Swamp... I agree with you. I know what you meant. I meant the same thing... i'd love to see anyone ANYONE come up here and hunt these type of pieces of land and see how successful they are. I have been to IL, KY, & OH bowhunting. I did see some great deer, but did not connect on anything huge... I did, however, see more bucks that would be on the wall in our area in 1 week than I usually do in several seasons in New England. Noone said that the Midwest was crawling with Booner + size bucks... and by no means is anyone saying that they are easy to kill out there, or anywhere.... but they sure do have many more larger racked deer than we do here and that is a fact. If people want to argue that... let's switch locations for a full season and see what happens.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a 160+ buck while hunting or had a picture of one? What you typed in regard to the buck pics was "To me It's the same as someone in the Midwest shooting a 200" buck." I agree those are very nice bucks even for where I hunt...but really? Also, making generalizations of the entire Midwest as if that whole portion of the country is the same is silliness. Joe, I've always liked you but do me a favor and take a chill pill before responding again.
That is cool you have had the opportunity to hunt states like IL, KY, and OH. Each of those are regarded as some of the better trophy buck states in the country. There is no doubt there are more big bucks overall in the Midwest than other parts of the country. Just for my own curiosity, what was your access to hunting in those states? Outfitter, friend or family's private land, public, etc?
My little boy asked to go hunting for his first time this past December...One of my favorite hunts ever.
I did 1 outfitted in Ky, 1 "semi outfitted" in IL, and one on my own in oh. I actually saw more quality deer on the semi and do it myself. I have a buddy who does his own hunt in KS. He has taken some nice solid bucks there, and shot a 171" last season. Massachusetts, CT, and Eastern NY is where I do most of my hunting. There are some quality deer roaming around, by we just don't have the genetics, food, and age structure to have a quality deer herd. Maybe antlers restrictions will help someday, but as of now, I'm lucky to see half / dozen deer in an entire bow season, with maybe 2 or 3 bucks. Most of the bucks are 1.5 year olds. I do get a few decent bucks each year in camera roaming. I know NH, VT, and ME are even tougher. Esp bow hunting. There are areas with decent deer densities, but obtaining permission is like pulling teeth. Near impossible. I don't say this to act like I'm a great hunter by any means. I just put my time in an run my cameras a ton to stack the odds in my favor. The rest is luck. It really is tough deer hunting up here. Esp for mature deer. As sad as it is, any buck with the bow in Mass is usually regarded as a trophy to the hunter. I by no means think its easier to kill a mature buck any where else across this great country, but New England sure has its disadvantages. But it sure is beautiful up here! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Great pic Kenny! The buck in my profile pic is the 1st buck my daughter has ever taken. It was in this years MA youth hunt. Love seeing the kids succeed. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I'm on a phone & your profile pic is tiny, but it is why I wanted to post this one of my son... Seeing the youngsters enjoying the outdoors is the best! Would love to see your pic full sized
A few bucks from the past couple years, I have permission on 5 connected properties 10 minutes from home but all but one of these is from the same 200 acres.
LOL sorry, didn't mean to be so aggressive. I should have been more specific And said places like Iowa and Kansas and certain places in Illinois. I don't consider certain areas of the Midwest the "hunting Mecca". though like you said the Midwest states are generalized in the category. Moving forward I think we should come up with a name for those certain few hunting states that happened to be in the Midwest, LOL. I say we called them the motherland. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I find it interesting in the east where genetics, nutrition etc is blamed for the lack of large racked bucks. I believe population density of people is a bigger factor in antler size, would be interesting to see what the average age of bucks harvested is. The main factor in the midwest is agriculture, with that comes quality of food available and a lower population density of people.
Winters in the northeast have heavier snowfall totals that stay on the ground a lot longer greatly affecting the deer population. I know it does get colder in the motherland, some of those Minnesota /Wisconsin temperatures, holy Lord I don't know how you guys do it! Edit: I know snowfalls in northern Minnesota and Northern Michigan are just as heavy if not heavier in the Northeast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I know, with the snow pack being heavier and on the ground longer is what effects available food. I wanted to make sure no one thought that I was saying it didn't get cold in the Midwest, LOL Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have had the privilege of being able to hunt SW Illinois for the past 5 years. We hunt with a friend that has his own land or access to other private land, the largest piece being roughly 80 acres. Coming from Maine, the hunting out in IL is incredible compared to Maine's standards. As others have said, I am able to pass bucks every day out there that I would shoot the first minute into legal light on opening day here in Maine. I've also been fortunate enough to take two bucks out there that have made P&Y, and was unable to recover one that would've easily made B&C. I do have one P&Y sized buck (killed with a gun though, not a bow) from here in Maine that I killed when I was 15 years old. All of my other Maine bucks are 100" or less. It is significantly harder hunting here. Hence why you never see any tv shows filmed here. Yes there are plenty of big bucks here, both body size and rack size. The difference is the amount of area they live in is massive. Thousands and thousands of wooded acres, not small tracts of woods surrounded by agricultural fields. Even in Southern Maine, the smaller pieces of woods can still be over 200 acres.. Here are a few pictures of my deer, and a couple of my fathers mixed in as well. Southern Maine buck. My southern Maine buck that scored 137 7/8" and dressed 220lbs. These two were from north western Maine, mine on the right dressed 172lbs. and my fathers on the left dressed 203lbs. both shot on the same day. Here is the biggest buck I've shot in Illinois. Last but not least here is another I've got in Illinois..
Nice deer HuntMaine! I hunted Maine years ago. By Jackman. I hunted 6 days dark till dark opening week of gun season. I saw 2 does and and Cow moose. That is it. Tough hunting for sure. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Thanks! It's definitely a different world in the Midwest compared to the northern Northeast. Much more of a challenge here as its bigger woods and the deer aren't as plentiful.
