omicron1792
5 year old buck +
How does @Native Hunter do it on much smaller then?
-
If you are posting pictures, and they aren't posting in the correct orientation, please flush your browser cache and try again.
Edge
Safari/iOS
Chrome
Are the glory days of deer hunting coming to a close?
- Thread starter Howboutthemdawgs
- Start date
Double Creek
5 year old buck +
I learned a long time ago that trying to only target mature bucks in my area, with 3 months of consecutive firearm seasons that span all phases of the rut, was a futile effort outside of controlling thousands of acres or getting LUCKY with your neighbors.
Instead of challenging myself with the age and size of a deer, I chose to challenge myself with my weapon of choice. Spend a few years hunting with traditional archery equipment only and I promise you, that 130" 8pt that you don't care much about now, will be magically transitioned to a very real trophy animal.
Instead of challenging myself with the age and size of a deer, I chose to challenge myself with my weapon of choice. Spend a few years hunting with traditional archery equipment only and I promise you, that 130" 8pt that you don't care much about now, will be magically transitioned to a very real trophy animal.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Are the "glory days" of deer hunting over? Considering the numbers of mature, better-racked bucks today - NO, the days are better now than many of my early hunting years. It's not even close! Spikes are fewer here (they used to make up the majority!), and bigger bodies / bigger racks are the norm. AR & trigger restraint have made a difference. Speaking for Pa.
Stubborn1VT
5 year old buck +
I also see bigger bucks in Vermont. I have to give management some credit, but mostly I attribute it to fewer hunters and less land access for hunters.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
I admired both of those guys. Good information with out all of the fluff and bragging.
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder........
You get a few years into this, you want more deer. A few more than than better deer. A few years after that, you see time going by and just want to enjoy the outdoors like you did when you started.
I get something easy to obtain in the freezer early........ Takes the stress of getting the one you want vs getting one in the freezer out of your system.
Im kind of in double creek's mindset. I make the harvest itself a challenge. I brag how close I shoot them. Often go in the woods with traditional iron sighted flintlocks. Have no problems with 100 or 125 yard shots when the wind and animal is calm though. So, not soo limited.
Alot of issues is camera technology and the internet. It is very discouraging for a lot of hobbies, not just hunting....... Only cool hotrod is a twin turbo LS, rust free, frame off restoration...... Cant catch a good fish unless you got a triple 350 horse offshore boat.
Happy just hunting with my old marlin lever gun and no cameras up. Enjoy my humble little mustang. Have a great time on the inlets with my old penn reels, or in the lake with my 6hp Evinrude and basic fish finder........
Grass is always greener somewhere...........
You get a few years into this, you want more deer. A few more than than better deer. A few years after that, you see time going by and just want to enjoy the outdoors like you did when you started.
I get something easy to obtain in the freezer early........ Takes the stress of getting the one you want vs getting one in the freezer out of your system.
Im kind of in double creek's mindset. I make the harvest itself a challenge. I brag how close I shoot them. Often go in the woods with traditional iron sighted flintlocks. Have no problems with 100 or 125 yard shots when the wind and animal is calm though. So, not soo limited.
Alot of issues is camera technology and the internet. It is very discouraging for a lot of hobbies, not just hunting....... Only cool hotrod is a twin turbo LS, rust free, frame off restoration...... Cant catch a good fish unless you got a triple 350 horse offshore boat.
Happy just hunting with my old marlin lever gun and no cameras up. Enjoy my humble little mustang. Have a great time on the inlets with my old penn reels, or in the lake with my 6hp Evinrude and basic fish finder........
Grass is always greener somewhere...........
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
^ Very well said!
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
I saw this graph this morning when looking for the 2025 rifle season numbers. I think this in indicative of the ease of harvest due to tech. I think of the quote Hemingway wrote on how do you go bankrupt. “Gradually and then suddenly.” This is just a snapshot of one place. Buck harvest is steady climbing through the years. I’m not buying the states excuse that the population is growing, more that it’s too easy to kill bucks now. Doe harvest is not increasing as a result so what’s that say…additionally there’s no emphasis on actual management of both habitat and species. This one state (and several others) discourages habitat work by allowing bait and at best is apathetic to doe harvest by placing the rifle season in the beginning, peak and late phases of the rut. Combine that with all the tech and you see the results in two graphs. So how do you kill a buck age structure…Gradually and then all the sudden
Feelslikefar.
5 year old buck +
Thinking about this again, I think the glory days of deer hunting where I hunt, probably ended in the late 60's, early 70's. Habitat wise.
The open spaces are all gone. The farms are all gone. The mixed spaces are gone. More dense young growth, more property division, more houses, more full time residents, all strangers, more posted property.
As far as all the other stuff... years ago I heard someone say about Reloading.... "It gives people something shooting related to do that isn't actually shooting." For me at least that's mostly what all this is. I don't get any "intel" from my cams, I like seeing the animals and it gives me some connection to hunting all year long. This is all distraction. I get to sit and worry and wonder about doing this and that, this idea, that project or whatever as distraction from all the awful day to day realities.
The open spaces are all gone. The farms are all gone. The mixed spaces are gone. More dense young growth, more property division, more houses, more full time residents, all strangers, more posted property.
As far as all the other stuff... years ago I heard someone say about Reloading.... "It gives people something shooting related to do that isn't actually shooting." For me at least that's mostly what all this is. I don't get any "intel" from my cams, I like seeing the animals and it gives me some connection to hunting all year long. This is all distraction. I get to sit and worry and wonder about doing this and that, this idea, that project or whatever as distraction from all the awful day to day realities.
I agree with you. I wouldnt say in AR it is so much new technology as it is new seasons - “opportunity”, and relaxiing restrictions due to cwd regs. A third of our state is within the cwd zone, where the 3 pt reg was removed, a week of season was added, and an additional doe was added. Button bucks are now checked as does, so you can kill five of them.
In addition, across the rest of the state, straight wall cartridges were allowed during ml season - which doubled the harvest. Straight wall cartridges are now allowed in the delta farming country. A three day early buck archery season was also added.
My opinion - if the state wants more deer harvested due to cwd concerns, and talks about sharp shooters or adding a another buck tag - landowners balk. Give them a new season and dont mention cwd - they will wholesale slaughter the deer. I believe the additional opportunity is added to reduce deer density in a preemptive strike to combat cwd.
In the case of AR, I dont know what new technology has really aided deer hunters in the past three years - which has seen a pretty good increase in harvest. Cell cams, baiting, crossbows, etc - have been around for years now. I do think more folks are baiting now than ten or fifteen years ago - except the cwd zones.
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Good point on seasons. Same here. Early adult season is now a week (2 weekends). There’s a. Oct muzzleloader, 3 weeks of rifle, 2 more weeks of late muzzleloader, free kids (late adult) season plus all the other factors. I wouldn’t downplay the tech though. Every little advancement in the last 5-10 years incrementally adds to success and when added together it’s a bloodbath.
At the end of the day the state and the collective group of participants is going to erode the overall structure of deer to a point where “trophies” will be redefined to something much less better than what is possible for each area. The only way to win this game is to rely on yourself to control as much ground as you can to make the rules. Which is also getting harder and harder to obtain by the day.
At the end of the day the state and the collective group of participants is going to erode the overall structure of deer to a point where “trophies” will be redefined to something much less better than what is possible for each area. The only way to win this game is to rely on yourself to control as much ground as you can to make the rules. Which is also getting harder and harder to obtain by the day.
Yes, it would take crazy money to control enough land - or a high fence. Our duck lease is 800 acres 25 yr old WRP. About 160 acres water and the rest planted in various oak 25 years ago. We do no deer management there. We dont deer hunt it. The land is in farm country and flood plain land that will grow big deer. In three years, one deer has been shot and lost - by a bow hunter one of the lease members gave permission to hunt. Surrounding land on three sides is heavily hunted and baited. I have gone every weekend of duck season down there duck hunting and not seen a deer. My son saw his first deer while duck scouting last week - after being a member for three years. Even a doe is a rare sighting. I am convinced I could do the same thing on those 800 acres I do on my 350 acre home ground and it would respond well. But the logistics of getting equipment there and not even sure what you can do on WRP keeps everyone from doing anything. But it is living proof, land in a great geographical area for deer, basically unhunted for three years - will not necessarily show any improvement when it comes to deer age structure or density. Several of us run a camera or two just in case a big deer shows up - and it hasnt happened in three years.
Last edited:
356
5 year old buck +
Missouri is not winning the war by harvesting equal numbers of bucks & does. While I am generally pleased with the departments management and seasons, the average "late doe" season only brings the antlerless numbers up by 12-14,000.
I don't know if earn-a-buck would encourage doe harvest or simply turn away potential hunters. Generally our herds are good in most parts of the state and the age class is better than twenty years ago.
September 15-November 30, 2025
Total Deer: 256573
Total Does: 99061
Total Button Bucks: 19816
Total Antlered Bucks: 137696
I don't know if earn-a-buck would encourage doe harvest or simply turn away potential hunters. Generally our herds are good in most parts of the state and the age class is better than twenty years ago.
September 15-November 30, 2025
Total Deer: 256573
Total Does: 99061
Total Button Bucks: 19816
Total Antlered Bucks: 137696
I know a late doe season is a last chance kind of thing - but your does should, in theory, be killed prior to rut - so your bucks arent wasting effort only to kill a bunch of just bred does and killing does earlier in season leaves more fall mast crops for the rest of the herd. I imagine you know that - but I know a lot of leases around here dont even plan on killing a doe until Christmas hunt.
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Literally nothing.
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Integrity.
But this is a known problem. I think the people who are checking any animal are likely being honest. It's the ones who have a license that don't check their buck to hold a tag for the better shooter buck that are the concern, in my opinion. The people who are just straight poaching and killing bucks or does are going to do it regardless of when a season is or how deer are checked in or reported. My very anecdotal observation with this is that it is one of the silver linings of more recreational land being sold/hunted - there are more eyes out there and as a result there is less outright poaching happening. This has definitely been the case in our area in MO. We had terrible problems with road hunting up until more of the land around us was selling and people were clearly hunting it.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Another thing I absolutely hate about the thought of earn a buck - and I will use my land as an example. We didnt kill a doe for eight years. We still only kill one or at most two a year. This year, so far, there have been nine people who hunt my land at least a day or two. That would mean if we each wanted a chance of killing a buck, we would have each had to kill a doe. Nine does. We have not killed nine does combined in the last ten years. Five miles away on a 5000 acre lease, they were rounding members up to go during the Christmas hunt - they were trying to kill over 100 does. We are both in the same deer zone. The same regulations do not often work just a few miles apart. If we killed nine does on my place every year, we would t have a doe left in five years.
Last edited:
