Hopefully I picked the correct forum area to post this. My apologies if it’s in the wrong spot.
We bought this place to build a pond, but we also decided to take up deer hunting. I’ve been a bird (quail) hunter for 45 years. Took up deer hunting six years ago when quail numbers dropped so low bird hunts were pointless. Last two years have produced biggest bucks. Actually liking deer hunting.
Latest buck (from Nov 2019) is on the left. I know, these are small racks compared to those Texas freaks. Ha!

Not so small by small acreage standards Setter. Well done. I killed a 140 class off our 65 acres, best yet

Still trying to break 170.

Those are nice bucks by any standards.

BTW, quail are history here also.

Thanks Dave. There’s some bigger ones running around here.
I take your comments seriously, coming from a a Texan..

Those are nice deer RAH and Setterguy, I like the display settings on both, I know the theory about the 170 barrier, its tough, came close last fall on my 80 acre farm I bought and built my pond on, 168 1/2, so close!

Head mounts are pretty pricey, but if I get one over 170, I may need to crack open the piggy bank. I credit my hunting success with habitat enhancement and not hunting skill. However, what I lack in talent, I make up for with persistence. I love sitting out that time of year! Was out trimming back invasive honeysuckle along the trails this morning. Those of us with a piece of property are very lucky!

Here’s my first deer 5 yrs ago. Rookie deer hunter at 60 yrs old. It was legal, but that’s about the only thing you can say about him. Most notable thing for us was, the burger was delicious (with pork fat added).
I got the two above mounted because I doubt I’ll ever get one bigger. We don’t have a lot of control on our 62 acres. We, and the neighbors are getting more selective. There’s still some bigger bucks out there.

FYI, I’ve got a guy that’ll do the mount for $450. Pricey, but worth it to me.

The next year this “monster” came by. Then the two above.

Trophies are always in the eyes of the beholder, especially when it’s taken by a new hunter or a kid

I took a lot of small ones in my 30s when I started out hunting. Hard to believe that was almost 30 years ago... I did hunt exclusively with a bow back then. Had to sit out regular gun season this year as I filled my tags during early archery and knew that I had some surgery scheduled that would keep me out of the woods. I did get to fill my muzzle loader tag though. Trophies are in fact in the eyes of the beholder. I now pass on bucks that would have left me shaking years ago. I am just glad that I am still healthy enough to get out there! Deer are regrowing their antlers right now.

If we can get the surrounding properties to pass on young bucks they will get better and better. Unfortunately they don’t have that mindset to wait

I gave up on that and just let them chase the older bucks into my place where they have everything they need. Of course, that means they chase all the does into my place:)

I am overpopulated with too many young bucks and does, and some of pretty sketchy bloodlines, scragly little lopsided basket racks and such that really need to be thinned out of the breeding herd, but I have a hard time getting people to shoot the little suckers,, everybody is sitting back waiting on the nice big ones leaving the little ones to proliferate. I have one on the game cameras now that is already out past his ear tips, he should be pretty nice by this fall. but then those are the ones I need to breed and eliminate the scrubs.

Personally, I’d still much rather quail hunt, but there just a fraction of the birds around that used to be here. My quail hunting buddy and I had access to two big farms in IL that each held 13 big coveys. Plus many places in Missouri that had good numbers. We both had good dogs, because there were so many birds to train dogs with. Amazing times. I’m getting to like this deer hunting though. Lots more meat per season/hunt/shot. Ha! The only quail I ever had mounted were the first wild quail shot by my sons. (Both hens). The pheasant in the pic above was pointed by my 5th Setter Cash, on his last hunt. Practically deaf and blind at 16. He did not retrieve the rooster, never heard the shot.

The key to improving trophy bucks is doe control. That lowers the rate of smaller bucks breeding. Leave the little guys to fight it out. I have never really hunted anything else. No peasant here and quail are sparse. I did see and hear a lot more turkey this year, so maybe if they get thick, I might have to try that.

It's about the food in my opinion when it comes to big bucks and or quail numbers. Much like growing large fish. Habitat is also a strong influence in size and numbers. Same with fish. Many blame poor racks on genetics but it has been proven (to me) that if the food is there, along with the right habitat you can raise larger numbers of good bucks per acre. Whether it be quail or better bucks on a given piece of land, an excess of food makes a difference. I have seen the same with quail and the number of coveys per acre. Rah, I am not saying doe numbers don't have an influence, they do, because I have seen where a buck/doe ratio of one to one defiantly made for easier hunts because there were more bucks per acre to hunt. Especially, if the food is there. And, I have seen a 120 pt buck where it was a trophy to the one that shot it. I have also seen where a Doe was a trophy.

Genetics are required to grow big bucks, but they will not be realized without food, water, and minerals. My retired neighbor only traps, but he says every critter in the area comes to my place. I think our trick to holding multiple dominant bucks is dense cover in multiple areas since even the biggest bucks can't be two places at once. Unlike many, I do not fret over coyotes killing some deer (especially fawns) since there are plenty to go around and diseases thrive at high densities. So far so good with the health of our herd! BTW - Years ago, a 120 buck would have been the cat's meow to me. Just keep trying to beat my old records.

Southern Ontario Canada grows some nice bucks. I would rather take a nice doe for eating ahead of a rutted out buck.

Cheers Don.

Nice mature deer! We eat every scrap of meat (what is not fit for us, the dogs eat along with a lot of bones), but I don't hunt for meat. For most, venison is the most expensive meat we eat per pound. Could work at McDonald's and by prime beef if one spent as much time working there as hunting, even if not considering the cot of gear:)

We love the meat. The flavor and lean. The only thing is when we visit friends and have say burger or steak I feel the meat has no taste if that makes sense to you. Had some store bought burgers the other day that if it wasn't for the onions are mustard there would not have been any flavor.

Tastes are definitely individual. I actually prefer fish and would rather have button mushrooms than morels. However, I enjoy collecting morels very much. People are strange that way:)

My Dad was an avid quail hunter from the 1940's through the 1970's. I hunted with him from the mid 60's through 1974. When quail became scarce, he became an avid deer and turkey hunter. In 1992, he bagged a NW Arkansas whitetail that had a 22 inch spread, 17 points, and small shovels. Field dressed, weighed 200 pounds. He was going for that one's nearly identical "brother" when, a couple days after a missed opportunity, that second deer was killed on Arkansas Hwy 265.

Maybe someday I'll see a monster like that!

My little 133 acre place has some truly monster bucks on it. I know that due to game cam pics at feeders. Of course, they are prior to the season start and nocturnal.

Our place is mostly timber, but 10 ac of soybeans every year. The surrounding land is 90% nice flat corn fields. The buck above on the left had a huge amount of corn in his belly. I didn’t notice it until I went back through to see if gut pile was getting cleaned up. It looked like someone had dumped out a large pail of corn. That was cleaned up in no time too. We eat deer burgers almost every week. Cooked on the grill like we used to cook regular hamburger. I’m liking it just fine, especially with crazy beef prices right now. Tenderloins, jerky, meat sticks, summer sausage, and brats are almost gone already, but we still have a lot of burger left. Deer tacos, deer chili, deer meatloaf, deer shepherds pie, ha! This is the meat from the older buck, but cut with pork fat. Still very lean.
I may donate meat from these older bucks in the future, and take a button buck for meat.

how do you source a ready supply of pork fat for mixing?

CC, I don’t. Two of my neighbors worked at the local processor when they were in HS, now their kids work there. They assured me that I would only get my deer back (except for jerky and summer sausage) and not have it mixed in with someone else’s gut shot deer that sat in the sun for two days. They are reasonably priced and quick. They have a choice of pork or aged beef fat for the burger. We’ve tried both, and have stayed with the pork.
The only thing I wished he did differently was he won’t let it hang long. No room.

My late father-in-law once cleaned all of the connective tissue out of the thawed meat from several deer. It took him a complete day. The result was the best meat that we ever had. It could be ground and made into fantastic hamburgers with no additives. I simply do not have the patience for this. I believe that the refrigerator thawing was the perfect aging process, but his meticulous removal of connective tissue was the reason it was so good.

Our very experienced veterinarian cautioned me back in 2016 or so about eating local deer, with the prevalence of CWD starting locally. I haven't eaten any since maybe 2012 or so. Dad didn't hunt after early in the 2010 season, passed in May 2011 at he age of 84.

That is a fact.

I've done it that way since I started deer hunting. It's a lot of work, but it's worth the effort.

When you get rid of all that stuff, whitetail deer is about as good as red meat gets.

So far the deer diseases have not been found in my area. We do have a lot of deer which is why I don't worry about the coyotes (and bobcats) thinning out the herd.

Our county in Missouri hasn’t found any CWD yet. Our processor says he’s not cutting through bones anyway. I guess if it hits our county we will have to get it tested before we decide to eat it? We are certainly not over populated at the farm.
Our home in St Louis sits next to a 2,000 ac State Park. We are definitely over populated there. I’ve had seven plus deer in my front yard many times. My sons used to shoot them with paintball guns to get them out of the plants. When we built in 1984 if we saw a deer it was big news. Getting to be way too many here now.
The farm, not even half the deer numbers.