I've found my long range goals in hunting have changed. What started out as a quest to see if I was capable of getting close enough to "A" deer to make it happen......has evolved, greatly.

I conquered that part. I then moved to wanting to take the best deer in my woods....or AT LEAST put myself "in the arena" of attempting to take one of these animals. Did that.

I NOW find my goals (short and long term) changing quite frequently. After talks with my wildlife biologist (something I urge everyone to think about)....my goals have turned to the betterment of the herd I hunt......for the long term. Getting "A" deer, to ME, isn't of great importance, anymore. I want to have a healthy, content herd to hunt for years to come. I'm not even talking about "QAM". I'm talking overall health of the ENTIRE herd. I think the quality of the bucks will take care of itself.

I hear VERY conflicting stories when I sit down with neighboring land owners/lease holders/hunters. I saw a TON of does, this past year. A friend who leases land near me only hunted there a few times. He saw 46 deer in those sits......38 of which were bucks. he took ZERO deer off this tract (120 acres). Another neighbor saw a lot of does, too. He took ZERO bucks off the property.

I hunt about 60 acres (land I actually HUNT) that'sabuts a triangle of land that includes a "Sanctuary" of sorts (parks system) of about 200 acres. The total triangle encompasses 700 or so acres. I know all the guys who hunt these grounds LEGALLY. We're a close-knit bunch.....and we all have similar outlooks. We're lucky in that regard.

I've got my eye on ONE buck that I have a history with. Besides him......I'm likely not to target a buck, this season (never say never, though.....there are bucks that likely grow old and die in these 700 acres that are NEVER seen by a man). Does will fall to all of us, in numbers, though. Our biologist thinks I could take as many as 18 off these properties without affecting deer sightings, too much.

Do you guys do an assessment like this each year? I know some of you aren't lucky enough to be in this type situation, but I'm wondering if you go into each season with "A" game plan (no pun intended).

It would be nice to revisit this thread at the end of our seasons to see how we managed our "game plans".

Thoughts?