ORIGINAL: Jeff K in IL

Your watching a bit too much television.

The pieces of land that you see people kill monsters off of, are highly regulated and are very strict in their managment policies. Not everyone in this state that owns or leases land likes to do it that way. I have a honey hole of a spot that consists of 15 acres about 400yds from my house. I have killed one P&Y deer from it, and another that may come very close. I also have a fenceline that I hunt that I have killed another P&Y off of. There are a lot of hunters in my area, and there are deer, but not the monsters that so many people give off. Sure there are deer that would qualify for B&C, I have seen one of them, but they are not running around everywhere. The deer have to be able to acheive such growth with age and proper nutrition as well as genetics that allow them to do so. Put in the time managing, and you will reap the benefits down the road.

I have two friends that own farms, one owns close to 400acres over towards Indiana, another owns land down by Peoria, each of the farms have their fair share of good bucks, some bigger than 150". But they both concentrate on giving the deer the opportunity to grow to that. My buddie started their management system about 7 years back, this year and last year, they started to see the affects. Bigger bucks, and more of them.

What you see on TV or in a magazine is a little far fetched, what they don't tell you, is the work of finding the deer that big. I work my butt off in the off season to make sure I have a sound spot and gameplan. I have a trail cam, but I do most of my scouting from the tree, or on the ground. I work for my P&Y deer, because they don't come to me.