What is best for your deer herd?

[furtaker]

Ain't much more fun than a dove shoot where you can't keep your gun loaded and you can't remember where all your birds fell.

 

[JB0704]

Ain't much more fun than a dove shoot where you can't keep your gun loaded and you can't remember where all your birds fell.

Heck, I have fun emptyin the gun n not hittin em.

 

[treadwell]

I’m in farm country and farm. We harvested somewhere between 60-70 does on one 1750 ac farm last season,and the last several seasons have been taking 50-60. And we hadn’t made a dent in the population. Unfortunately we will have to resort to crop permits this year which we have been trying to avoid. It’s a rarity to see a good buck chasing a doe for us,they seem to lay and wait and let the does come to them. We’ll see a bunch of chasing but all young bucks. I know some on here won’t believe it but we are 75+ does in a hundred acre field. 45+ in some 30 acre fields. There are dry land fields we don’t plant cotton in because of deer,soon as it come up they bite the top out and that plant is dead, rows of cotton look like toothpicks.

I feel your pain, but the sad thing is, your crops are drawing in all the deer from a several mile area. When you kill that many deer, the surrounding areas won't have any to trickle back on their land. Not sure what the solution could even be. Ya gotta make a living, but ya gotta see the point too. (Maybe let the ones you could trust from around your farm bring their kids/grandkids to help with the solution, everyone wins).

 

[buckpasser]

I’m in farm country and farm. We harvested somewhere between 60-70 does on one 1750 ac farm last season,and the last several seasons have been taking 50-60. And we hadn’t made a dent in the population. Unfortunately we will have to resort to crop permits this year which we have been trying to avoid. It’s a rarity to see a good buck chasing a doe for us,they seem to lay and wait and let the does come to them. We’ll see a bunch of chasing but all young bucks. I know some on here won’t believe it but we are 75+ does in a hundred acre field. 45+ in some 30 acre fields. There are dry land fields we don’t plant cotton in because of deer,soon as it come up they bite the top out and that plant is dead, rows of cotton look like toothpicks.

I have two kids who can shoot, and I can drive them. Please PM anytime!

 

[treadwell]

We (11 guys) have 1,100 acres to hunt. Unfortunately we are over run by deer, mostly does but it's our own fault. We haven't killed but 3-4 does in the last 5 years. It's not unusual to see 20 deer in a days hunt, again, mostly does. My 10 yr old grandson is hunting with me now, and he's killed two of the does, one this past yr and one the yr before. We are doing a push this fall to kill around 20 does, not sure how that will go, cause most don't want the meat, only a chance at a big buck. Biggest buck killed was a 130" in the last 5 yrs. Almost no rutting activity, not a lot of scrapes or rubs. Seems like I've read and watched a ton of videos from "experts" saying the matriarch does have pushed the bucks off our property. During the rut a mature buck doesn't have to go 200 yds to find another hot doe. Our property is so thick you can't see 30 yds anywhere unless you cut shooting lanes. I have about 1 acre in food plots, it gets destroyed. So, guess not every track is a slaughter field.

 

[Mauser]

I feel your pain, but the sad thing is, your crops are drawing in all the deer from a several mile area. When you kill that many deer, the surrounding areas won't have any to trickle back on their land. Not sure what the solution could even be. Ya gotta make a living, but ya gotta see the point too. (Maybe let the ones you could trust from around your farm bring their kids/grandkids to help with the solution, everyone wins).

That’s the problem,neighboring properties may shoot a doe or two a year. One of the owners has only killed 3 does in his 73 years. And is the main one doing the complaining about wanting em gone. You know how it goes about people being weird about other folks on their place. Don’t really want any outsiders. I don’t own any of it,just work there and get to use it like any of the family. Gracious to get to raise my family around the farm,hunt and fish two creeks, Ride 4 wheelers

 

[elfiii]

I can't hit them, but I have a lot of fun missing them.

I like to shoot until my shoulder hurts. Then I ask how many I got.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I didn`t vote. What I want for our deer herd is for it to be healthy and the population to fit in with what the land will support, without the help or interference of man. As it was and as it should be.

I don’t follow. The question is simply what do you think it would take to get to your goal? It’s a great goal btw
I think I get your last point, but every time you kill a deer you “interfere” so I’m not sure where that leaves us

 

[elfiii]

I don’t follow. The question is simply what do you think it would take to get to your goal? It’s a great goal btw
I think I get your last point, but every time you kill a deer you “interfere” so I’m not sure where that leaves us

Primitive man "interfered" too.

 

[Nicodemus]

I don’t follow. The question is simply what do you think it would take to get to your goal? It’s a great goal btw
I think I get your last point, but every time you kill a deer you “interfere” so I’m not sure where that leaves us

My personal goal is not to take more than the land can restore. The less impact we make, the better off everything is.

 

[elfiii]

My personal goal is not to take more than the land can restore. The less impact we make, the better off everything is.

That point seems to escape a lot of people these days.

 

[ddd-shooter]

My personal goal is not to take more than the land can restore. The less impact we make, the better off everything is.

That point seems to escape a lot of people these days.

Totally agree.
So in the areas you hunt, is that more deer than you have now, or less?


lol
Been an interesting poll for me

 

[Nicodemus]

Totally agree.
So in the areas you hunt, is that more deer than you have now, or less?


lol
Been an interesting poll for me

How many years do you want me to go back, to answer your question to me?

I`m not picking at you or making fun of you with this question. I`m serious.

 

[elfiii]

How many years do you want me to go back, to answer your question to me?

I`m not picking at you or making fun of you with this question. I`m serious.

Wisdom fixin' to be happenin' up in heah. ^

 

[ddd-shooter]

How many years do you want me to go back, to answer your question to me?

I`m not picking at you or making fun of you with this question. I`m serious.

You don’t have to go anywhere. You know your land. You know the limiting factors on your landscape. You probably know your neighbors. You understand predators. You understand habitat. You know it’s 2023 and all that entails. You know how many deer would be ideal to allow you hunt and the land restore itself.
Do you need to go back to the bad times of the 60s? No
The heyday of the 90s? No
Bartrams day? No

Right here, right now, what do YOU believe is best? You have a wealth of knowledge to base the opinion on, imo

 

[Nicodemus]

You don’t have to go anywhere. You know your land. You know the limiting factors on your landscape. You probably know your neighbors. You understand predators. You understand habitat. You know it’s 2023 and all that entails. You know how many deer would be ideal to allow you hunt and the land restore itself.
Do you need to go back to the bad times of the 60s? No
The heyday of the 90s? No
Bartrams day? No

Right here, right now, what do YOU believe is best? You have a wealth of knowledge to base the opinion on, imo

At the homeplace in Wheeler County in the big river swamp, a hunter killing two bucks and one doe wouldn`t do any harm. Big area, average number of hunters, some who are woodsmen.


Down in Seminole County where I hunt in the big woods, I`d take one buck, and that would be it for the season there. No second buck, and for sure no does at all. (hunting there now reminds me of squirrel hunting in the early 1960s where there were NO deer.) Really big swamp with some high ground, fair amount of hunters, some who don`t have a clue, a few good ones.


In Lee County, it would not hurt anything to take your 2 bucks (any size), and also your 10 does. A huge amount of combined acreage, totaling thousands of acres, with very few hunters, but these folks are beyond selective, know what they want, and are willing to wait years for just the buck they want. There is no shortage of does here. None at all. No shortage of bucks either.

 

[buckpasser]

At the homeplace in Wheeler County in the big river swamp, a hunter killing two bucks and one doe wouldn`t do any harm. Big area, average number of hunters, some who are woodsmen.


Down in Seminole County where I hunt in the big woods, I`d take one buck, and that would be it for the season there. No second buck, and for sure no does at all. (hunting there now reminds me of squirrel hunting in the early 1960s where there were NO deer.) Really big swamp with some high ground, fair amount of hunters, some who don`t have a clue, a few good ones.


In Lee County, it would not hurt anything to take your 2 bucks (any size), and also your 10 does. A huge amount of combined acreage, totaling thousands of acres, with very few hunters, but these folks are beyond selective, know what they want, and are willing to wait years for just the buck they want. There is no shortage of does here. None at all. No shortage of bucks either.

I would like to have a place like Lee Co at my disposal. Guiding the kids in an area with piles of does would be spectacular! I’m not so sure the flatwoods wouldn’t be good too. No big bucks to offend someone over and tons of little does ready to give a shot opportunity for the children.