Antlerless season starting with a bang

[BJE80]

Supposed to be foggy tomorrow and I am going to be hunting wide open farm field between two wood lots. Not exactly idea conditions. I'm disappointed.

 

[bueller]

9 down in 3 days. Longest shot so far 467 yards with a .338. We pass the short pokes. As usual no other shots in the hood. 4 more to meet goal but with all the corn up eho knows. Winterkill will not be an issue with all the corn up and now we are hearing farmers will take your tax dollar insurance and leave it go all winter

Many people struggle to see a deer and you guys are playing games to see who can shoot one the furthest out. Pretty awesome situation you have going over there. Is that 467 the record for you guys or has there been a longer one previously?

 

[tooln]

Heading to naples and key west in the morning for a week of keylime pie, red, bonefishing, hurricanes at tonys on duvall street,72 degree water temps, buffetts place in margarettiville, shelling, great seafood.......kayak with the manatees...more rum and tequilla..,....

Have fun.

 

[sandbur]

WTF??? Where I am its starting to become something special to just see a live deer.


One of you guys shoot a couple does and donate them to me. I will come pick them up. Been two years since I had meat in the freezer.

Parts of Cass County are really hurting.

At least it is not like the other place where I hunt and the area manager figures we need 8 doe tags with 7 deer per square mile.

 

[dipper]

Parts of Cass County are really hurting.

At least it is not like the other place where I hunt and the area manager figures we need 8 doe tags with 7 deer per square mile.

Again, your only as good as your neighbors. If they are dumb enough to try to fill those tags with every deer they see, you simply won't have deer.
You are not going to raise 6 bucks to 4.5 years old when your neighboring land is overrun with hunters who are tagging multiple bucks a year. At least not on 500-600 acres.
you can do all the habitat improvements you want. Wi has 4 months of hunting. And xbows are outright killers, and they will only increase the buck harvest as more hunters buy them. Your neighbors might be passing on 2-3 year old bucks, but mine don't. Not being offensive but did any of the bucks shot on your place even make 130"?

 

[SD51555]

130" bucks are a one in ten years event everywhere I've hunted if you're lucky. Where we are, it's every fish goes in the pail, every deer on the pole. And breaking that mindset is mystifying when most only think deer for 4 days a year.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

9 down in 3 days. Longest shot so far 467 yards with a .338. We pass the short pokes. As usual no other shots in the hood. 4 more to meet goal but with all the corn up eho knows. Winterkill will not be an issue with all the corn up and now we are hearing farmers will take your tax dollar insurance and leave it go all winter

That will end for 2015, so you whiny peasants can be rest assured farmers will be back making money farming the ground and not the gov I am sure!;)

 

[BJE80]

Didn't see squat today. Sat out in the fog and rain. Miserable. I cleaned and put the gun away for the year. Can't wait for Sept 2015.

 

[Don'tWorryIHuggedItFirst]

I took my wife on her first ever deer hunt. 45 minutes in i shot the third doe we saw. She then got to watch me gut it out and even helped me throw it in the back of the truck.

 

[sandbur]

Again, your only as good as your neighbors. If they are dumb enough to try to fill those tags with every deer they see, you simply won't have deer.
You are not going to raise 6 bucks to 4.5 years old when your neighboring land is overrun with hunters who are tagging multiple bucks a year. At least not on 500-600 acres.
you can do all the habitat improvements you want. Wi has 4 months of hunting. And xbows are outright killers, and they will only increase the buck harvest as more hunters buy them. Your neighbors might be passing on 2-3 year old bucks, but mine don't. Not being offensive but did any of the bucks shot on your place even make 130"?

The situations are completely different from what you experience. Cass County does not have 8 doe permits and the areas I refer to are public lands with healthy wolf populations.

The area where I live has had 8 doe permits and I wish other hunters would practice some restraint on does.

I do not view the crossbows as any major problem. Just different perspectives.

As for bucks, I favor a hunter killing the buck he is happy with. Yearling or older, I do not care. Note that I said THE buck, not multiple bucks.

One buck on my home place scored 156.

This one is from my land in Cass County. We did not score him. I do not want my girls to get hung up on scoring bucks and the whole trophy culture. I want them to enjoy each deer they choose to kill.

Your choice, 130 or not?

 

[sandbur]

dipper-In Minnesota we have 3.5 months of season. Bow hunting is not a significant factor in the parts of Mn. that I frequent. It might force deer nocturnal, but not many deer are killed.

 

[wiscwhip]

I had every intention of trying to harvest a doe for the freezer during one of our late antlerless seasons. I had scouted areas to hunt for both the 4 day and the Holiday Hunt. Given the stance that the CDAC DNR Forestry and Wildlife Management Reps are taking on the public CDAC Committees recommendations, I will not be participating in either hunt. It appears the DNR only wants to follow the guidelines of "social" deer management when decreases are being requested, or they will have their own people request a decrease and use a loophole to get it in place. If this is the way they want it fine, but I will not be a part of helping them achieve their goal of decimating the deer population even further. Good luck to the guys who need to doe some doe management on their properties, but I will have no part of taking antlerless deer off public lands where the population is at best stable or needs to be increased. I am done for the year, only way I'd even consider taking a deer now is if I had an invite to take one on private land and only in an area like Buffalo, Shawano, Or Waupaca Co. Very few areas need to have the populations reduced very much further, especially if the DNR intends to $h!tcan the CDAC Committee input and call for reductions anyway.

 

[dipper]

Awesome trophy sand. Here you don't have any deer on your place, but at least one nice buck. I have too many does, and no bucks like that. your family got a trophy, I got a freezer full of meat. I see two positives!
It would be nice to get that sweet spot right in the middle. That's my goal. Not sure if it's achievable, but that's my goal. I see the dnr adding bonus bucks to my area, but it's really not their fault. The masses have spoken and walker delivered. Awesome

 

[sandbur]

dipper=That buck was a few years ago. The truth is that we need more does to hatch more baby bucks. Stu has the story straight, but it is a long road to convert the masses of hunters to not trust the DNR with these excess doe permits.

I would like to reach a spot where we could shoot a couple of yearling bucks or does per year and not dramatically hurt the population. If there were enough does so all young bucks could be passed and still have some meat for the table, that would be great. I seriously doubt that will ever happen in my area.

I am sitting here wondering if the one doe on our farm was shot by a neighbor or a hunter on the adjacent state wildlife lands. I see only fawn tracks in the driveway which is along side of the foodplot.

I have stayed away from the back foodplot and apple trees until mzzle closes tonight. Maybe she is back there.

 

[bueller]

I had every intention of trying to harvest a doe for the freezer during one of our late antlerless seasons. I had scouted areas to hunt for both the 4 day and the Holiday Hunt. Given the stance that the CDAC DNR Forestry and Wildlife Management Reps are taking on the public CDAC Committees recommendations, I will not be participating in either hunt. It appears the DNR only wants to follow the guidelines of "social" deer management when decreases are being requested, or they will have their own people request a decrease and use a loophole to get it in place. If this is the way they want it fine, but I will not be a part of helping them achieve their goal of decimating the deer population even further. Good luck to the guys who need to doe some doe management on their properties, but I will have no part of taking antlerless deer off public lands where the population is at best stable or needs to be increased. I am done for the year, only way I'd even consider taking a deer now is if I had an invite to take one on private land and only in an area like Buffalo, Shawano, Or Waupaca Co. Very few areas need to have the populations reduced very much further, especially if the DNR intends to $h!tcan the CDAC Committee input and call for reductions anyway.

I understand all of what your saying but if you enjoy eating venison go get some. Life is short, enjoy it now. If you don't want to take a doe then get out and hunt for a buck fawn. I know what I'm not saying is not the popular opinion here on the forums but it's just an opinion. Selective harvest can allow us to enjoy our hunts, eat some venison, AND let the herd grow.

 

[wiscwhip]

I understand all of what your saying but if you enjoy eating venison go get some. Life is short, enjoy it now. If you don't want to take a doe then get out and hunt for a buck fawn. I know what I'm not saying is not the popular opinion here on the forums but it's just an opinion. Selective harvest can allow us to enjoy our hunts, eat some venison, AND let the herd grow.

I have thought about only harvesting a buck that I know has shed it's antlers during the Holiday Hunt, but I'm not sure if that would be legal? How would they enforce it? I can't see them requiring you to look for pedicles at a couple hundred yards?

 

[gunther89]

If you shot a shed buck it's considered a doe. My neighbor shot one last year like that and he used an antlerless tag for it.