stikbow26

I agree i would do it you guys have alot of nice stuff going on why not QDM, the deer will learn when all hunters hit the private they will be safe over on your and the clubs property..If you think a deer that gets shot at 100 times on public and only 10 on yours dont start to learn this you are mistaken!!! Walt

bowtech die hard

If everybody is going to agree to it, then yeah of course go for it!

huntingson

1275 acres is enough to manage and see major results, but that is only if you and everyone sticks to it. There will obviously be a significant number of bucks that will wonder off of the restricted land, but you will also have a large area of refuge for many deer that will remain on your land for the better part of the season. Over a few year period, you should see major improvements in the number of mature bucks you see. However, you have to also know that that doesn't mean that every buck you see will be a mature buck. Instead of maybe having 3 or four on the whole property, you would then have 6-10 or so (just guessing here). It isn't automatically going to be a shooting gallery for Pope and Young bucks, but your odds will improve. It all comes down to what you want to do with your land and what you enjoy hunting. If you are only satisfied with a mature buck, then you are in a great spot since the neighbors are willing to join you in managing the herd. If you just like to get a deer, any deer then just hunt and enjoy.

mauser06

id agree...but id also agree on permission to hunt the other guys land as well if you already dont. they can hunt yours..you can hunt theirs..just plan accordingly and work out a system so noone screws anyone else. that would be nice. then you guys can go together and put in work on their land..cover, sancuaries NOONE steps foot in, food plots etc....make the whole tract of private land as appealing as possible to deer and give them some GOOD cover..id keep the cover in the center of the land to keep deer there feeling safe and huntable. attract the deer to the tract of land and keep them there and you can see major success on a tract that large...even if you dont get permission then id make your 75acres as attractive as possible and follow the antler restrictions..it can still work out...but once gun season starts they are heading for cover. get them food and cover and they will love it...

Rob/PA Bowyer

Kevin1, that's an assumption. If you pass a buck, yes someone esle might kill it but they might not as well, if you kill it, it's dead. The more you pass, the more that will grow. Self imposed point restrictions are always a good idea. If your okay with not filling a tag once in a while, you will be rewarded in the future. My last 4 bucks were 3.5, 3.5, 2.5, 2.5...2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, in 02 and 03 I passed all bucks hunting one specific buck, many might pass these deer but if I'd tag the frist 1.5 that came by, I couldn't have shot these much bigger and older deer. That's what it's about, sure the 1.5's that I passed may or may not have been shot but if I'd shot the 1.5's, I'd been tagged out plus they couldn't grow.

It makes no difference to me what you choose to shoot.

mnbuckman

I have the same type of situation. My family has 110 arces of private to hunt that borders about 800 public. We hunt both of the properties during bow season and are all by ourselves. But once the gun season starts the public land is full of gun hunters. We started letting the 1.5 years old bucks pass 5 years ago. The only one we shot was my little brothers first deer that he thought was a doe.(it was a spike). We know that the gun hunters shoot anything, but we have seen a difference in the number of bigger bucks (2.5 years and up). I'm sure it would help a lot if the other hunters were letting the small bucks go, but It seems to be working for us. Even if it is just a little.

BuckAlley

Thanks guys, all great opinions. I'm going to talk this over further with my brothers. I'm also going to talk with the other camps to seehow serious they are. The 1,200 acre hunting club I know well, but not sure if they are in on this yet or not.I know at one time some of the former members were letting the smaller bucks walk. I've put alot of work into our 75acres, trying to make it a deer magnet. I guess some deer mgmt is in order.