Triplets

Curt Van Lith


I have mentioned it before, but some of the hunters I talk to in Wright and Mcleod counties like to say the bucks in their area are never bigger than 8 pt basket racks.

Probably because they are killing young bucks every year. I dont buy for a second that genetics for a whole county are bad and 5 year old bucks all carry basket racks. Thats preposterous.
 
Curt Van Lith




Probably because they are killing young bucks every year. I dont buy for a second that genetics for a whole county are bad and 5 year old bucks all carry basket racks. Thats preposterous.
Correct! That was a dandy buck and I have seen some trail cam pictures of other nice bucks over the last few years.
There was even a Maple Lake moose! (He didn't last long).
 
upload_2015-9-15_21-11-45.png
 
I passed that buck twice that fall. Felt he was only 6 1/2 and thought he had a real shot at turning into a giant.
 
Not true at all. I am struggling to remember the hunters name, but the number 3 archery kill from about 30 years ago came from the Maple Lake area of Wright county. I saw the rack at a deer meeting. Name??

I didn't spend too much time trying to convince the guys otherwise, but talking to guys like them about hunting makes me not have much hope for statewide change.

Probably because they are killing young bucks every year. I dont buy for a second that genetics for a whole county are bad and 5 year old bucks all carry basket racks. Thats preposterous.

Yup thats what it looked like to me. The worst part was how they were disappointed in their bucks but weren't interested in passing some up for a couple years. In their minds the genetics on the place they hunted were bad, but if someone shot a big buck a few miles away it wasn't because it was older. It was because "they hunted near the river and there are always big bucks over there" or some other excuse. Their thought process is a bit off.
 
We had a case of basket rack syndrome across the road from me. Landowner has 900 acres and his guests shot 3 baskets one year. 'Bad genetics and no minerals'. I told him they may be right, but if they would pull the jawbones I would have them aged for free, and that 90% of the time baskets are simply young deer. He requested the jawbones from the guys but they never brought them to him.

Knowledge is power.
 
Van Lith buck was killed about 4 miles from where I shot my avatar buck. Genetics around here are outstanding. If guys would use some trigger restraint, they'd see what those baskets can turn into!
 
Top