Do you ever keep a buck a secret. I think I’m gonna keep one of these bucks a secret Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Umm.. it’s kind of to late for that. Lol but seriously yes I have. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes my wife is currently cut off from viewing any trail cam pictures. I showed her a few pics a week ago last Saturday I went to a family gathering on her side of the family. I get to the party and her nephew walked up and said I heard that you have some nice bucks walking around. Some people can not be trusted with certain information.
I’d say it’s relative to the size of the deer and the area where you hunt. For example if I were you and had pictures of those bucks in PA I would definitely keep them to myself. Given that you are in Illinois it seems... I wouldn’t think that any of those deer would garner much attention. They are nice deer no doubt but not anything that would phase most of the hunters in the area where they are walking around. For me (hunting in KY) I tend to keep info a little tighter on deer over 160” or so. I’ll still show some people the pictures and even share with a select few but I’m not going to post them on FB or just wholesale text them out to everyone I know. Pictures of 180-200” deer spread like wildfire and some people are capable of some pretty outlandish crap when they find out about deer of that caliber. It would be so much more fun if all that info could be shared but sadly there are just too many pitfalls.
I have five people i share pics with, my friend who hunts the property next to me to try and pattern a buck, a good friend who hunts 200 miles away, a groomsman from my wedding, the best man in my wedding and my father. They all share theirs so its kinda like having black mail on each haha
I showed a good friend a pic of a 190+ buck one time, there’s public nearby, so I encouraged him to hunt. Well he showed his brother, under the agreement that they would hunt there together, well his brother went a little crazy, and started hunting there without telling him. And the two got in a big fight about it and didn’t talk for awhile. It’s funny what antlers can make people do, I didn’t look at it as a big deal, I still inform him on deer around, but he keeps it secret from his brother now.
I never tell anyone about deer on my wife’s side of the family. My wife and kids know not to talk about deer around them. Lol Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
No secrets here. If someone kills a deer legally that Im after Im happy for them. Im a little sad but it just wasn't meant to be.
Depends on situation. If I'm sharing the property, I'm pushing all involved to share info as I hate hunting with people that are keeping secrets. I've learned to not end up in a situation sharing property with people that don't have the same view on this. It just doesn't work well unless everyone is on the same page, and I've often found if not sharing info you can actually do more damage than good. When it comes to sharing info with people I don't hunt with, I'm usually only sharing with a close inner circle of friends. I've shared quite a bit on the show as well in the past, not sure if that was the best idea or not. If I ever get a true giant though (like 180+) and I'm confident he truly lives on one of the places I hunt, I'm likely not going to share too much unless I get him killed.
As a general rule I don't tell anyone especially the neighbors. If they find him and harvest him then that is great. I'm not going to do all the leg work to let them know that there is a big deer around. If they put in the time and money to keep track of deer then they should know what is around. The truth of the matter is the only way that 2 people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead.
I rarely share big buck pics, with the exception of my wife (because she could care less) and a couple other close friends. I don’t like sharing pics because I anticipate the bucks will vanish during the season and don’t want to get my hopes up. That, and I don’t want to alert the locals that the properties I work hard to scout have good bucks on them
I keep every buck a secret. Especially the ones I get. The neighbors would burn my stands (maybe even my house) if they saw what I have shot.
I share with others that don’t hunt the same property, even though I share one property with my uncle and long time friend. I used to share with them I was thinking I would be happy if one of us got a good deer on the property but I know they hold out on me. So I’ll share all the small ones with them and some does because they don’t shoot them. Sent from my iPad using Bowhunting.com Forums
Like Rick James, if I am hunting a shared piece of property with someone I'm keeping no secrets cause it truly will cause more harm than good. If honest with all seen with a buddy good things can happen, and you should be happy for that partner if they're the ones to Harvest. For all others I pull the ol "I actually haven't seen a good buck all year" card and act like my spots suck Hah.
When I share property with others I don't keep deer secret. But I also don't share every small tidbit of information that I gather either. I may not keep the deer's existence a secret but I also may not share exactly where I think they are living, feeding, traveling, etc. Some things you just need to earn on your own.
That's something I don't have to worry about. Where I hunt, it's a rare day to get a pic of a BIG buck. I have very average deer in my woods, so I don't mind sharing pics.
