You do not need to edit anything. Let it ride. I am not trying to prove anyone or anything wrong. I just understand that different people have different goals and I never want to be in someones way to obtain their goal just because it is not an animal I would take. Nothing more, nothing less. My stepdad is in his low 60's has hunted his entire life and has one buck that would eclipse 90 inches. That is truth, he doesn't hunt with the same goals as me. A "fork" or six pointer makes him happy and it makes me happy to go out back and drag it out for him (he hunts on my land). The better bucks in the areas I hunt are generally 140 to 150. Sometimes I find one I am able to hunt up to the 160's. These are the type of bucks I target. This year on all of my local spots I have only found one target buck all summer. Although, I spend most of my hunting time on public land, as I much prefer the larger tracts of land to chase them on.
me personally....if it would be my biggest buck....ill strongly consider shooting him. but I try to let non mature bucks walk. I have never killed a HUGE buck.....but I just got my first really nice buck this season. but I believe it should be how you want to manage your herd. your decision totally. I would recommend letting smaller bucks go cause that's the only way to get big ones. but that's just me. you gotta do what you feel is best brother... happy hunting!
Seen some data that collared deer traveling over twenty miles so how an the deer be off limits to hundreds of other hunters?
Sure there's nothing wrong with that but that's a different scenario and situation that what I presume Tom is dealing with and asking about. In a managed club type situation, if a club wants to have an ongoing management program, they can't just invite people in and let them shoot whatever makes them happy. By in large, potential members are willing to join especially because of the managed environment and the perks that come with that so they are going to be expecting and tolerant of some rules like "off limits" lists, etc... I think there's room for annoyance for people that will invite someone in to go hunting and then dictate to them what they can shoot and what they can't but in a club type circumstance where a management plan is implemented as a club goal then it's pretty understandable. Two very different circumstances that offer different experiences.
Most of the hunters in our group have the same standards of trying to harvest deer of 4.5 years or older and plenty of does early in the year. With that being said every year a management buck or a quick shot is taken and a deer that isn't 4.5+ will be taken and as long as its not the same hunter making the mistake every year none of us ever seem to have a problem. Now for beginners until you are 15 you are aloud to shoot whatever deer makes you happy but most get one or two under their belt then want to shoot big ones like their dads and do their best to hold of the younger deer (doesn't always happen though).
Me and my two hunting partners on my local spot just use our best judgement. We all have shot nice bucks so none of us needs to get our feet wet. So we go by the history and we try to take those we know are 4.5 and older. If a 3.5 has amazing genetics and scores into the 150 range we will take him. We just dont have enough control because its only 200 acres and half of that is gun and bow hunted heavily by other hunters with no standards. To each their own. I just hope i can aquire my own 500 acres one day. That would be big enough to start doing decent management
I agree that you've got yourself a 3 yr old deer there Tom. Probably gonna blow up into a giant next year. If it was my property and everyone that was hunting it with me was on the same page and looking for mature bucks and getting them to their greatest potential then I don't see the problem with putting on an off limits list. Just hope he makes it to next year and go from there. Can't control a lot of the variables away from your own property. Can't believe the people on here that want to start an argument over everything.
Even if I leased land I wouldn't put any buck off limits here. Our deer just move around too much and rifle season falls during rut. I know what size buck I want to kill which is usually top end for here or the biggest I can find scouting. There is just too great of a chance that someone else is going to kill it during rifle season to bother with putting one off limits. If a friend is happy killing it... I am happy for them. While it is great to see a buck make it to 5 years old... most just aren't going to make it here. I would concentrate my efforts on make a very good sanctuary that was off limits. The doe would be off limits until after rut. I want them drawing in the big bucks during rut. With the high amount of pressure that our area sees with waterfoul season and all the duck/goose hunters... that will push the deer into my sanctuary as well. There would be no duck hunting allowed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would work on the things I "CAN" control. That would benefit me much more then putting a buck off limits for "my" area. After rifle season would be the only time it might be worth putting a buck off limits. By then it is cold and most of the bow hunters are done anyways so it hardly matters. LOL Tim
Obviously you can not control what happens when a buck is off of the property that you hunt, that is something that is beyond your control. If we let the buck walk maybe he makes it maybe he doesn't but I know one thing for damn sure if one of us shoot him he isn't going to get any older or any bigger. Everyone also has there opinion on how old a mature buck is, just because someone thinks a 3 1/2 year old buck is mature doesn't make it so. It all comes down to personal preference and what works best for each group. I didn't ask anyone if they agree with this topic or not, or does this topic annoy you, I asked the people who put a buck or bucks on a off limit list, how do you go about it.
You answered your own question. " It all comes down to personal preference and what works best for each group." Maybe you should be asking your group and not us... if you don't like our answers. Duh !!!!! :p Tim
How does one go about putting a buck "off limts"? "Hey guys, no one shoot the buck in these game cam pics this year". Am I missing something?
Tom, First of all to answer your question. We as a group try to always let any three year olds that we believe have great potential walk. That is our rule within the family . Of course it has its exceptions and mistakes but thats what we try to accomplish from a management stand point. For the bucks that we are going to try and let walk we always share the trail cam pics within our group and Try to get every ones opinion that way we are all on the same page.
As someone else said - it depends on the property and the people I'm hunting with. I'll provide two examples. Example 1 - Suburban Farm Mike (dukemichaels) and I are the only two guys who bowhunt a relatively large section of a much larger farm. We've both shot plenty of good bucks in our lives and are working towards shooting larger/older deer. In addition, this particular farm doesn't hold a lot of deer or a lot of older age class bucks. For this reason we have a discussion each year on some of the younger deer (3 year olds) we get on camera and decide among ourselves if we want to shoot them or not. At no time do we tell the other person they can't shoot one of those bucks if they want to, but if we agree that we're both going to pass we do our best to adhere to that agreement. Despite Illinois being a 2 buck state for residents we also have an agreement that we can each only shoot a single known buck from this farm each year. The only circumstance you may be able to kill a 2nd buck is if it's a wondering deer from a neighboring property that just happens to show up during the rut. In this case he's fair game. We plan on hunting this farm for years to come and are actively working towards making the hunting better by not over harvesting our bucks. I think the most important thing here is that we work together and agree on the bucks we're not going to shoot. It's not one person enforcing their will on the other. Example 2 - Lease Farm Tom Alford and I are the only two guys hunting this farm, which is roughly 300 acres. Much like my hunting back home I really have no desire to whack a 3 year old. My wall is full of them at this point so I'm looking for something a little older. However Tommy will whack and stack those bucks all day long. There's at least 3 or 4 of them running around that I'm going to pass but he'll gladly shoot. I'd love to see them live another year and have a shot at them next year, but if they get killed they get killed. Such is life. At no point have I felt the need to put any of those deer on the off-limits list. If he wants to shoot one, have at it. He's paid just as much money as I have and has just as much right to shoot something as I do. IMO it's important to have these discussions with your hunting partners before you get into a lease or sharing property with them. This farm also has a much higher deer population and a greater number or mature (3+) deer so there's no 1 buck limit. That's all I've got.
Am I on archery talk?? Hard to tell with the arguing... On my small piece of prop in RI, I've had some great bucks on camera, and the only bucks we put off limits are forks spikes and button bucks. But I've always told him to shoot what makes you happy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Everyone knows I don't hunt enough land on any of my properties to truly protect a buck, but Pops and I have fairly similar harvest desires, his slightly lower but about the same. Sure there are some 2 1/2 year old 8s that I've passed that he has said no way he's passing (he's even shot one of them once)...but all in all we both pass yearlings and for the most part he can hold off on most 2 1/2's. Now granted if I owned a decent chunk of ground perhaps I'd declare no go on some more...but as long as I live I probably will never afford land in my area so not gonna worry about it unless I start sharing ground with someone other than Pops.
This guy was passed several times in 2013. This is him in 2015. We usually just shoot what makes us happy:
If it was my land, what I would do is tell those I allow to hunt what my management strategy is for that particular year and why. They can shoot what they choose, but I would hope they had enough respect and appreciation to try and follow my plan.
We have just now reached the end of our 5 year deer management plan on our property which we purchased about 5 years ago. Since we own a small property, we first wanted to take the first 5 years and maximize the habitat, minerals, and food to improve what little influence we have on the local herd. We know that there's mostly pasture and deep woods around us and not much food in terms of crop or other hunters providing what we do on our property so even though it's only 9 acres, deer are frequenting our property. Often times more than just once a day. With that being said, we have noticed that what used to be 1.5 year old spikes are now 4 pointers, what used to be 2.5 year old 4-6 pointers are now showing up to be 6-8 pointers. We have decided to continue our initial plan and after a few more years, our goal will be to shoot only 3.5+ year old deer. As of now, I have already instituted that goal on myself but my friend and brother in law are still newer to hunting so they have decided to stick with the goal of 2.5+ year old deer. So for us, it's individual for now, but once we get a few more years of good deer management under our belt, we will institute a stricter "policy".
