First time hunter success

[356]

I enjoyed being able to mentor this hunter who works in the Kansas City area this past weekend during an antlerless season Field 2 Fork event in Putnam county in northern Missouri. All five hunters eventually harvested a deer, with one hunter taking home two. The hunt helped the landowner achieve his management goal for the 2024 season.

As much as I enjoy mentoring youth hunters, there is something special about taking out adults who were once "anti-hunting" or "apathetic to hunting" become involved in the sport.

 

[Mortenson]

Congrats!

 

[Bill]

Congratulations. I hope the owner did an EHD survey first. His management goals may have been accomplished by a midge. Funny though there are large pockets of Putnam that had no sign of EHD.

 

[Mortenson]

Congratulations. I hope the owner did an EHD survey first. His management goals may have been accomplished by a midge. Funny though there are large pockets of Putnam that had no sign of EHD.

Good point Bill. My county is the same way. Some creeks got smashed while other areas had zero EHD. Our 2k acre region has what I'm calling 75% death, but I'm on the brink of raising that guestimate to 80 or even 90%. Still observing. So far it seems young bucks handled it the best. Every doe counts right now.

 

[Bill]

Good point Bill. My county is the same way. Some creeks got smashed while other areas had zero EHD. Our 2k acre region has what I'm calling 75% death, but I'm on the brink of raising that guestimate to 80 or even 90%. Still observing. So far it seems young bucks handled it the best. Every doe counts right now.

Same. Figuring 70-80%. My observation is the same, young bucks seemed to make out better. I was surprised by the number of does affected.

 

[356]

Congratulations. I hope the owner did an EHD survey first. His management goals may have been accomplished by a midge. Funny though there are large pockets of Putnam that had no sign of EHD.

The landowner and I discussed EHD and CWD. His management plans clearly take into account EHD (of which was not an issue this year). He does drone surveys of the creeks and thermal surveys of the property in general. In addition, they walk the creeks and drainage areas. This is a highly managed property that has historically been enrolled in the DMAP program, but this year he moved herd management from DMAP to mentored hunts, friends and family.

 

[swat1018]

Great experience, for sure.

I don't think the EHD got me hard this year. Buddy saw 30 deer in a 1/4 acre food plot last weekend. Glad I caught a break for once on EHD.