What is "trophy land"??........and do I have it??

This year was rough so I type this knowing the sting of a poor season could be clouding my perspective but it's more then that so I'd like to hear from guys with no skin in my game for an outsiders objective viewpoint.

We have 350 acres of private land in some of the best area NY has to offer. Definite 1% for potential of tagging a slob that looks like he took a train in from a few states over. It's as good as you could ever ask for besides a few geographical negatives and some over critical tiny flaws but they are there. The bad part is it is still NY and the number of those slobs is still quite low and while it's easy to fall victim to the "any day" or lottery mentality.......you need to be realistic about what your chances are. Even though they are better then almost anywhere in the state they are still not good.

We have been there 6 years now and killed only 3 bucks over 120" (2 rifle). We have killed 12 bucks in the 90-100+ range (7 rifle).

Now that is 3 guys hunting both seasons and dad just gun. 15 bucks for 4 guys from 90-120+ in 6 years certainly doesn't suck but we have been under the impression for years now that we were hunting real trophy land and now I'm not sure if that's true or even if I know what trophy land means.

My oldest brother didn't hunt much bow this year so between two of us we saw a grand total of 5 slammers on their feet from 120"-140". Bunch of mid sized 2 1/2 year olds and tons of small bucks of all kinds. We killed nothing. We saw squat all gun season except the does reappeared for some reason until the last week and my brother shot a nice wide 120"ish 8 pt and my dad and I shot 2 smaller but decent 8's. We all killed the biggest bucks we saw during gun.

Our land is weird........it's transitional with very few funnels or choke points. Kinda just a big block of woods in the middle of a huge block of woods. The deer are maddeningly hard to pattern and after 6 years we honestly don't have a favorite or "money" stand on the whole place. You are just as likely to see a slammer and 12 does from any given stand as you are to see nothing for a week. It's crazy. Food plots helped keep the deer on our land more as a destination vs just passing through. Passing bucks has NOTHING.......I mean zero to change what we saw on camera, in the field and with our weapons. We are basically now just gonna kill whatever we want whenever we want as long as it's a nice 8 or better.

After 6 years I'm starting to think that I've been hunting through rose colored glasses. If we could expect a shot at a trophy buck on any sort of consistent basis we would know it by now. I'm starting to re-evaluate my expectations and goals for our place. The trail cams will convince anyone to sit and wait on the slammers but truth be told the sightings are still few and far between come fall and the encounters remain rare.

What is my place then?........I don't know actually. It's a GREAT place to hunt in NY with the potential every time you go sit in the stand to see a beast in the 150-180" range. It seriously is possible. In reality though you are most likely in for a nice hunt with a bunch of does and a small buck or two with the ocassional thrill. You can tag out more years then not on all the does you have tags for and average to above bucks with a legit chance at a slob.

Is that "trophy land"??

Reliable trophy land to me offers opportunities on a consistent basis at big boys........I don't care if it's rifle, bow, or ML. Potential doesn't mean a thing without opportunity. We have tons of opportunities at medium sized bucks but only hopes of a possible yet still rare chance at a beast.

I'm leaning more towards our place being great hunting ground with a not likely but real chance of something special walking by.

Are we expecting too much??........am I being too harsh of a critic??


Would love to hear how some of you would describe "trophy land"

Here's the buck I shot.......good example of the bucks we have passed for years with absolutely zero results in what we saw. Got tired of being a spectator and it was December 12th so the 30 06 sent a hand loaded Barnes his way

 

Trophy is a very subjective word. As is the word hunt. It sounds like you and your friends have had some great times and hunts on this land. That is awesome. Genetics along with habitat are vital in producing big deer but food and minerals play a bigger role in my opinion. Depending on the surrounding land and if there are farmers and their crops that are available, I would work on more food plots. Small, easily bow hunted plots. You can place them in areas that are easy to access and that will help your hunt. Most of all, keep on enjoying your opportunity.

(and if it is just to overwhelming, I'm just over in Vermont and would be glad to come over and help you control your population!)

 

Quit watching hunting shows and quit comparing your hunts to everyone else.

 

It's all about limiting factors no matter where you are in the country. A mix of circumstances, right or wrong, is what generates consistently big deer, you have to find the limiting factors and decide if you can have any positive influence on those or if circumstances dictate that it's totally out of your hands and accept what you have.

From what I've always heard and seen, NY deer are typically smaller by nature than deer in big ag country, it's quite possible you just can't effect a large enough area in either nutrition or selective age structure to achieve what you want to. Bucks move and cover large areas and without a co-op around the area of like minded people with similar goals in high population areas, you may just never be able to have a NY/KS.

Now that said, it seems like for your area of the country, you're not giving your farm quite enough credit. Seems to me that if you have genuine opportunities to see true slobs in NY...you have accomplished more than 99.9% of the state already. My .02.

 

If it were me, I would be ready to break out heavy equipment and change the property to where the deer would be more patternable. If you are getting some really big deer on camera then they are obviously using the property quite often. Changing the property to benefit both you and the deer seems like an alternative to me. Would you mind attaching a pic of it?

 

I didn't even read the whole post, but in a word yes, your expectations are too high, this is NY. You are seeing very nice bucks, so that's a plus, but bottom line is if you want to shoot a 150" you can't shoot a 120".

 

Your land automatically becomes a trophy land if it holds trophy does!

 

Killing 15 bucks in the 90-100" range in the last 6yrs isn't exactly the let em go let em grow strategy that will yield mature bucks. What age would you say those bucks were? If they are 2.5s at 100" you most likely have the potential your after. Set a minimum Like 3.5yr and up, or 120" plus and stick to it. If your afraid to eat your buck tag any given year you won't see the results your after.

 

I don't watch hunting shows and our land is better then 99% of the state.


Just trying to honestly evaluate what we have.

 

I feel like our input/control is very positive.........maybe I am neglecting important factors unknowingly?

As I said......our place is great. The sting of countless unproductive hours in the stand has me a bit edgy.

 

Then bloom where you are planted and enjoy it. Every time you sit in the stand thinking this sucks be grateful that your land is better than 99% of the state.

 

That's the problem.....the deer USE our land mostly to get from one place to another. Not much of a home base but food plots have helped. Honestly once the rut starts we resort to hoping for a hot doe to drag a pig by us and when that's done we hope the neighbors stir up their woods and push a beast to us for gun. The buck movements are very difficult to predict.

 

I never think it sucks.......I wonder if i think its something it's not

 

How often is the land hunted by more than 1 hunter?

 

Didn't work for us at all. We passed bucks for 3 straight years and it didn't change a thing. We still pass anything less then a decent 8. Has made absolutely no difference to us. We could have and in hindsight should have just killed those bucks as it didn't matter one way or the other.

 

Those numbers are skewed as we killed a bunch when we first got it and 5 this year sandwiched around a 3-4 year run of passing buck after buck and seeing no change whatsoever in ANY aspect of our land.......cams,field,seasons......nothing. We wasted 3-4 years of our hunting lives. Never again.

If we shot only 3.5 year olds we would probably kill a buck or two between the 4 of us every 5 or so years. Any idea what 350 acres and a cabin costs in prime hunting country?? Besides, my dad is nearing 70.........he doesn't have those kinds of years to play with and I am the youngest........I have no desire to shoot maybe 3-4 bucks over the next 20 years.

 

On the land? Often.

Anywhere near each other? Rarely.

 

I used to be in your position somewhat frustrated with the size of the deer I would see on my land. I would see the same does every night and sooner of later an 8 pointer would come in and I would shoot it. I found less is better I don't hunt early season and keep the pressure off until it is time. Prerut can be better than the actual rut.

 

So what is it exactly that you're wanting out of this farm and your deer hunting experience?

 

No, you likely don't have trophy land. There are certainly things you could do to improve it but not sure the results would be worth the squeeze from your point of view.