ORIGINAL: Hotburn76
ORIGINAL: burbaust99
...deer with large impressive racks are mature, smart deer. And that taking a mature buck, one that has survived and evaded many hunters is part of the goal! ...
At what point is it that a deer becomes "smart, mature, elusive" and has been"evading" the hunter for many years. Cause what I am trying to do is increase the bucks mass in my little slice of the hunting pie/area. I have two spots that I can hunt, with very little acreage on them. I do not have a vast source of public areas close to where I live and so I have access to only small numbers of resident deer. I have a little eight pointer that I past on for the second year in a row. I am pretty sure it is the same deer cause his brow timeshave a character in them that is the same every year. I have this deer patterned well. Maybe next year when he is 4-1/2 and he is a little bigger like maybe 120 or 130 I will take him. But now that he is 4 1/2 is he suddenly "mature" "elusive" "smart" and a true warrior for the challenge? I see him as the same retarded deer that I first patterned at 2 1/2 age andnow I have decided totake him from 20' up in a tree. What I am trying to do is since the deer in my area are limited and I do not have access to massive hunting area to seek out a bigger deer heard, I would like to try and increase the quality of the deer I do have access to. Does what I say make sense or is it still seen as using aadvantage that is unfair?
I have no problem with the supplemental feeding you do on your own land. Its your own land and you can do whatever you want so long as its legal. If I had my own land and the money to spend I would probably have a small food plot (1-2 acres is all) to suppliment the deer in the off seasons of forage. I have no problem with the way you do things, I was just clarifying Charlie P's point for YOU.