My favorite 2 hunting buddies were back this week.......

Enjoy.

Jeff

nice, you gonna shoot one this year, or let em grow?

Ed:

That's a VERY fair question. Here's my answer:

I "MIGHT" take one of them....and I might not (How's THAT for riding the fence). This is ALL subject to me getting a CHANCE, too!!!....lol All-in-all.....if I get the chance to take the older one (smaller rack)....I will. If my 14yr old gets a shot at EITHER of them.....I've said he can take it (a GOOD shot). I HATE to get into the "If I don't get him....somebody will" scenarios.....but where I live....it's likely to be that way. I've got one neighbor that might not even wait for the season to open......and I mean he'll hunt with a GUN......most any time......and he doesn't appreciate boundaries.

If my son shoots one of them......I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't take the other. That would be a season neither of us would ever forget.

So......they're not safe....by any means (just being honest).

Jeff

Very nice bucks! I like your explanation of if you will take the bucks or not.....lol....no, seriously, just be happy with whatever you choose to do.

I understand completly SB. In some of the areas I hunt its tough to pass up 2.5 yr old 8 pts. I passed up 3 last year w/ a bow and 2 of them got killed during gun season... very disapointing. We get a lot of trespassers, poachers, and people who see horns and start shooting. Its tough to try to manage deer when its like that. I hope you and your boy each get one of them, it will be an awesome memory.

But i will say this, we have other places i hunt that our club manages very well, we have bout 4000 acres and we've been managing it for 3 yrs now. Just the other week i watched 3 very very nice bucks. We've all been killing better deer and seeing a huge improvement in the health of the herd. So if you have enough land to manage then its great... But sometimes you gotta strike while the iron is hot.

Good luck on whatever you decide to do this fall, i hope your 14 year old gets a crack at one, that would be a heck of a season for him.

Ed:

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

We have a friend that takes us to his land in VA......and they have an 8 point (at least 4 on one side) minimum. They're ALL passing on a LOT of 8's, now. Yes. it's working.

The photos you see are from a TWENTY-FOUR acre tract of land I have permission to hunt. They're using this area as a corridor (I have 2 creeks).......and this land backs up to parks land that can't LEGALLY be hunted. It ALSO backs up to a parcel that my "WILL SHOOT ANYTHING BROWN....IN OR OUT OF SEASON" neighbor hunts. It also adjoins my land. These photos are taken in a 1 acre "opening".....in the middle of some woods. It's a PERFECT spot for them. It's a refuge.....and they're out at all times of the day.

If I don't get a shot at the one I want early......I might never see him again. I hear gunfire a LOT where I live.......even just last night [].

Jeff