Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
What do you attribute the lack of mature deer to?
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Probably just the normal ebb and flow of the deer herd in the neighborhood. It might also have to do with all of the standing corn around.
Last year ourselves and our neighbors (most of the hunting pressure for a square mile or so) took fewer bucks and have been passing several with the hopes of them maturing. We knew it would be a slightly down year but not like this. Even with less intrusions this year compared to most, the numbers of mature bucks are noticeably down for everyone around us. Still, we are planning on taking quite a few does yet this winter.
MN Slick
5 year old buck +
I hunt North MO as well and what I've noticed the last 4 plus years is fewer of the "right" bucks are reaching older age due to pressure. Antler wise, roughly 33% of bucks will be below average, 33% average, and 33% above avearage. The hunting pressure the last 5-7 years has exploded all over North MO and a good share of the high potential bucks are now killed at 2 and 3 years of age leaving the lower tier bucks to get old. We have a number of older bucks lacking in the antler department on both farms I hunt. Bucks like these are often mistaken for young "up and comers" due to their marginal racks when in reality they need to be shot to make room for younger more promising bucks.
Bill
Administrator
I have a prime example of that. My son killed a buck this week we called Vito. Look at his rack and you might think 3 or 4 years old.
Look at his neck and you might think older.
Look at the wear on his incisor compared to a 3 or 4 year old the neighbor killed and again he leans older.
We have history with this buck. He’s 7 plus years old and not going to ever be a booner. So he was on the list. My son hunted specifically for him because he wanted an old warrior.
Now if I could just get this old hag to walk by.
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
This somewhat tracks with the harvest numbers MDC puts out in January of each year. I am somewhat hopeful that this is really just a symptom of more people hunting in '20 and '21 due to Covid and not a trend that is here to stay. I really wish we could get a shift in the industry from focusing on size of antlers and more on maturity of deer.
Also, it's fairly interesting how many Minnesotans hunt and/or own land down in Missouri. We should just car pool lol.
MN Slick
5 year old buck +
Exactly what I’m referring to! There are lots of Vito’s around. I was geared up to shoot one on Nov 10 but the tool decided eating beans was more important than the Lizadies in front of me. It took him 30 minutes to feed into bow range and by then it was too dark.
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omicron1792
5 year old buck +
What a textbook shot. Must have a good teacher!
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
I will pass that along, thank you. Around age 7 or so we realized he was left eye dominant, so decided to make him a left hand shooter. All those nerf battles were helpful for his muscle memory. :)
trampledbyturtles
5 year old buck +
That is awesome. Congrats. Shot looks phenomenal givin the conditions.
There's a cure for that! My buddy hunted over a new destination plot I put in this year. He had 15 at once, 13 does, 2 young bucks. He reminded me that when we first got the property and did no management, if we saw 10 deer total over a season, it was a good season. I'll take does for now. We've actually seen several nice bucks as well, but just not quite ready to harvest.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Check my habitat thread tonight for story
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Congrats…once again!!!
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Stud. Deer looks nice too.
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
Atta boy! Congrats bud, great buck!!
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
Outstanding buck Native!
Troubles Trees
5 year old buck +
Gosh I don't want to put in too many details but I have been on vacation for the last 2 weeks of bow, today is my first day back to work :/ I had an amazing hunting vaca!! Best rut I have ever seen, bucks chasing doe nearly every sit, rattled in 4 bucks but all were too young. Saw 2 bucks throw down about 100 yards away in the thick stuff, when they finished I rattled and had what appeared to be the winner came in grunting, tore up a bush 20 yards from me and he threw out a snort wheeze as he was leaving. It was a crazy 2 weeks! Saw 4 good bucks but as usual they were with doe and too far to shoot with a bow but mannnnn what an exciting rut!
Gun started Saturday and it all came crashing down, the deer were still running but not from chasing doe lol
This was the 8 point that won and came in to my rattling :) cute little squirt. This was not the caliber of a buck I expected after the dust up I saw.
Gun started Saturday and it all came crashing down, the deer were still running but not from chasing doe lol
This was the 8 point that won and came in to my rattling :) cute little squirt. This was not the caliber of a buck I expected after the dust up I saw.
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