What do you OLD TIMERS think?
12-04-2008, 11:03 PM
#21
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Random Lake, WI (yes it\'s a real town....)
Posts: 163
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(]
...yup...gettin old....[&o][X(]
12-05-2008, 02:05 AM
#22
Site Buck Guru
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Racine, Wisconsin
Posts: 5,922
RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
ORIGINAL: Illinois Buck Hunter
Has lead to the current condition of today's deer herd?
ORIGINAL: GregH
I think that over-population, lack of hunting pressure and milder winters leads to this.
I think that over-population, lack of hunting pressure and milder winters leads to this.
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.
12-05-2008, 02:08 AM
#23
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 1997
Location: Cheasapeke and Delaware Bay Region
Posts: 10,485
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?
12-05-2008, 08:13 PM
#26
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,200
RE: What do you OLD TIMERS think?
ORIGINAL: GregH
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.
ORIGINAL: Illinois Buck Hunter
Has lead to the current condition of today's deer herd?
ORIGINAL: GregH
I think that over-population, lack of hunting pressure and milder winters leads to this.
I think that over-population, lack of hunting pressure and milder winters leads to this.
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.
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.
12-06-2008, 05:48 AM
#28
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: homer, NE
Posts: 347
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.
12-06-2008, 08:28 AM
#29
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: IOWA/25' UP
Posts: 7,145
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.
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.
12-06-2008, 08:49 AM
#30
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
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.
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.