coupla bucks

[foggy]

Picked up my chips yesterday and had a visit by three pretty nice bucks.

 

[foggy]

Had a blow up of what looks like the best one.

 

[foggy]

Upper 20% of the bucks in the area foggy?

Yeah....prolly the upper 5% of what can be expected around here. NONE of my neighbors will pass on these deer.....and I doubt if any of my family will either. I wonder if they are all 3.5 years?

 

[foggy]

Hard to tell ages at this time of year, but the largest one I'd wager is over 3.5 by at least a year....probably two.

Is there any growth left under that velvet?.....or are they about done. No more "bulbs" remain at the tips.

 

[Bill]

That is a nice 10!
I'd guess their pretty much done growing now.

 

[foggy]

Doing some quick math on my 110 acres. I have pics of "about" 15 different bucks, 15+ does, and 4 fawns this year (one set of twins). About half my pics come from one corner of my property.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Wow. Very impressive foggy.

right now I am at 4 different bucks and no clue on the number of does. But its not more than 5 or 6.
I havent gotten any pics with multiple does all summer. Had pics of twin fawns with a doe early summer, but no pics/vids of twins now for a month or so.

 

[foggy]

It's different here than further south and east for sure. Then too.....you get too far into the "big woods" and the deer don't have the groceries that we have here.....AND the wolf population gets bigger. Pockets of good deer populations exist. Just to the west of me the cover gets less (same area) ......I doubt they have the deer numbers I do. We have a lottery here.....and if the winter is good.....we will have allot of deer here next year. Spotty pockets of deer numbers in this area.

We've never had a 5 deer season here....that I am aware of. Never even a two deer season.

 

[bwoods11]

Great buck! Nice numbers for 110 acres, good luck!

 

[Brush Creek]

Are you certain someone isn't messing with your camera and putting pictures in there when you are no looking???????????

 

[tooln]

Lookin good Foggy, looks like your work is paying off.

 

[foggy]

Lookin good Foggy, looks like your work is paying off.

I like to think so. The last few winters have been ruff.....and I think Im down somewhat in fawn numbers.....but we still have a good tally locally. We passed on allot of small bucks for several years now. Good thermal cover here....and my food plots have helped make it thru the winters.

Having constant good food available and not shooting the chit out of our herd helps a bit. ;) I feel fortunate to have a hunt-able herd.

 

[sandbur]

Some nice bucks and I'll bet I can tell you which two corners of your place are the best!

IMHO Intensive harvest needs to go away completely...reserve it for disease management ONLY

Agreed. It seems it is mostly applied to areas with the lowest deer numbers.

 

[Freeborn]

Very Nice Deer and good numbers Foggy, you might have to come up with a draw system for who gets what stand.

 

[chummer]

Those are some great bucks. Did they just show up? It fascinates me when they just show up out of no where. I had a doe with twins show up this week and two great bucks for my area but not even close to yours. The apples have started to drop so I expect more to come and my plots are in great shape after not being touched all summer.

 

[nwmn]

Great bucks Foggy. Definitely sensing a shade of jealousy from myself. Wish I had more than 2 bucks on our 310 acres, let alone 15!!. In last 2 weeks I've had 3 decent bucks show up but other than that, just a homeboy spiker. Keep it up, and keep posting pics.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Sounds like you have great numbers Foggy! I love 10 points, that is a pretty one!!!

 

[sandbur]

It's different here than further south and east for sure. Then too.....you get too far into the "big woods" and the deer don't have the groceries that we have here.....AND the wolf population gets bigger. Pockets of good deer populations exist. Just to the west of me the cover gets less (same area) ......I doubt they have the deer numbers I do. We have a lottery here.....and if the winter is good.....we will have allot of deer here next year. Spotty pockets of deer numbers in this area.

We've never had a 5 deer season here....that I am aware of. Never even a two deer season.

Tom - You have hit the nail on the head. My area of zone 1 that is just north of you and has been one deer and lottery since about the all season license days. We are one corner of zone 1 with decent deer numbers. Those of us with 5, 7, or 8 doe permits struggle when we have small tracts of land and large areas of public land nearby.

The 5 or higher deer limit needs to be reserved for disease areas or very localized areas with well defined and documented problems.

 

[West Branch]

That 10 looks pretty good, and the other ones do too!

Are you applying for the lottery? It doesn't seem too bad to shoot a doe or two with those numbers.

 

[foggy]

That 10 looks pretty good, and the other ones do too!

Are you applying for the lottery? It doesn't seem too bad to shoot a doe or two with those numbers.

We will have 4 or 5 hunters for opening weekend. Our group will all apply for a doe permit (but, we would not all shoot a doe). We likely would shoot two deer (does or small bucks) between us to make sausage, jerky, and steaks, etc. These deer are usually taken by those with less hunting experiences (grandsons and one son-in-law). But then we try to take the top 10% deer that the property has to offer. I don't know if that makes us "trophy hunters" .....but we just want a "good one". :)

I try to include my family members in making those choices.....and we have not yet talked about it (I kinda steer the outcome :D). But this way they get involved in managing my land and have a stake in what happens in the future. ;) They are learning. :D