Well Tim, to be honest with you; if I had control over the kind of land you do, I too would be more picky. I found out a long time ago that around here, it's almost impossible to hunt a specific deer w/out leaving yourself open to a huge disappointment when a neighbor that practices if it's brown it's down gets lucky on him. I had to explain this to the woman last year as the big plot is HERS....I plant it just for her because she's still new to it all, and I want her to see deer and have chances that took me years to get and learn to make happen. She was tormented all fall by a beautiful 2 1/2 yr old 10 point that though we hoped he would make it, the neighbors shot him opening morning of the gun opener. Kim was literally heart broken, and that's when I had to have the talk with her.
She said "YOU do TOO!" I told her I don't because I learned the same way years ago what could and does happen. I hunt for bucks that I'd like to see on my wall, and I am totally happy with it...for me it's more like PERSONAL deer management....if I like what I see, I'll kill it. Now....that being said, IF there was one that was exceptional, and by that I mean a dream buck of boone potential with droptines and the works, then YES I would hunt hard for him, but how often do those come along?? lol
I know the potential for 2 to 4 150 bucks is on our farm, and even a booner, but as shown earlier; I'm still looking to break the 130 mark with the bow, and around here that's generally a 3 1/2 yr old or better. I'm looking forward a lot to this season as we're going to filming hunts, and I'm not even sure yet how much I'll be behind the bow instead of the camera. I really want to get Kim's first kill on film as when I was younger it was just about getting a deer....any deer with a bow, and though I can remember my first bow kill like it was yesterday, I have no pictures or anything. I want Kim's experience to be better than that.

Glad to hear that Toby!!!...again i dont like it when ppl shoot at anything that is brown...i once saw a guy at a meat locker that brought in a small 3by3...a 1.5 year old....jus a lil buck..im not raggin on him cuz of the size, cuz the size of a trophy is in the eyes of the beholder...but it was prolly shotjus to fill his tag....he told the guys at the meat locker to jus throw away the horns away...cuz they arent anything special.....i jus about freaked out....whats the point of shooting something with horns if ur jus going to throw them away....seriously!.....shoot a doe and u wont have to worry bout throwin any horns away....but i guess thats jus my look on the situation...one of my buddies did the same thing...he asked if i wanted the horns cuz if i didnt he would jus throw them away.....i flipped out on him and tryed explaining it to him.....needless to say i got the horns now....decent lil rattling horns...prolly a 110" 8 pt

Great deer guys Hope I can add to those inches (it wont be much). The deer down here are not known for their antlers we'll just say that much.

Toby

While I have a lot of private land to hunt, I have no control over it. It is over run with waterfoul hunters, rifle hunters, coyote huntersand a few bowhunters. The deer are pressured from the start of bow season till almost the end. Most of the deer I have killed with bow or rifle in the 20 years I have been here...have not came from the boss's farm. The waterfoul huntersusually over run it so bad it isruined forbow hunting after the last weekend in Sept.My two biggest bucks came from unposted land.

One of the reasons I hunt so much land is to find spots with less pressure and that changes one year to the next since it is mostly ag land here. It isone of themainreasons I spend so much time scouting.

While I do see a lot of bucks while hunting... it is tough getting the top end bucks to step out in front of youduring daylight. They know pressure!!

Tim

Nathan

What type of terrain do you hunt?? example... big woods, ag land, swamp landor ect... What is abig buck to you ( field dressed weightand rack size ) for your area?? When does your season start and end??

Tim

I hear ya there Tim. Even though we do our best to manage things; the neighboring properties will shoot ANYTHING. The hard thing about here in WI is that it's been known for quite some time to be a powerhouse of deer kill numbers. If you were to really look even on here at the number of people from OTHER states that come here to hunt it's astounding.
SO.....do our deer know pressure?? That would be an understatement! When the total kill number for one year is over a half million, you can just imagine the numbers of hunters in the woods. A lot of what keeps me going is the challenge involved with the total process. I like to look at it like can I put in food plots, place stands, and make the right call when it's needed to pull a 150+ out of an area that is heavily pressured? I'm sure at some point it's going to happen, but it's a learning experience every time out. In the photo I posted of the property; the buildings are the highest point, so whenever we're going in, it's all down hill. The tough part involved is that there are NO regular bedding areas. The deer will bed anywhere in the hillsides going down in, and you never know where they're going to be. The next tough part is that with the hills and valleys, it's basically impossible to hunt the wind as all it does is swirl. More times than not it always seems that deer are one step ahead simply because the second you step into the woods, they KNOW you're there!

I have marked our last team member recurver167 as checked because he PM'ed me Sunday afternoon saying he was still around. I sent him the direct link to our thread back so he can get in here and meet everybody and let us get to know him. It's nice we won't have to be chasing down an alt. this year, and it seems we have a great bunch. I'm pretty sure if a few of us can score, we'll be well in the running by the end of this!

Toby

I think the challenge is why I like bowhunting so much.

While our windsseem to like swirl at the worst time... we tend to have steady winds for the most part. That makes it a little easier. I like to hunt pinch points. If the wind switches, I can just move to the other side since I hunt on the ground.

As the crops get harvested... the bedding areas get more defined. Downsideis trying to access spots with less cover once the crops are gone. I like hunting right outside bedding areas for PM hunts. I've crawledup to aquarter mile to hunt spots. Love it whenthere is a man made drainage ditch to use in sneaking into a spot. Pays to know your hunting areas well!!

Tim

I've never really hunted the ground that much except for some still hunting with rifle or smoke pole. I try to keep my stands from being intrusive as much as possible as though there isn't really any well defined bedding areas there are a couple places I know they like to bed.
Using the terrain as much as possible is always a plus, and I've tried different routes into some stands, but I still have to go through some areas that deer could be bedded at any time.
I did find one spot though this spring while shed hunting that really peaked my interest, but I'm not sure how I'm going to hunt it yet. I will definately be using the climber the first time in there, but it's on a far corner of the property by one of the neighbors. The problem being is that I'd have to walk through the neighbors pasture (not a problem) to get to quietly, but I think it's nearly right in their bedroom. I know deer be on the hillside on the neighbors just across the creek from where I want to be so it would be hard getting in there. I think it may just be an AM stand that I sneak in early before they return to their beds. The only tough part would be I'd almost rather go in sometime the day before to select the tree and have the climber at the bottom of the tree for that early morning mission....lol It was just one of those spots that when you see it and you're standing there......it just strikes your eye a certain way and ya give a slight head nod and say.....YEAH....I like it!

Great pics guys. I have never shot a really big deer. My biggest is about 120" I have seen a few big ones but never could pull it off for one reason or another. I am hoping this will finally be the year and I plan on hunting hard.

rick