A successful hunt

[4wanderingeyes]

When I was younger, my idea of a successful hunt was myself shooting a decent buck with a big rack. I wasn't overly concerned with what the rest of my party got, or whether they considered their hunt to be successful. After I had kids that were of hunting age, a successful hunt was when my kids shot a dear, it didn't really matter to me what they shot, just that they got a deer. Then we ended up having other kids join our party, and it was a goal to try to get all the kids to get a deer. I would put them in the best stands, and I wasn't concerned if I shot a deer or not. If they got a deer, and it brought a big smile, it was a successful hunt. Horns to me meant very little.

Well over the past few years quantity was the definition of successful, and I made my land to be as much as a draw as possible. This year the goal was to fill a few tags for table fair, I have been seeing much higher then usual deer Numbers, and my son wanted to fill his tags, and so did I. Well this year we succeeded in filling our tags, and we considered it to be a successful hunt by our standards.

Then we talked to the neighbor and we got a lot of grief for shooting a small 6 pointer that he has let pass all fall, and that we shot a couple does, and that deer numbers aren't as high as everyone thinks. What we shot was completely legal. We had tags for everything we shot, and for my size land, we have been seeing a lot of deer. Taking a few from the herd, and whether they met the neighbors definition of what should have been shot, doesn't matter to me. My son is proud that we tagged out, and we are still seeing plenty of deer. So I will have to say to my neighbor, and to the people like my neighbor that has the time to bow hunt every day of the season, and have the opportunity to be choosy in what he takes of his land, not everyone has the same goal of a big pair of antlers to put in your shed, and to brag to your friends. Some times to some people like myself, and my kids, to say we all filled our tags, is what is our successful hunt. And if we are legal in filling our tags, I say good day to you! But keep your opinions to your self!

If shooting the biggest deer is your goal, and it is legal, I wish you luck. If my goal, and my kids goal is to legally fill our tags for the first time in the 15 years That I have hunted my land. With only the 3rd buck we have taken off my land, I will have to say stop driving by and looking to see what I have on my pole, and worry about your successful hunt!

Sorry about the rant.

 

[Someday isle]

That's one of the great things about hunting. As long as you're hunting both legally and ethically you're able to define and set your own goals. Success can be determined in any manner you choose. Those goals can also be adjusted and adapted as you see fit. I remember my early days hunting in southeast Missouri in the 1970s on public land. It was a successful year if we even saw a deer. One year in the early eighties three of the four of us shot a buck on the same day. Me and one other guy in our party both shot nice eight pointers and one shot a five pointer. We felt like kings. My son shot his first deer this year. A button buck. We couldn't be happier. And when I'm an old man and he's still hunting I hope he wants to take me with him.

 

[yoderjac]

When I was younger, my idea of a successful hunt was myself shooting a decent buck with a big rack. I wasn't overly concerned with what the rest of my party got, or whether they considered their hunt to be successful. After I had kids that were of hunting age, a successful hunt was when my kids shot a dear, it didn't really matter to me what they shot, just that they got a deer. Then we ended up having other kids join our party, and it was a goal to try to get all the kids to get a deer. I would put them in the best stands, and I wasn't concerned if I shot a deer or not. If they got a deer, and it brought a big smile, it was a successful hunt. Horns to me meant very little.

Well over the past few years quantity was the definition of successful, and I made my land to be as much as a draw as possible. This year the goal was to fill a few tags for table fair, I have been seeing much higher then usual deer Numbers, and my son wanted to fill his tags, and so did I. Well this year we succeeded in filling our tags, and we considered it to be a successful hunt by our standards.

Then we talked to the neighbor and we got a lot of grief for shooting a small 6 pointer that he has let pass all fall, and that we shot a couple does, and that deer numbers aren't as high as everyone thinks. What we shot was completely legal. We had tags for everything we shot, and for my size land, we have been seeing a lot of deer. Taking a few from the herd, and whether they met the neighbors definition of what should have been shot, doesn't matter to me. My son is proud that we tagged out, and we are still seeing plenty of deer. So I will have to say to my neighbor, and to the people like my neighbor that has the time to bow hunt every day of the season, and have the opportunity to be choosy in what he takes of his land, not everyone has the same goal of a big pair of antlers to put in your shed, and to brag to your friends. Some times to some people like myself, and my kids, to say we all filled our tags, is what is our successful hunt. And if we are legal in filling our tags, I say good day to you! But keep your opinions to your self!

If shooting the biggest deer is your goal, and it is legal, I wish you luck. If my goal, and my kids goal is to legally fill our tags for the first time in the 15 years That I have hunted my land. With only the 3rd buck we have taken off my land, I will have to say stop driving by and looking to see what I have on my pole, and worry about your successful hunt!

Sorry about the rant.

Letting young bucks walk is sometimes difficult. If you can't influence harvest on a large tract of contiguous land, it is largely futile unless neighbors have a similar attitude. We let kids and new hunters shoot anything on our farm. We ask experienced hunters to let young bucks walk and target deer 3 1/2 and older. Sometimes that has unintended consequences. One of our owners was in his 80s. I could tell he was frustrated letting young bucks walk. He did not grow up with that ethic. We did tell him to shoot whatever made him happy, but since the rest of us were letting young bucks walk he did as well. Unfortunately, he passed away last year. I'm now realizing that letting young bucks walk can have undesirable consequences. He failed to harvest a deer his last few seasons. Even if I get a chance to shoot a large buck on our land, I don't think I'll feel it was worth the cost.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[H20fwler]

I've done the same as most on here by trying to develop my properties the best I can and try to attract and hold deer on them. It's great to pass on smaller bucks if that's the mood your in or the property is big enough to do that with and if someone chooses to shoot whatever is legal on their own property that's great too.

I'm all about kids getting deer too.....We raise kids and shoot deer.
Have fun hunting and working with your land that's what it's all about.

 

[Buckly]

As others have said, I'm trying to make my property much better for habitat and hunting. I'm the only one that hunts on it so, it's much easier to make limits. I have a self imposed limit of 3- 1/2 on bucks and usually take one or two doe off the property. I probably have 10-12 different small bucks running around. Not all live here but, they're close and if someone else was to hunt the property and shoot one of those small bucks I don't think it would make one hill of beans difference in what I'm doing. Sometimes the wind and the spirits move you. Listen to the spirits.

 

[NWWI]

I have changed my outlook on hunting too. Even though you are the landowner you should take others desires into perspective. Hunting should be fun.
Also what's not to say he wouldn't have shot that 6 pointer with the gun giving the chance. I know plenty of people that pass young bucks with the bow just to shoot them with a gun. My neighbors have been telling me for years they pass young bucks. I watched him shoot a fork horn opening morning. Neighbors and hunters will all ways stretch the truth a little.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Thanks for the encouraging words. After talking to my neighbor I felt ashamed that we tagged out, and shot a couple "smaller" bucks. I felt like I needed to take th deer down from the hanging post so no one else would see what we had done, by legally filling our buck, and doe tags this year. My son being the level headed one was to proud of our achievement of filling our tags, and convinced me to ignore the neighbor. That he was just jealous.

While he does own 2 times the land I do, I have more deer using my land. I think he is jealous, that I have improved my land to make deer want to be on my land more then his. Not necessarily that we shot more deer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NWWI]

I am in the same situation on the south end of Washburn Co from you. Some folks just don't get it. My neighbors did poorly this year. They blame it on no deer in the area from wolves moving in. My trail cams showed 6 different bucks cruising through the week before gun and I have a coyote or two that have been hanging around all season long. The real reason the hunting stinks is the extra pressure that everyone puts on the deer herd in the area. I by no means did great but I know why. I just have to figure out how to get on the deer. The times are changing, if you don't do the habitat improvements you won't hold the deer.

 

[chummer]

Tell your neighbor to go pound. What you shoot is up to you. I shot a spike with my ML and a mature 8 with my riffle. I am equally happy with both. I shot the spike first and if the 8 didn't come by the season still would have been great. He is entitled to hope what you shoot or don't shoot but has no right to criticize you for it. I think he is jealous and if he knew you were going to shoot the deer he would have shot it in bow season. Other wise he would have just said congratulations.

 

[dsinwi]

4 - Don't succumb to the neighbor's BS. If he really gave a crap about you and your son he would have congratulated both of you on the game you harvested. Thank your son for talking some sense into you. He sounds like a guy I could share a camp with. Let those deer hang and be proud of them. After all, it's your tag. Do what you want with it.
I think this is a big part of what I don't like about deer hunting now. Being ashamed of what you took should never come into play but with all the media and horn porn these days it's turned into keeping up with the jone's. Terrible. It's really disheartening and sore subject for me.

I pass a lot of deer every year too. Watch my neighbor shoot, just about, everything with a horn during bow and gun season. It frustrates me to no end but it is not my place to tell him what his deer hunting experience should be. He's from an older generation that viewed filling a tag as a successful season. Not a darn thing wrong with that. I hope I get around as good as he does when I'm his age. The funny part is, when I bought the place he approached me on passing bucks to let them grow...LOL.

 

[Greta&Gus]

Your son's happiness in hunting > your neighbor's happiness in hunting.

 

[Plottin'booners]

I would rather see our neighbor shoot a couple 1.5 year olds that may or may not make it 4 more years than the 3.5 to 4.5 year olds that are getting close to fully mature. I never tell the neighbors what to shoot and I show them every buck that we have that I plan on shooting and the ones I won't shoot. What they shoot is up to them. I don't enjoy the part after I shoot something so for ME not filling my tag and taking pictures is just as enjoyable. Now my son hunted for the first time with someone other than me opening weekend of gun deer. Sunday afternoon he sent quite a line of text messages telling me how old this doe was in the plot and she didn't have a Fawn and he wanted to take her. He even told me his uncle would gut it Lol. I said have at it. We took her to get processed and they checker her for CWD and aged her. 9 to 12 years old they said she was and I told my 12 year old son how proud I was of him and how surprised I was at his aging on the hoof ability!

 

[Someday isle]

This is such a great thread. I think it really underscores the importance of good neighbor relations. That falls on all of us. No matter how big our property is we all have neighbors to the East, West, South and North, and maybe a couple corners too. My property probably isn't all that unique. Its an old 160 acre family parcel that was divided up when the owner died. Those four parcels eventually sold to the four of us that own them now. One guy has the old homestead and he's out there 50 weekends a year. Fortunately hes a really nice guy and he looks after everybody's property when we're not there. I am able to go out during the week and I check on his place for him too. I show him all my camera pictures and even where I think the deer trails are crossing the property lines. The other two owners are a father and son who don't hunt. They like to camp, pick blackberries, hunt mushrooms and ride their atvs. They stay home during deer season. We're all the same age except for the older father who is in his 70s. As a condition of my purchase i wanted to meet the neighbors who shared the road. I wanted to be comfortable with them and I wanted them comfortable with me. Now that of course could all change in a moment if one of them decides to sell or falls on hard times, but its nice to have some established good will with those we share boundaries with. The land is mine, the trees are mine and the habitat is mine. I'll do with it as I see fit but if I were to make a drastic change Id certainly inform myneighbors of what I was doing. None of us own our own deer though, or any of the other wildlife resources that exist. When that yearling is long dead and gone, and hopefully prepared in a tasty recipe, I'll still have a neighbor. I made my hunting goals and habitat goals very clear in that opening meeting and promised that I would respect their goals and their boundaries and fortunately they were of the same mindset. I think its worth the effort to make and maintain a good relationship with my neighbors. Again, I know I'm fortunate to have three good neighbors (one I've never met as his property is accessed from somewhere else). Hopefully it stays that way for years to come. Its kind of a cliche but its also true - Good fences make good neighbors. There are boundaries besides fences too. We should honor those as well, and so should our neighbors. I think in most cases we can be responsible adults and make those things clear with our neighbors in a kind, professional, but assertive way. At least I hope we can.