Do Moose count? I've yet to get out for deer this season and might not the way things are going whoever I did tip over a Moose with the archery gear in September. 15 year draw. Solo hunt with Iphone picture so it is not the best however... If this doesn't qualify I'll pull it down....
The "red" deer are so bright now when you see them in the summer sun! Have you started your feeders yet, or are those pics over a food plot?
Thats pretty cool about the colors. At this cam we just threw out some corn. We don't hunt, but like to see the deer and others attracted to the corn. We tell the big bucks to stay on our land and they wont get killed....but they don't listen...lol
Chris, Those are some really nice deer. That last one is amazing. Would love to see one like that some day. Nice!
There are even bigger ones shot on neighboring properties every year. We never seem to hold the biggest deer for some reason. Got a biologist coming out in March to make a plan for us
I have kicked up lots of does and fawns working at the farm the last few weeks. I am amazed at the binary color patterns of our deer.
We have a lot of ground that is in native tall-grass prairie. It has a red hue when it goes dormant in the fall. Our deciduous tree areas mostly turn gray in the winter since that is the color of the trunks and bare branches.
I have deer that are brown-red in color and others that are brown-gray in color. I see both colors in the same group when they are moving together in bunches during the winter.
The "red" deer are so bright now when you see them in the summer sun!
Have you started your feeders yet, or are those pics over a food plot?
Yes they can do a lot of damage to crops. We are covered up with mostly sows and young.... we work on the boars to the point where the boars are getting smaller and smaller
Mark, I keep forgetting to tell you how nice those bucks are. We had a buck roaming around here last year that was near the size of the big one on the second pic. Once the acorns fell, we never saw him again. I was at one of my neighbor's house right before Christmas, and there was 4 of us who had recorded the same buck. Miles of roaming, and he's still around here somewhere.
There are some good-looking bucks but that one is really nice looking. I will see two or three of those nicer bucks each year but I only got one opportunity at those better bucks a few yrs ago but he busted me while trying to take aim with my bow.
Another way to perhaps keep the hounds out is to allow a trapper access to your place and let the neighbor know it.
That is a good idea!
I was going to have a trapper out 2 years ago to get a family of beavers that were cutting all of my trees along the creek. We then had two massive floods and I have not had any beavers since then.
I also have bobcats on my farm, but I think they may actually be improving my upland bird populations. My neighbor used to have at least 20 barn cats, which I would sometimes see on my farm. After the bobcats moved in, I no longer see the barn cats on my land, or even around my neighbor's buildings.
My bird populations are going UP! I think one family of bobcats does much less damage than a large number of semi-feral housecats.
At this time, I don't think I should have any trappers on the property. I do not like to tell little lies in life, because that makes it easier to tell bigger lies.
However, some warning signs at my gates about ongoing trapping operations might be very helpful!
Rod, you really don't know for sure if any trappers may have snuck in to your place. So the warning isn't really a lie, it's more an abundance of caution & consideration for the well being of would be trespassers. Remember, it's not a lie if you believe it!
Late 1940s Winchester 70. Grampa Wilkie bought it after he got home from his stint as a ball turret gunner on a B17.
I've owned it since 1986. I should retire it, but I have this irrational emotional attachment to the old thing that I just can't shake off.
That’s pretty cool. I’d keep using it. I doubt you’re wearing it out. I hunt with an old Belgian Browning from the 50s. I bought it used, and it’s pretty darn accurate to 200 yards. Beyond that I don’t trust myself. My dad and grandad never hunted. No firearms in our house. Maybe my grandson pictured above will want it. Here’s a picture of it with my buck from a few years ago.
We are currently in "doe season" in Kansas. I went out yesterday to re-fill feeders so my nephews can still get a deer this season.
I also swapped out my camera cards. I did not realize that my big bucks were capable of reading the Kansas hunting regulations!
I had a picture of one of our bigger 10-point bucks at a feeder at 7:38 AM. It is an easy 65-yard shot from the adjacent blind. He only fed during the wee hours of the night during the entire buck season.
Hopefully, he will be even bigger next season! I also hope he is slightly dumber next year and will feed during daylight hours more often.
(Is it wrong of me to root for him to suffer a slight concussion during next season's rut?)
LOL, nope! Best chance of getting him is patterning him prior to the first day of the season and getting him on day 1. BUT the big bucks here seem to have a calendar and seem to disappear the week before our bow season opens which is the first season - opening Oct 1 in non-deer reduction areas.