I AM THE WOODS

Dang...I figured Turkey numbers would be better than that...I wanted to get out there but been unable to due to an eye injury...so im just tryin to deal with it and get back in action come archery season...as far as big bucks in GS...they are already there...I have been fortunate to get a few and have laid eyes onna few others...antler regs are gonna definitely boost some good rack sizes outta GS in years to come...and I do think we will eventually see a return of at least a small number of doe permits...

MaineRida

I'll be permanent in six years,hope they have grown really big by then. Will try to get a week of archery in this coming season, the learning curve has to begin at some point.

FlaBoy18

Even with the new antler regs, the deer can only get so big on these management areas without the right nutrition. Areas like Goethe that are nothin but pines and palmettos, really dont have the nutrition that deer need to get big. I think that if the FWC really wants to grow big deer, they need to start putting in food plots on WMA's. A few have them already, but not many. Having the right nutrition is what will improve deers antlers the most

NY2FL

I'm not certain nutrition is the problem on these WMAs. I imagine food plots on some of these more popular management areas would be full of people walking all over each other all day anyway. Plenty of big bucks out there living off of what's around. I think the issue is more of an unbalanced buck/doe ratio. If they're looking to grow the population before issuing doe permits then the antler regs will definitely do it. We'll have to wait and see what kind of numbers they produce in the years to come as far as ratios and harvest #'s.

I AM THE WOODS

I would say nutrition isnt so much a factor...Most of our wmas are similar to each other...palmetto flats,piney woods,oaks,bayheads n river bottoms...and all of em have big bucks...The reason we dont see em often is that mature bucks on pressured public land are very smart...over time they learn to avoid hunters...prime example the 9 point I shot this past season I tracked off a mile and a half rubline thru palmettos n bayheads...I blanketed the area with cameras for a month...NO big buck pics but could see large buck tracks crossin the game trails all in there...I hunted these game trails a couple times but no big buck...I noticed a small bayhead a couple hundred yards southwest that was purty thick...decided to check it out n it was scraped n rubbed up...knew i found the core...next mornin slipped in n dropped that buck...long story short...these pressured mature bucks can reside in very small thick areas during daylight hours...This is the reason we dont see many big bucks...they are out smartin us lol

NY2FL

Spot on if you ask me. They didn't get that big by being stupid. These bucks surely feel safe in these thick swamps. Hard to get to and hard to get through without making much noise. I was walking along a thick swamp on the west side last year during hog season, standing within 20 yards of a massive buck and didn't even know it (well, we knew we heard something lol). If I hadn't taken a couple steps into the swamp we woulda walked right past him. Knee deep water and this guy was just sitting there the whole time. Only way to get one of these swamp donkeys is to put in the time. Now I can't wait for deer season lol

FlaBoy18

So do these big bucks just find a small little island of dry ground in these swamps and bed in the swamp or do they bed sumwhere else?

I AM THE WOODS

Sometimes...the one thing thats guarenteed is they will bed in the thick

Woodsman88

Well boys I ended it with a bang...literally haha. First time I've tagged out on public land and had my grandfather hunting with me too!

Tufrthnails

Congrats Woodsman! Tough hunting out there.