Yes I saw that too, when it came up as a short in the suggestions. My kids are watching a lot of tube. He said world record typical without a doubt, lol. I used to like watching his wife fight with all the negative commenters on fb.
The thing I can’t process is 600ish acres is around a quarter of their range during the rut. Louisiana is a bait and rifle state. I can’t begin to understand how they aren’t losing the majority during that timeframe. You can have the best habitat on earth and the to roam is stronger than the security in a part of their range
Haha same. Is there a pic of this cull, 4.5 year old buck? Feels like they just wanted to take a deer. Not sure how ya could determine a 4.5 that already scores 168", in a wild setting, can't get bigger. I'm sure you guys recall the narrow Franz buck. Along with a million other examples, good thing this narrow deer wasn't culled before his good antler growing days came.
Believe me, I'm with you. I don't understand it, but it is happening right here in my backyard, and it drives me insane. I can drive by there, 20 minutes from my house and see giant bucks. The plant workers see them all the time. I can drive anywhere else around me and be scaring my wife and kids, screeching the tires to see a doe in daylight by the road.
I think one of the big differences with Iowa and the south is not their regulations but their deer. I had probably seven different bucks on my property last year that were from four to six years old. Not one would have been near 168. My son in law in Louisiana killed his three bucks during their 2 1/2 month rifle season and they were a 4, 5, and 8 yr old. None of them would have broke 140”. Yes, there are a few isolated places in the south that produce big deer - but nothing like Iowa. If the key to producing “booners” is putting age on them - we would lead the books. But it is not. Our 5.5 yr old bucks average 118”
Diet and age can produce southern deer every bit as good as northern deer. And, the recent article by NDA(QDMA) about southerners shooting older aged bucks than northern states on average was laughable. They were comparing DMAP data in the south to data in the north.
I agree with you. Generally as you go north, the deer get bigger. Higgins is at least a couple hundred miles further south in IL than I am. I think Iowa guys mostly agree that the biggest difference IA has vs surrounding states is not having gun seasons in November. Another difference is IA is pouring the mineral to their deer in recent years. Whereas it's illegal in IL. Similarly to you, coming into this year I had my eye on 7 bucks that would be mature. I actually updated a different thread here this morning. Only 1 or 2 of those deer had a chance of cracking 150. 6 of the 7 never made it out of velvet, all dead. The 7th, although huge in my opinion, didn't appear to make 150". He was our only mature buck to hunt. Here he is. He was alive in early Dec, but not sign or word of him since. What's the status of your big boy?
Yes - diet and age do make a difference. Across much of the south, our deer are living in pine. And yes, I know there are a lot of areas in the south where a 2 year old deer is an old one. What do you think the average 5 yr old deer would score in Iowa - I bet more than 118”. We kill plenty of bucks older than 4.5 - in fact - most of them. The biggest deer we have ever killed scored 158 - a 6.5 yr. The biggest deer I know of killed in our county scored 174 - a non-typical. Our deer are bigger on average than my SIL’s deer in Louisiana - where anything above a 135 is a good one. Yes, there are a few killed in the prime river bottom grounds. But the point being, there are a lot of 4 yr old and older deer around my place - and my son in laws in spite of two month seasons, rut hunting, baiting, dogs, and a two buck limit. The average 4.5 year old buck in most areas of the south does not score what the average 4.5 year old buck scores in the north. That has almost nothing to do with regulations and all about the deer and their average habitat.
My biggest deer made it through season
I agree completely. The south, in general, has a much different landscape than north of us. Where deer have the ability to fulfill their dietary requirements and reach their natural age limits, they produce the biggest antlers. Without being able to reach either of those, we never see their potential. The place I keep bringing up is in a county/parish where nothing has ever scored above the 140's, yet it produces booners consistently with no agriculture, only age. The food available to them is early successional plants and acorns. Besides age, that's what they have.
I think lack of pressure is huge in allowing a deer to reach its potential. Everyone down south hunts. There is nowhere to hide.
That's why I pointed out what a joke the NDA/QDMA article was earlier. They claimed southern bucks harvested were far above the ages harvested in the north. The southern data they were using for that article was from properties managing for older age class bucks. Of course the data was going to show older age bucks being harvested. It was a completely misleading article.
