Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

If I have others hunt with me, this year....I'm going to want them to adhere to the management plan I have implemented for myself.

Is this overstepping hunters' "etiquette"? I'm not saying they can't shoot a buck, at all......but he'd need to be 3.5 or older.

Honestly.....would YOU feel short-changed if I invited you to hunt with me......and gave you "restrictions"?

Just curious?

There's also "a" possibility that I might see a 2.5yr old that "I" feel like taking at some point in the year (I saw a nice 1.5yr old 8 pointer, last year,that shoud be a great deer for these parts, this season). He'll simply be hard to pass up.....if he's a larger racked deer than I shot, last year. I'm just being honest.

Would it bother you if I put those restrictions on YOU.....but didn't follow them to the letter, myself?

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

If it's your land, I play by your rules and just feel fortunate to be able to hunt. I may take a 5 year old monster. I may have to pass on a nice 2.5 year old. Either way, its quality time on stand or in the blind.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

If we were hunting your own land or private land that you have paid to lease for hunting then you have a say.
On public land your suggestions would be considered and maybe followed but the actual choice would be mine.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Not at all.

Its your property, dont let someones feelings keep you from managing it the way you want.

Plus, if explained properly they shouldnt mind.

I just hate when people dont follow the rules....[:@]

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I would have no standing to ask this of you on public land.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I'll be trying to kill two birds with one stone, this year (OK, three).

1 - I'm giving someone who might not have as good a chance at harv....OK...killing a doe ;)a great opportunity to put some venison in their freezer.

2- I'm garnering some assistance in thinning the doe herd.

3- I'm giving someone a chance at a nice deer that they might not otherwise be privy to (a mature buck).

I would hope no one would take this as a slap in the face (the restrictions)......but I have no experience with the subject matter.

I have friends that will hunt with me.....with NO restrictions....because I know they know my goals....and I trus ttheir judgement. I have others that might hunt with me that will be given "guidelines".

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Good question, its one that i deal with often. I own 50 acres that i allow one other person to hunt on with me and take another friend there a couple times a year. The rule to hunt my property is you must kill a doe for every buck you take and can only take a max of 2 bucks a season. We try to hold out for 3.5 year olds but if its a really nice 2.5 he is allowed. So far we havent had any problems and i believe thats cause first off, my buddy is a good guy and agrees with what the rules are and secondly i have made it clear that if he doesnt follow those rules that he cant hunt there anymore.
I also hunt a different property that my friend has permission to hunt. He has set rules that i need to follow. I realize that i dont have to follow them, but if i break them im not hunting there anymore, that simple. I have to shoot a doe there before i can take a buck and if its a buck, it has to be atleast 3.5 years old and be atleast 115 inches, which is a nice buck for here.
Ultimately you are being generous and allowing people to hunt with you on your land. They should respect your wishes and follow your rules. If they have a problem with that, they dont have to hunt with you. Its that simple imo.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I view what you are doing and your reasons as a great way to help somone out and further promote bowhunting. I pity the fool that would not take you up on the opportunity to "kill" :Da doe, even if he had to pass up several nice 2.5 year old bucks that were with her. It's really like your birthday and Christmas being wrapped up into one, that's what it is, when someone offers you a chance to arrow any mature whitetail.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Pretty simple...if your letting them hunt the land, then they follow your rules.

They should be happy that you put them in position to possibly see a mature buck. You did the hard work (scouting and hanging stands, etc), the least they should do is obey your requests.

If they were smart, they would follow your requests with no questions asked...that is if they ever want to get invited back.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Jeff, I don't see any problem with you imposing some ground rules for the property you have permission on. In fact, I think it would be foolish to share the property without first laying ground rules.

My buddies and I will even ask each other to hold off on our good spots on public land so it doesn't get over pressured. Obviously, there is nothing to stop someone from hunting it, but out of respect and friendship we oblige.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Well.....the other part of this is I want them shooting the first DOE that they have an opportunity to take. If that's in the first 10 minutes of their hunt......then I expect them to pull the trigger and not wait on what "might" come by their stand, later.

It runs a 'little" deeper than "3.5 yr old bucks are fair game".

1st doe......goes down. Second...third....yep. ALL does go down. If a maure buck happens by FIRST.....have at it. But don't let that get in the way of the overall plan.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Jeff,
Only you know your friends and what the will tolerate. But be careful. The land you hunt is not your own (correct me if wrong). Your bring them in and they see the promised land..maybe they get their own permission to hunt there. Then any Management scheme you've worked hard at controlling is gone.

Good hunting land changes people..I hope you know them well and it works out for the best. If they are stand-up guys, they should hunt land you bring them too---by your standards--- as long as they know this going in!!

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

If I am a guest at someone's spot, I will follow whatever rules they want me too.
I'd expect the same in return.

If I was taking someone newer, they get free reign to shoot what's legal.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

As everyone else has also mentioned, it's YOUR spot and therefor YOU make the rules and codes of conduct to follow on YOUR tract.

My friends and I do the same thing with our properties we own and manage. It seems each of us have slightly different twistsand our own set of rules but the end result is all about doing as you're asked and being invited back again. For instance on one buddies property he has a 130" minimum, on another it's a 3 1/2 year old minimum. On my own property last year I simply told them one thing,.... "IF you kill a buck he better be big enough for the taxidermist because I'm driving!" ;):DFor a $550 taxidermy bill I knew there wouldn't be much of a chance that anyone would drop the bowstring on a yearling buck, that's for sure!:)

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I personally would go for sure. I'd prefer the does. However if you said I could only shoot a buck and it had to be of a certain age or size I would probably prefer to hunt on my own on State land.

Tom

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Only person with "free reigns" is my son. He can shoot anything he wants to.....and I'll drag it out for him.

Everyone else has to play by the rules.

Good advice, GR8.......but you can rest assured that I "might" open up the woods I hunt to 3 or 4 choice guys, this year. My GW will hunt there....Rob/PA....my son.....and maybe a good friend or 2.

I can't even take them to the "hallowed grounds". My landowner, there, wants no one in there, except me and my son. It's still the same herd, though.....only one property over.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

IL.....that's a great point.

Shoot it......have it mounted. I like that.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I don't know why you would feel bad about restricting harvest on your land.
And I , for one , would feel privlidged to be invited to your land. If someone you invited doesn't like the rules you set down , they should respectfully decline the offer.
The only way to meet your management goals is to have all parties adhere to the restrictions. They can be changed by you if a special circumstance arrises. (I'm referring to a first time youth or dissabled youth.)

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

If someone were to invite me to hunt on their land, and they gave me restrictions on what I could or couldn't shoot, I would adhere to that request w/ a smile on my face the entire time. It's your land, and the folks that hunt on it with you must respect your wishes, plain and simple.

Don't shoot that 2 1/2 y/o though......Talk about being hypocritical.......Yer definetly gonna piss some people off and loose future opportunities.....

edit: Oh, the people I'm referring to are those you hunt with.......Nobody here.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I see absolutely no problem with it. You have your management standards in place and everyone who hunts with you should follow them.

I have a 130" minimum up here at my camp and a $100 fine if they shoot one under. The fine isnt meant to be a big deterrent, its just to make a point. The guys who hunt with me know that I have a waiting list 6 miles long and if they don't want to follow my rules, someone else can take their place that will.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Not quite sure I follow you, here. I'm not asking to hunt with anyone else. With the number of does I need to take out his year.....I feel like i'd be letting myself down if I took time out of my woods to hunt somewhere else. I can't afford a missed opportunity (day afield somewhere else).

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

GMMAT,

The problem is enforcement. Most people will say they will play by someone's rules b/c it is your property. Most smart people who want to come back will follow the rules, but there will be mistakes either on purpose or accidental, and then you have to decide what to do.

We had a youth hunt and two forks were taken (sorry couldn't see with the ears and all). We didn't want to ruin the hunt for these young hunters by berating them (one was first deer). But this year we are probably not going to have the youth hunt b/c it is messing up our management plan.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Well first of all, if you have the rights to hunt the property, or own it and you are inviting them to hunt then whatever restrictions, rules, management guidelines, whatever you want to call it, should be not be a slap in the face to them. If they feel that way then shame on them.

I have a few properties I hunt, some is family owned, some we have rights to. 4 Years ago the larger 2000 acre property we have, we started trying to harvest 8 points or better with an 18 inside spread. Its hard to judge that sometimes but you certainly can count points while shooting and you can also get real close to width by looking at the ears and the rack. We also tried the 3.5 year old route but again, that can be difficult in some situations to make, so we stuck with the 8/18 and its worked out real well as weve seen from trail cam pics as well as harvested deer as Ive posted some pics from the last 2 years.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Caveat is......nobody hunts there without me physically with them.

I think that'll take the "unknown" out of the equation.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Jeff,
I certainly hope it is not bad to do what you are doing. I am doing it to my buddy's youngest son this year. He can shoot a 1.5+ year old doe or a 3.5+ year old buck. That is it. No yearlings, no fawns (basically just to eliminate the possibility of shooting a button), and no immature bucks. If he doesn't like it then he can try to get his first deer somewhere else. That may sound bad, but it is just a matter of respect as far as I am concerned.

Now, this will also be my wife's first year hunting. She can shoot whatever she wants. It is her place too, so I can't tell her what she can or can't shoot. The hard part will be not complaining about it when she shoots one bigger than any I have evershot:).

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

GMMAT from my experiance with inviting people to hunt with me is to find people that already have the same standards that you do.Some people just don't get it and say they will follow your rules but when the the moment of truth comes they will most likely come up with some line of bs of why they took that 1 1/2 year old deer.

Last year I had 2 idiots do that and I kicked everybody off and they aren't welcome anymore.So know I hunt with people who think like me. I'am I right or wrong? I don't know but it is my land so what I say goes.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

well either way if it was public or private land.....you are inviting me to hunt in an area that you have scouted and patterned these deer....i would have to say that i would 100% adhere to your request....

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Yeah, when I read that I understood the confusion....I understood from your initial post that bucks needed to be 3 1/2 y/o to shoot, and those were the restrictions you placed on anyone hunting on your ground.....What I mean by loosing opportunities is those guys hunting w/ you may get po'd that you didn't follow your own rules and won't reciprocate the favor......If that makes sense.

I would GLADLY follow any rules a landowner sets forth in regards to management......Until said landowner breaks his own rules.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Put me on the bottom of that 6 mile list..I'll hunt with ya too!

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Jeff,

It is your land you have the permission you set the rules, if someone disagrees or doesn't like the rules then they don't hunt

Question though you stated in an earlier post that you were targeting specific does yourself -if someone was to come hunt with you now you want them to shoot the first doe they see- it was my understanding you will only shoot single does without yearlings - so If I was hunting with you and shot a doe that had a yearling with it (no spots) how are going to react - just checking cause it looks like you are less than an hour away and I would be more thanhappy to help thin some does -

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

You are 100% inline to lay the law down on any "guest" hunting your "properties"....

I have a set of rules that any guest must follow or they will never again be a guest on a hunt with me.

One thing you need to be extra clear about is the 2.5 / 3.5 year old bucks.... Most hunters cannot tell the difference between these two on the ground much less on the hoof. I would say especially in your area where they do not grow large bodies..... I am willing to bet most guys if they saw the "big 2.5" they would assume it is a "legal" 3.5.

Just make sure they totally understand how to age a whitetail on the hoof before giving them free reign on your herd.
[/align]

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

If they are hunting with you on your land, then by all means they need to follow your rules. You are being nice enough to even allow them to hunt, so rules are by no means overstepping your bounds.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

if its your land its your rules but you should follow them also. if you think he will be a big 2-1/2 wait and see how big he is at 3-1/2 - 4-1/2

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

768. GR8atta2d [8D]

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I like the following rule; if you shoot a buck, you spend the $$ andmount it. Not proud enough of its' size to invest $300-400 on the taxidermy fee, than let it walk.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I wouldn't have a problem with someone I invited shooting ANY doe.....or does. they don't even have to be out of spots, to be honest. If they can tell it's a doe.....she's got a target on her.....and she's fair game.

The thing about the does I won't shoot.....doesn't apply to them. That's my hang-up.

This may sound weird to some.....but I don't want to hunt anywhere else, here. I'm not seeking nor expecting....nor would I take someone up on a reciprocal agreement.....unless it was to help them thin some does at a future date. Not this year.....or likely the next. I've got too much to do, right here. I wish my sonwould shoot 6! I'll be thrilled if he takes 1.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I like it, too, Don. Implemented!;)

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

I don't put restrictions on people hunting with me. I strongly advise them to wait for a big deer since I do get a look at them fairly regularly. I get real ticked off to the point I won't hunt a place if I'm told I can't shoot a monster if presented the opportunity. That has happened more the once to me.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

FM....no hard feelings, either way. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if someone declined, based on my restrictions. I understand.

RE: Would you feel bad placing restrictions?
 

Depends on who I'm inviting. Some guy off the street, sure there would be some rules. Couple of the guys who let me hunt thier land with no questions, and as many times as I want - I couldn't restrict them, they've done too much for me to even mention restrictions. If they decided to shoot something, I'd truly be happy for them - even if it were a fork horn or spike.