How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

Ok I normally hunt with my father, our neighbor and a friend of ours.

Myself and our friend are the kind of guys who will hold out and hunt for that big boy, we are the 2 who spend the off season scouting, and we hunt the thicker harder to get to areas...

Where as my father and our neighbor (know it alls) hunt the easy to get to places which are usually only escape routes for deer. So when the deer start running on heavy pressure days...they blast at anything that comes by.

We hunt an area that has potential to produce monster bucks but when they take out 6-8 spikes and 4-pts a year...the big ones are few and far between. I have taken two medium sized 8's on that property in the last 4 years. The area has so much food that I think one year of AR's would make a big difference in the average rack size.

They just keep saying they are out there to have fun and as long as everyone kills then its a good day, sooner or later they will get a big one sneaking thru. This really makes me mad and I can not get them to change their mindset at all. It makes us look bad and sound like a bunch of toothless rednecks who are only out to slaughter anything that moves.

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

Sounds to me like they have the right idea. There is nothing that says on private land you can't have a good time, kill a few deer andif a "trophy" deer comes by then so be it. To them a deer is a trophy, doesn't matter if it scores 170" or 14". Your father and neighbor probably either own or lease the land you are hunting.

I was in a club up till this year that I helped start, that had the idea thatwe were going to raise trophy deer. After six years of letting all the younger, immature deer go, this last year there was a total of two 3 1/2 year old bucks killed. This was on about 4,000 acres. Where the older bucks went to, I have no idea, but not always is it such a great idea to "trophy" hunt. Enjoy the time you have with your father and friends, it won't last forever.

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

Most don't need 'convincing'. They aren't stupid , but they simply just want to hunt without placing additional restrictions outside of legal ones. If you wish to do so, good. I am more on your side when it comes to some type of restrictions,but not everyone wants to go that route, so leave them to hunt as they wish, and you can hunt, on your land as you want. It's no different than expecting all to hunt with a bow, long bow etc.

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

why did you shoot two medium size deer if you want them to get bigger,just curious not judging you but your preaching one thing but practicing another.
i wish you the best this year and many years after this.

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

Boy buck you sure kinda caught Tim with his boot in his mouth didn't you.

I just wonder who is going to knock some does out to keep the herd balanced so Tim can go out and select whichbig one to shoot?

And as to what Timber said about the big bucks they were brewing disappearing...........

I've seen that happen more times than not.

In closing, don't worry about your Dad and the neighbor. It is what it is. Spend some days with your Pop, tell him you love him and all that stuff. It's harder and harder to physically do things when ya get a little older.

I wish I could have my Dad aroud to piss me off when hunting. Nowadays I talk to him when hunting - he just doesn't talk back. (But I hear him)

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

Show them this thread in the bowhunting forum .
It really shows what one year could do!

http://www.huntingnet.com//forum/tm.aspx?m=2275858

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

sure it works, and just becasue you may be able to convince the next guy or neighbor on one side doesnt meen you will the other one....thats what sucks.

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

of cause it works, thats why some people hate it and some like it, i personally hate it cause i wasent able to get a dmp last year so id rather have shot a spike than nothing... im not a trophy hunter like most are.

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

Ok I guess I put off the wrong vibe there. Im not the kind of guy who is totally out there horn hunting, and I take my share of does each year because a friend of ours has a heart condition and can't eat much beef, so he butchers and eats a ton of venison each year. But when it comes to the rut and the bucks are moving, I will gladly let a spike or 4-pt walk in hopes of an 8 or bigger. If I go out just feel the need to kill a deer because I want to have fun, I'll take a doe, but I also don't need to go out and kill something everytime to have fun.

And the reason I try to convince them that this works is because every year they are always complaining that someone must be poaching all the big bucks because they never see them, and that they need to start planting some clover patches to help the bucks grow some bigger racks etc.

And also, the reason I took the "medium sized deer" as I called them are because they are the 2 biggest bucks taken off this property in the 8 years we have been hunting it. Here are those 2 bucks.







And lastly for reference...the property we hunt surely has potential to raise some fine deer...as seen by this one that is hanging in the property owners house...

RE: How to convince fellow hunters antler restrictions work?
 

When those antlers start tasting as good grilled as the backstrap off a spike buck I'll start buying into the whole deer management thing:D If its legal and they enjoy it, leave 'em alone.