I want to handle by myself.

The plan is to hunt with my youngest over the weekend.

The deer season was good to me. I got a really nice antelope buck in WY in September and I was able to get a decent 8 pointer in Maine. He isn't the largest I've shot, but he's the first buck I've taken from my land so I'm quite happy about it.

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For the last several years, I've wanted to drag a deer out by dog team. I could have driven any of my tractors or heavy equipment right up to it, but that wouldn't be interesting. This deer was my chance. It was quite a rodeo and they hated the slow pace but they did it with enthusiasm nonetheless. It felt like I was asking a Ferrari to pull a camper.

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Sadly, my lead dog passed away about a week later. She was just over 13 years old, and a beautiful powerhouse right to the end. Her last time in a harness was pulling my deer out with her team and making one of my dreams come true. RIP Wednesday.

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Sorry to hear about the loss of your lead dog.

I always love watching working dogs do their work. Bird dogs finding and holding quail from 30' away in heavy cover. Border collies running two miles around each corner of a field to push every sheep through the gate. Search and rescue dogs looking for a lost kid.

I have never personally been around sled dogs, but was always amazed to see footage of how excited they were to be hooked into the harness ... so they could run in the bitter cold with a heavy load! What heart they display in both meanings of the word.

My 9 year old daughter got her first buck (deer in general), 6 pointer, 2 Saturdays ago during youth season. In a few hours I'm done with work for the week, so hopefully something significant walks past. Had a huge drop tine daylight 2 weeks ago when I was at Bass Pro picking up the 350 legend for the girls to use, be nice if he decides to show his face again

Great season so far. Put up a stand for my youngest. It is 6'x8' and is big enough for the whole family. Shot a doe out of it the week before Thanksgiving and shot the buck after Thanksgiving. Going to try to get my oldest son a deer this year as well. He has about a month left to get a buck and until the end of February to get a doe.

Those are great pictures, Young Man!

The two kids walking away together on the trail is such a great picture that Cabela's should use it in their catalog!

Was able to stick my target buck opening day of Ohio bow season. Temps were around 90 degrees when I walked to my stand that evening. I normally would not have sat in that kind of heat, but Lucky was still on his summer pattern and walking in front of my tree stand every evening. He followed the script perfectly and came in where I needed him to and stopped for a 10-yard shot. Beyond blessed and very thankful for my 3rd bow opener buck to date. Lucky ended up being a 13 pointer, hence the name, and I've had history with him for the last few years. Passed on him last year and sure glad I did. Spent some more time out in the stand on doe patrol, but only bucks coming in. Now it's time to wait for the ice to thicken up and do some ice fishing.

I would have loved to get a few more photos, but with temps this high I needed to get him in a cooler as fast as possible. Congrats to all the other successful hunters and best of luck to all of you still out there.

Congrats! You guys are doing great things with your hunting and with your families! Love the pics with the little ones enjoying the outdoors!
Nice bucks Justin, Chris, Mainer!

I've had some great hunting and got to pass on several nice bucks while bowhunting. Still have a couple of weeks before the end of season but likely won't fling an arrow unless a really big one walks by.


KS did away with fall turkey season. Numbers had dropped drastically but they seem to be rebounding well. The last couple of years it was rare to see more than 8 birds. This fall I had a flock of 67 walk past me.

That is some VERY nice game at your place, catscratch!

Good job on your management efforts.

My son was able to get his first deer over the weekend. We were both excited. We had a family friend and his son out too. He was able to get his first deer as well.

Gee, Chris, he looks almost as excited as you do.

Not my biggest, but respectable. Pretty bloody, but it was Halloween morning, and the bolt dropped it very quickly (entry hole above wife's right arm.). Other nice ones were too young and had better prospects if they made it through. He looked cooler before loosing the drop. Wife takes over after the shot. Really.

Rah is that you in the pix?

Very nice RAH!

I like a deer that requires two, or maybe three people, to lift it onto the table.

Pat: That is my wife field dressing the deer. She keeps her hair short after a health issue a few years back (not life threatening). I have a lot less hair than her. LOL
Rod: Tractor loader for moving that one around. Two years ago, I had one that weighed 208 lbs after field dressing. I did not weigh this one, but he was not that heavy. Still a brute. Our habitat work and herd management has really improved the size of the deer. Took my allowed 3 does as well. Indiana reduced the total number of does allowed across the state for folks like me that used to hunt archery, rifle, and muzzle loader. With the new rules, I was tagged out in early archery.

I never even saw a deer during buck season this year. (However, I do give the best spots to guests.)

So yesterday, I set up in my "open country" blind just to do some reconnaissance during antlerless season. I did get lucky and managed to bag a nice doe.

Of course, my bucks are apparently quite capable of reading the Kansas hunting regulations. I had a big, heavy 10-pointer walk into me about 30 minutes before sunset. He would turn sideways toward me, survey the scene, and then walk 10 yards closer and repeat the process. Certainly the biggest buck I have ever had standing still in my scope at close range. I think I could have bagged him with a slingshot at his closest approach.

I hope he can avoid the poachers and make it to the rut and then to buck season next year!

The group of does that walked in later, alerted me to their presence by kicking up a cock pheasant, who loudly voiced his displeasure at being disturbed.

It appears my bird populations (quail, pheasant, and turkeys) are all recovering from our previous 2-1/2 year drought. After everybody gets a doe for their freezer, I think I need to get back out to the property with some of my buddies that have good bird dogs.

Sure was nice to take a break from work and just observe all of the wildlife in a happy state. As we finished up the field-dressing, the barred owls and the coyotes thought we would enjoy some music!

This went to 2027

[I started a new deer thread for this season, if you want to move it over.]

Personally, I have never heard of feeding cotton seeds.

Might be interesting to set up one feeder with cotton seeds and one with corn in the same area and set up cameras to observe the deer behavior with two food sources? Evaluate time-of-day, male versus female, seasonal food preference moving to late fall, etc.