ORIGINAL: bowkill144
Well a little about myself,A few friends and myselfhave 3 propertys scattered around WNY they are 170, 135 and 300 acres we do try to manage these propertys to procuce better deer but with limited success. We do food plots shot does and pass the younger deer but we still rarely see any deer 3.5 yrs old or older and I must say the numbers of deer seen in general are less than they where 7 years ago. So to answer your question I would like to see a few more deer and some older bucks as well. Ihave found hunting in other states and canada much better than here so looking at a state like Ohio it seemed to me changes could help but from the responces I get here I dont think any major changes will ever happen in this state. I think I will sell my property and start hunting out of state a couple weeks a year and just give up on this state. I willfill my Ny tags with 1.5 yr old bucks and does to fill the freezer but there seems to be no effort to grow bigger deer here so i see no reason to try anymore. I still wish I did not have to take my son out of state to deer hunt but I guess that is another battle that will never be won. Also it is pretty sad that my father can not effectivly hunt with a bow anymore but does not qualify for a crossbow but I guess that is another thing that will never change either. What the hell I should just look for another job and move mywhole damn family out of this state. Sorry about the rant I just dont undersatnd people very well and it gets frustrating for me sometimes.
Gene
Sorry you are frustrated, but everyone has different goals when it comes to deer and hunting them.If you already hunt out of state, then do that for the big racks and hunt NY for "deer".
The part I don't understand is why you feel the need to take your son out of state or just move out of state all together. You have access to 600+ acres ofprivate lands in NY which is something many of us onlydream about. If you are passing bucks, you have some animals to work with and hunt over. I'd love to be in your position.Does your boy need to only shoot a trophy rack?? Whats wrong with him starting with a 1.5 YO fork?? All respect due, its sounds to me like you have it pretty good.
I know many people that hunt Ohio and many other states. Many have allot of the same complaints you post here. The biggest I hear is access to lands. Public lands are crowded, private lands locked up. When the deer are pushed out of your areadue to heavy pressure, all the QDMmgt in the world won't stop those bucks from going to private property.
Here in New England we have some big oldbucks, butANY antlered deer comes pretty hard.I hunt with another guy on public lands andwe average alegal buck every 4-5 years!You can head up to Northern NHorMaine to hunt 3.5-7.5 YO deer, butman its hard work, and gets frustrating when hunting these areas with 3-5 DPSM. Quality open lands are an issue too. I hunt MA and the gun laws add to the already frustrating deer situation. Our herd is purposly managed to be held BELOW carrying capacity!
I have also hunted nice states like Montana where qulaity bucks are more "common". Its still damn hard to get an older whitetail, and there is no QDM in the areas I hunted.
Grass is always greener. But in reality I think you got it good.