Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Deer Season '24/'25 Thread

Archery season has opened in many parts of the country, and firearms season should be opening soon!

I just wanted to start a thread for any good deer management observations or sage advice from some of the experts.

Of course, good game camera pictures, as well as pictures from successful hunts are always welcome.

Good luck to everyone this season!

We don't have the trophy deer around here that you folks have in the plains states. We pretty much have neighborhood deer and many of them pretty destructive to the landscape. I'm happy my 11th grade son has kept his interest in hunting. He has watched his game camera pictures and can often recognize the bucks he saw last season on this year's cameras, with a little growth in body and in the antlers. It is cool that he gets to recognize various deer as they move through and then can see some new bucks that also travel mostly at night.

He had his hopes set on what looked to be a very nice 8 point but the deer was cautious and only seen on cameras at night. He has spent a lot of hours in various blinds and stands and watched a lot of smaller does and a few spike antler bucks chasing them around. He would prefer to get one with a bow as he has only been successful last year with a gun. He didn't take a shot with his bow prior to gun season. He uses a Stevens 301 20 gauge with single shot break barrel. (sorry if I get the lingo wrong as I'm still new to all of this)

This week he watched a new buck not seen on camera before come into a clearing after a doe and decided to use part of his combo tag to harvest it. The body seemed lean but the rack was pretty symmetrical. We get to put some more venison sticks in the freezer and he was happy to have his first set of authentic antlers to use for rattling in other bucks.

The first 2 pictures attached are my son's deer.




I'll also attach a game camera picture of the desired larger 8 point.





Sadly he got word today that another hunter we BELIEVE got the larger 8 point in a protected apple orchard just beyond the rear of our property. When seeing the desired deer in real life one can see the antlers seem to have some real unusual bends in them. I expected with the larger antlers the body would be more solid but this deer also looks skinny. Can someone take a guess if the deer in the night time game cam pick is the same one in the last picture?

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Quite a view looking out the front door. I wanted to plant a cover crop this year but got hospitalized with a busted colon that Doc said hadn’t healed enough for me to do tractor stuff in the Fall. I’ve only been able to hunt a couple of times this year but saw nothing worth shooting. OTOH, a young couple spend a lot of time on my land getting away from apartment living in Fort Worth. They both took dang good bucks during bow season.

The past couple or three deer seasons I've let Mrs. Augie take care of the deer blasting.

She had better things to do this time so I bought a couple tags.

Took a middling sized doe opening weekend of the regular firearms season and a 9pt buck the 2nd weekend.

Now I have 88lbs of jalapeno/cheese slim jims and a bunch of back loin in the freezer.

No big bucks from me this year but had fun with my kids. The first picture is probably my favorite.

This is the best one we've seen on the trail-cam this year.

Yep. A lot of hogs in my area. They can't get in, but still cleanup around the edges of the fence.



My hog shootin' feeder without a fence.

The stand was from my father in law that got off a lease. We painted it and put on a better roof. The base is a stainless steel platform from an old Colgate plant that shut down. I’m dad bought some stuff out there at auction and got it for really cheap. Made a perfect deer stand base. Probably the only deer stand in the country with a stainless steel base.

Rod, Kudos to you to starting another excellent thread (IMHO)

I find a very common bond between deer and fish habitat. I've been a deer hunter for years and have seen the same results on my farm.

I'm trying to add habitat in my pond while the water is low so very interested in the experts opinions.

I've added BG beds with pea gravel and am attempting to create some artificial dense cover to add beside them to provide habitat for the newly hatched fry. Using artificial habitat has proved to be more challenging than expected.

I'm thinking of using the concept you posted that worked for deer in my pond by thinning out some small/medium trees on my farm. Then using the small/medium branches bundled together beside the BG beds. I would think this would accomplish the goal of making it immediately popular for the new fry this spring and provide the cover they need to grow to be a significant forage source for LMB.

I want to get the most benefit out of my work so thinking hardwoods would be the best. What do you and the experts think? Construction ideas would be appreciated.

No intention of hijacking your deer cover thread for fish info, but you have my wheels spinning

]FishinRod, if you get back into your new thickets check to see if they've been browsing the tops you fell. Dropping tree tops is a common strategy to help deer through the winter (up north where it's harsher). I've done it a few times during particularly cold spells. Deer love freshly dropped trees for both cover and food!


I hunted quite a bit last weekend. Didn't do anything but take shots with my phone, but had lots of great action.

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I think the hardwoods would last longer, and I think osage orange/hedge apple would be your best bet if you need to clear or thin any of those trees.

However, one of the experts on the forum (can't remember who) said to not worry much about your woody cover degrading over time. He said that the fish will use it for different purposes over its "life cycle" in the pond. For example, if it is really brushy next spring, then your small BG and Golden Shiners, etc. will use the dense cover. Later when it degrades to just a few main branches, your bass will use it as ambush cover. Hopefully, by that time, you will have put in some newer cover again for the smaller fish.

Cats....After you upload the photo if you hover over the uploaded file there is a box that shows "embed" file.

1. Make sure you have the cursor on the right spot in the text message or cut and paste the link into where you want it.
2. "Embed into Post"

Interestingly enough if you do the "embed" option and add the file again without the embed it will put the file in both places (in the body and as a thumbnail below)


It will put a string (looks like a hyperlink from a website) in the body of your message and that is where the photo will show up in the body of your message.

Or at least that's how I do it.


Good Luck.

I’ve hunted twice and seen nothing. However a young couple, both bow hunters, took a couple of whopper bucks off my place. The bow hunters get an extra month to hunt prior to rifle season.

I was walking property with our tenant last night about 5:15pm; his son called - he was checking some cattle on a tract about 15 miles south of us. His son witnessed a mtn lion take down a doe. He was watching a buck mount the doe when the big cat took her down. He said the cat was lightning fast; the buck was dumbfounded. What a site to see. This was in southern Okmulgee County OK

That is a handsome boy, Zep!

Damn! If I'd known about that, I'd have distributed some Tilapia filets.

Wish I could PM you guys some of it. I love me some deer reubens and grilled pastrami sandwiches!

Stuck one. Time to make pastrami!

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How do I post pics? My son killed his first deer Saturday.

I tried to attach let's see if it worked.

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Man... look at that kid smile! Congrats to both of you!

The babies usually take a month or so before they'll jump in. But adults go right over.

I was worried about the size when I first built it. It's only 30' and read 40' is really the minimum, but it hasn't seemed to matter. I've filmed 6 in there at once and 3 more on the outside waiting their turn. Ha.

(It also looks smaller in that picture than it is. Here's a turkey and a deer in there together.)



And here's a shot you rarely see. Deer and hogs eating together (sort of)...