2009 Buck Harvest By Age Class - You Might Be Surprised!

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No surprise here In Minnesota on the age class. Great Info, thanks for sharing!

 

I'm disappointed in my state, but not surprised.

 

Yep welcome to Michigan!!!And you wonder why no one wants to come here and spend there money hunting.. Michigan is missing out on Billions of dollars that could be going to our blue coller people like the stores/resturants/hotels/sporting goods ect.. Can't break the tradtition I only hunt for meat not horns and you guys into horn porn can't force me too.. But if you ask that same hunter if there were two bucks standing next to each other and 1 was a 10pt and 1 a spike or forkie which he would shoot you would get 100% of the time the 10pt dumby who wouldn't.. If we would just make a few changes here in Michigan there would be enough of all to bring hunters here and for the guys that live here.. First I am against antler restritions I don't want to tell anyone what they have to shoot, But if Michigan would just go to 1 buck!! Then make the whole state shotgun only and then get rid of the 15 day slotter and make it more like Illinois and Iowa with the gun season split up so the bucks are not getting wiped out during the rut but the gunners have some rut days that would also take some of the stress off the deer to get a break from 750,000 gunners pounding them for 15 days straight you would see a huge difference IMO..Only..

 

Sample size has to be taken into account here as well. Don't ever look at statistics without looking at the data behind them. What states don't even have deer aging stations in them? How many states is it just voluntary? The questions go on and on for me.

 

I was talkin with a friend at work about blacktail huntin because this will be my first time huntin them, and with the bow. I said I would only take a mature buck and he said take any buck you see because it may be the only one you get a chance at for years. I still will only try for a mature buck but I wonder how many people think like him.

 

Very good point Rob. In the defense of this article though I've read this Info from other publications stating that Minnesota shoots more 1.5 year old bucks percentage wise then any other state In the country. The hunting here shows It too.

 

Gun season smack in the middle of the rut doesn't help MN either.

 

I think my point was canted more toward the other end Steve but it applies to both. AK doesn't have deer aging but if we did I think we'd be way up on the mature harvest end due to the vast country that deer get to live in without seeing a human for much of their life. The oldest deer I've ever aged or taken anywhere in the country was from here and it was well over 7 1/2. (Teeth were so worn I couldn't figure beyond that.) The problem is that given my sample size of 4 aged deer you can't draw any accurate conclusions about my statement that the average deer killed in Alaska is 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years old.

 

Yeah, its tough to fight tradition. People that don't even hunt ask me all the time, "Did ya git yer buck?"

Oh well, I can only control what I shoot. If shooting a yearling makes for a happy hunter, then I'm okay with that.

 

agree!

 

Pennsylvania has no formal check-in system, and the average Pennsylvania hunter knows next to nothing about aging deer. Furthermore, from what I've seen, the guys who do profess to know the age of their deer, routinely over-age them, so as to pad their ego and build street cred among their yearling-slaying peers.

Their reported ages are as worthless as the paper they're written on.

Pennsylvania has got to be in the bottom five, along with MI and WV. The age structure of our whitetail herd is pathetic, at best.

 

There is no formal aging process in Nebraska either, when we were required to check archery deer at a station it was up to the general feel of the person running the check station. Now we only phone or internet check archery and muzzleloader deer, so it is soley the judgement of the hunter. The first archery buck I took the guy at the check station was so excited to see a mature buck come through, he said he was at least 4.5... my guess was 2.5-3.5. There is a lot of room for error in the Nebraska percentage.

I will say though if you put in the time in Nebraska you will see mature bucks and I do think the quality of the harvest has gone up over the years. With more guys looking for trophies, by default more 1.5's live.

 

Here is an example of Illinois for ya. I am on 25 acres and in 2 years have taken 11 deer. Not one was under 3. But right acroos the road there are 15 guys hunting on 450 plus acres and they shoot anything that moves. I have spent alot of time and money on my property to help maintain the herd and grow big bucks. So it is upsetting that I know they are feeding in my plots and then going over there to get shot at such a young age. But I still wont lower my standards. I have thinned out alot of does and mainly taken out bucks with bad genetics (antler wise). If you are shooting young deer just for meat for the family I understand. But to shoot them just cause you don't want to wait for a better mature deer is someone that should'nt be hunting at all.
Thats just my oppinion.
By the way for anyone that is wondering they killed about 23 deer and none of them were over approx. 3 to 4 years old. That is according to them.

 

And why is that? They shot a legal deer, but they shouldn't be hunting at all?

I stopped killing yearling bucks years ago. That puts me in the minority in MI. I wish there were more older bucks around, but on the properties I have to hunt, there are not. Still, I have no issues congratulating a successful hunter on a yearling buck, or help them track it, or drag it out of the woods...whatever it may be.

 

There are many reasons why someone shouldn't be hunting...... this isn't one of them.

 

Vito I agree but when there are big mature deer around and everyone else is practicing qdm then why not pass on them. These are the same type of guys that will shot a deer then go buy the tag. So they are not hunters they are poachers in my book. My first deer ever was a button buck and still was my greatest trophy in my mind. But why shoot a yearling buck when there are 130 class and up all around you. I have a friend that lives in New york state and is more then happy to just get a shoot at a deer most of the time. Trust me I get it.

 

Well, poaching is a completely different issue. QDM is a choice, not a regulation though. If someone chooses to shoot a 1.5 or 2.5 yo even though there are 3s, 4s, and 5s running around...thats their choice to make.

Nothing turns people off to QDM more than the attitude that "they shouldn't be hunting". QDM's biggest hurdle is the attitudes of some people that say they practice it, not those that choose not to practice it.

 

Whaaaat???

Really??

So because "John Doe" shoots a young buck to fill his freezer, means he's a poacher also just because he didn't wait for a mature buck?

Not sure how that equation works out for you.

I don't shoot young deer, never have, but my Dad has killed many young bucks (and does) because he simply enjoys the meat, and I guarantee you, he has never even thought about poaching.

 

we're on your ass shultzy, look out