HuntingNet.com Forums

HuntingNet.com Forums (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/)
-   Bowhunting (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/bowhunting-18/)
-   -   What do you OLD TIMERS think? (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/bowhunting/276852-what-do-you-old-timers-think.html)

Nubby_Stalker 12-04-2008 11:03 PM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 
remeber when it wasn't a "DEER LICENCE" or Bear licence.....it was for "Big Game" and that ment one of either Deer, Bear or Wolf in wisconsin??...

...yup...gettin old....[&o][X(]

GregH 12-05-2008 02:05 AM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 

ORIGINAL: Illinois Buck Hunter


ORIGINAL: GregH

I think that over-population, lack of hunting pressure and milder winters leads to this.
Has lead to the current condition of today's deer herd?
Yes. One of the spots that I used to hunt (subdivided now) had no deer when my dad and I first started hunting for rabbits and pheasants back in the late 60's and early 70's. By the late 70's, the deer started showing up. By the late 80's there were quite a few of them and there were a lot of big bucks. There were 2 1/2's making P&Y and almost all 3 1'2's were too. the 3 1/2's were avg 140. Up until the mid-90's, all of the 1 1/2's were basket racked 8-pointers. There was hardly no hunting pressure. By 1994, I started seeing smaller racked bucks in all age classes. I was seeing spikes and forks bt 1998, something I had never seen before. There were still huge bucks around but it didn't seem like there was as many as earlier.

I believe that with over population, caused by lack of hunting (no one would give permission, country turned suburban) and milder winters, leads to more competition for food sources and too many does. Pretty soon almost all of the fawns were breeding, including late born. It gets to the point where almost all the bucks get to breed which can all have an effect on antler quality.

While looking for a friend of mine's deer he shot in 1998, I found a fawn that couldn't have been more than 2-3 weeks old. This was the 3rd weekend of September!! This means that the doe was bred in Feb., possibly March! Most mature breeding bucks have shed by that time and are no longer breeding. Something younger and less dominant had to have bred that doe.

This is my opinion on why this happens. I see this in some of the areas I hunt now. There are big bucks around, but there are tons of small scrubby bucks too. If the total population was cut down and the buck/doe ratio was brought back in order, you'd see more, larger bucks.

Rickmur 12-05-2008 02:08 AM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 

So what do some of the older veterans think? 15-20 years ago did you see bigger bucks? Didyou even see bucks?

No to the bigger bucks part and a few far and between to the see any bucks part.

davidmil 12-05-2008 05:56 AM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 

ORIGINAL: Schultzy

What's an old timer? I've spent the last 24 years strictly bow hunting along side with my dad.
Rookies!!!![8D]

early in 12-05-2008 08:01 PM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 
I remember way back when you were only allowed to kill ONE DEER per year in Pa. Anyone else remember those days?;)

Scott/IL 12-05-2008 08:13 PM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 

ORIGINAL: GregH


ORIGINAL: Illinois Buck Hunter


ORIGINAL: GregH

I think that over-population, lack of hunting pressure and milder winters leads to this.
Has lead to the current condition of today's deer herd?
Yes. One of the spots that I used to hunt (subdivided now) had no deer when my dad and I first started hunting for rabbits and pheasants back in the late 60's and early 70's. By the late 70's, the deer started showing up. By the late 80's there were quite a few of them and there were a lot of big bucks. There were 2 1/2's making P&Y and almost all 3 1'2's were too. the 3 1/2's were avg 140. Up until the mid-90's, all of the 1 1/2's were basket racked 8-pointers. There was hardly no hunting pressure. By 1994, I started seeing smaller racked bucks in all age classes. I was seeing spikes and forks bt 1998, something I had never seen before. There were still huge bucks around but it didn't seem like there was as many as earlier.

I believe that with over population, caused by lack of hunting (no one would give permission, country turned suburban) and milder winters, leads to more competition for food sources and too many does. Pretty soon almost all of the fawns were breeding, including late born. It gets to the point where almost all the bucks get to breed which can all have an effect on antler quality.

While looking for a friend of mine's deer he shot in 1998, I found a fawn that couldn't have been more than 2-3 weeks old. This was the 3rd weekend of September!! This means that the doe was bred in Feb., possibly March! Most mature breeding bucks have shed by that time and are no longer breeding. Something younger and less dominant had to have bred that doe.

This is my opinion on why this happens. I see this in some of the areas I hunt now. There are big bucks around, but there are tons of small scrubby bucks too. If the total population was cut down and the buck/doe ratio was brought back in order, you'd see more, larger bucks.
I will agree 100% with this....and pretty much what my old man was talking about. Although there were less hunters, there were also less deer, less competition for food sources, and a more balanced herd. With no one really hunting the land hard though, the deer that were there were able to reach old age.

Take a look at Canada.....
From what I have heard anyways(never been there), the deer numbers overall are low, but with millions of timbered acres, and with large bucksthat cango years without even seeinga human they get old and big. The harsh winters help keep the numbers in check too.

davidmil 12-05-2008 10:03 PM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 
Really, we Old timers don't think. Many think we know nothing and can't think in complete... what were we talkin' bout?

bowdoc1 12-06-2008 05:48 AM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 
Back when I started in 1965 there wasn't as many deer in Iowa. I could count all the bowhunters on my fingers that bowhunted it my town. I could even start to do that now. Yes bigger bucks running around but, if I seen 10 are 15 deer aseason I had a good year. I did huntthree state all the time and would take a lot of deer a year betweenIowa, Missouri and Nebraska.Some years Idid get to hunt out west when a elktag cost $50. A Iowa tag was $10 and I could hunt out state in Missouri for $20. Aluminums arrow cost $10 a doz.and a gross of woods was $10. A top of the line recurve bowswere around 70 to 140 bucks. Bowhunters lost more deer back than. It was aweekly thingto go out to help buddies go out tofind there deer. We was a closergroup back then every one knowed every one who bowhunted and were all friends.

hardcorehunter 12-06-2008 08:28 AM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 
More deer and bigger bucks than ever. My Grandpa is 86 and out hunting today with IA's opener gun season and he says that when he was a young man that you called your neighbors up if you saw a deer and it was big news....I can remember not too long ago when if a guy in a hunting party had an any sex tag it was a big deal...now they had them out by the handful..shoot em up. Deer are so thick that every vehicle my parents own, but one..have hit deer...and they have 5 vehicles.
Edit..Current world record nontypical killed within 30 miles of my parents' home just a few years ago. Yep..deer are bigger and more than ever here. Pheasant pop sux though..has for years. It is much easier to go out with a gun and shoot 3 deer in a day than 3 pheasants...used to be theopposite.

GMMAT 12-06-2008 08:49 AM

RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
 
I'm 44....and I've been in the woods hunting "something" since I was 9. I grew up on a farm in very rural NC.....and I remember the day I saw the one and ONLY wild deer I ever laid eyes on there. I must have been 12-13yrs old. I went away to college having seen that one.......and two more deer we spotted in a field when we were on our way to the beach, once.

Our deer population in NC has grown over 450% since 1977.

THESE are the "good old days" of deer hunging in our state.

I also never saw a wild turkey until I was over 22yrs old.......and that was seen on the Blue Ridge PArkway in 1987. I was born in 1964. I sight hundreds per year, now.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 03:28 AM.


Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.