bfnc2003

Lets see here...where to start? As of my last posting some of yall seemed to get offended by when I stated let the lil guys walk. I know everyone has their own standards as to what a mature deer is and thats fine. All I was saying is if you want better quality deer you gotta let some of these smaller bucks walk. I understand parts of this country dont have the deer population we have here in NC just as NC does not have the population we had in GA where I am originally from. Someone made the comment about trophy hunting was just as bad as shooting everything that walks by.....I must say I disagree. We are not trophy hunting....we are managing our herds to produce better healthier and genetically sound deer. And there is NOTHING wrong with that. One of the most misconceptions I hear in NC is "Well if I dont shoot him the guy one property over will"....Maybe,Maybe not? I have seen small 6 ptrs. early in bow season and never see them again until next spring. Kill what you want but Im just tired of hearing "The deer have no size on them where we hunt" Its a simple plan and it will work everywhere in america. Leave your small bucks(not small deformed bucks)small symetrical deer, cull your smaller does, leave your mature does for breeding, they have higher success rates on survival of fawns. Not only will you have better deer..... but for those of you who say we dont have that many deer here.......you will also see an increase in your herd. Thanks to all who share the same passion as I do. And to everyone else who turned my posting into an argument ....so be it ....shoot what you want makes no difference to me. [8D]
It was just a statement to all being that season is just around the corner.

TURKEY FAN

i agree totally with you fella. Some people misconstrude what a trophy is. A trophy is not just a buck with a measureable amount of bone on its head. It can be anything from harvesting a doe you have been after all season, to a forky horn buck who is inferior to your herd and does not have the genes you are looking to pass on to the rest of your herd. As hunters, any prey we kill is a trophy. I have worked for 12yrs on my property to grow mature bucks, no food plots just thinning the herd and letting the good deer grow to be great deer.

speyrjb

I completely agree with both of you.

We have been working for the past 7 years on our property to have better quality deer. When we started we didn't have much of anything on our property. Now, its nothing to see several nice bucks in 1 hunt. We have all let countless bucks, and some very nice bucks walk because they were young. This next year I will be surprised if we don't have some 140's come back to camp. For the Texas Hill Country, that ain't bad!

Small bucks + Time = big bucks

Big Guy01

I totally dissagree. How are you improving the health of the herd? You are just letting the same deer get older. That does not make them or the herd healthier, it just makes them more of a trophy. Call a spade a spade QDM is just a smoke screen for trophy enhancement. It does nothing for the benifit of the deer only the ego's and pockets of some people. I have no grudge against trophy hunting just don't force it on everyone else. Every hunter should make his own decision on if he will take an animal which walks out to him, and leave it at that.

huntnma

isn't there more to the management than just letting the lil ones walk ? i thought they would also take the inferior ones as well, like a spike on one side and a 3-4 nice points on the other....i might have it all screwed up ,lol but that was the impression i got.....

bfnc2003

if you had read and understood my posting i stated in there that i would take out smaller rack mature deer or deer that had "messed" up racks. also i stated that i leave my mature does for breeding purposes. And i believe a spike on one side and 3 or 4 pnts on the other is a deer i dont want in my herd.

bfnc2003

thanks for being on the same page as me.

mammasboy

I believe an instruction and focus of QDM is in order.[&o]

Deerslayer_37

What do people have against trophy hunting? Ill give a personal experience on why i trophy hunt: tags in iowa cost alot of money and the draw average isnt great. therefore, i shoot only bucks that i woudl hang on the wall. also, on our land, we started a new policy last year that if you shoot a buck of any size, it gets a shoulder mount...so if you shoot a 110 inch buck, you're paying 400 dollars to get that boy on the wall..i've shot a couple nice bucks, and i want to shoot bigger. why shoot a little guy when in a couple years he could be huge? the mature bucks are more of a challange IMO. thats the reason i took up bowhunting, so i could have more shots at trophy animals. since the early cave men, we've placed a value on bigger antlers..its ingrained in our instincts..i dotn care if you're against trophy hunting..keep hunting how you want..we dotn bother you..if we want a healthy heard with nice bucks, whats so bad about that?

slayer

TXhighrack

"True" trophy hunting is the best form of management. Some people who only kill bucks call themselves "trophy hunters" but this is far from what they really are.

I get a kick out of guys who shoot 1 1/2- 2 1/2 year old bucks and call them selves "trophy hunters" lol.

Let the bucks get some age on them. Where I hunt we dont/wont/cant shoot a buck unless we feel he is 5 1/2+ years old, most of the bucks that are taken or 6 1/2 - 7 1/2. The average buck will not reach his full potential until he is 6 1/2 years old. There is very little reason why people should shoot young immature bucks, other then "ego" reasons.