Top States for Mature Buck Harvests

[Bowsnbucks]

I believe many hunters equate rack size with age/maturity. I'll bet most hunters will shoot a larger-racked buck for their area - - - and not give a thought to its age or whether it's "mature".

In my experience hunting Pa. and Maine, finding a "mature" buck (one 3 1/2 or older) is a product of (1) luck, (2) thick, ugly cover where no one wants to tread, (3) good food sources within easy distance for the buck, (4) and lighter hunting pressure. Gotta gain some years to be "mature." Find those things, and your chances improve. JMO.

 

[Turkish]

A lot of it has to do with the extra nutrition from the increased cropping - especially soybeans, but also corn to some extent. Until recent years most fields in this area were hay or pasture. Now you can get a farmer to farm an 8 or 10 acre field.

I have also increased the cover through hinge cutting at both places and native grasses at one of them. The native grasses are really good after leaves fall but not so much when it’s still real hot. The hinge cutting is a plus year round.

I also think that passing young bucks with lots of potential is helping. Sometimes they get shot by someone else, but occasionally it works out.

How much acreage do you control again? And do your neighbors cooperate?

 

[Native Hunter]

How much acreage do you control again? And do your neighbors cooperate?

100 at one place and 20 at another. At the 100 I have people hunting close on 2 sides. One cooperates pretty well and the other not as much.

The 20 is remote and hard to hunt but I only have people hunting on one side close by. This year my 20 has the biggest deer, but that isn’t always the case. I have a good elevated blind at both places and can hunt some ladder stands too. Not sure about the neighbors at the 20, but they don’t seem to be brown is down.

PS - my dad has a 90 that isn’t bad but it is mostly cleared land in fescue. Sometimes he has a good one or two passing through but I don’t hunt there or work there much.

 

[H20fwler]

Wife uncle shot this one that scored 171 and the state biologist aged it at 3 1/2

I can’t imagine how big it would have been at 5 1/2, don’t think it would have stayed as clean. Older bucks around here usually start growing kickers.

The world record Beaty Buck was supposed to have been 3 1/2 also, at least that’s what the article in North American Whitetail magazine said at the time.

Not the Beaty buck it was 4 1/2, meant to say the Hanson buck.

 

[BenA]

How much acreage do you control again? And do your neighbors cooperate?

Don't let him fool you. I bought in the same county he's in thinking I'd be neck deep in booners. Come to find out, he's got a secret weapon that I've yet to find out where to buy some.

 

[Turkish]

Don't let him fool you. I bought in the same county he's in thinking I'd be neck deep in booners. Come to find out, he's got a secret weapon that I've yet to find out where to buy some.

View attachment 82497

That’s the way it goes. He’d make a helluva coonass!

 

[bwoods11]

The difference between Iowa & Minnesota for buck hunting is immense. I see so many more mature bucks in Iowa than I do in Minnesota.

However, EHD had slowed that down to the point where it’s not as extreme .

Ironically, I’ve had 3-4 huge bucks on my farms in Minnesota the past 6 years ? It’d odd, but somehow an occasional slammer makes it to age 5 or 6 and that buck will be pretty impressive.

Here are a few from each state ….

 

[jsasker007]

The second picture is awesome! All great

 

[bwoods11]

The second picture is awesome! All great

Never saw him while hunting

 

[Double Creek]

That last one ain’t too shabby!

 

[Double Creek]

I own land in Alabama and Mississippi. Mississippi is definitely a better deer hunting state, primarily because it has half the population and more agriculture. They both have potential for world class hunting, but the rifle season is 2.5 months long and spans all phases of the rut. It’s not easy for a buck to get over 3.5 unless you have very large tracts of managed land.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

"wanna know how I know you're full of shit?" You think there are states where 80%+ of bucks harvested are over 3.5 years old. Ha!

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I’ve talked to no less than 3 landowners in my immediate area this week. Just playing the beginning of deer season catch up game. Every. Single. One. Has complained they don’t have any good deer. One has no shooters, one had one but it disappeared and one has an old nasty buck but that’s it.

I made a post a couple years ago asking are the glory days over where I blamed tech, bait combined with xbows/modern muzzleloaders/500 yard out of the box rifles/etc and lack of restraint. I’m more and more validated in my opinion every single year.

 

[Brian662]

I’ve talked to no less than 3 landowners in my immediate area this week. Just playing the beginning of deer season catch up game. Every. Single. One. Has complained they don’t have any good deer. One has no shooters, one had one but it disappeared and one has an old nasty buck but that’s it.

I made a post a couple years ago asking are the glory days over where I blamed tech, bait combined with xbows/modern muzzleloaders/500 yard out of the box rifles/etc and lack of restraint. I’m more and more validated in my opinion every single year.

I don't have any bucks on camera that I am currently trying too excited about at the moment, but I know there's a few out there. Always is, IMO.

To your point though, my neighbor says the same thing every time I see him, "sure has been a lot of bucks killed the past few years. It's nothing like it used to be". I/we/they are certainly more efficient killers than we once were, nobody can deny that.

 

[SwampCat]

I’ve talked to no less than 3 landowners in my immediate area this week. Just playing the beginning of deer season catch up game. Every. Single. One. Has complained they don’t have any good deer. One has no shooters, one had one but it disappeared and one has an old nasty buck but that’s it.

I made a post a couple years ago asking are the glory days over where I blamed tech, bait combined with xbows/modern muzzleloaders/500 yard out of the box rifles/etc and lack of restraint. I’m more and more validated in my opinion every single year.

And yet in the same state, Native has a good crop of nice bucks on small acreage. I probably have more mature bucks on my property than I have ever had. My son in law in Louisiana told me it is looking like he has the best crop of mature bucks he has ever had. My buddy who hunts the next property over said he is getting more mature buck pics for this early in the season than ever. I think it is more area specific than generic widespread.

But that said, our g&f is trying hard to increase harvest with the additions of straight walled seasons, early velvet seasons - and removal of antler restrictions due to cwd regulations had been an age structure killer

I think states like arkansas, louisiana, MS, OK are just behind the curve and catching up. Most folks arent looking to buy in louisiana, south ar, ms, and ok - and I dont mean just for deer hunting. We are not seeing the increase in populations in these states that a lot of other states are seeing. I know quite a few deer hunting folks who look to buy land in KY, KS, IA, etc. not many looking to buy in AR, LA, MS, AL, GA - etc. OK is receiving some interest.

I remember years ago when I lived in GA, SW GA was the last place you would think about going to deer hunting. Now they are some really great deer down there. Sometimes, not being the top of the class is not a bad thing

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I don't have any bucks on camera that I am currently trying too excited about at the moment, but I know there's a few out there. Always is, IMO.

To your point though, my neighbor says the same thing every time I see him, "sure has been a lot of bucks killed the past few years. It's nothing like it used to be". I/we/they are certainly more efficient killers than we once were, nobody can deny that.

I pulled three cameras on a 200 acre section of my farm that had been sitting for 2 weeks. 1 spike…1 buck totally 11” of antler on the 200 ish acres, in western Kentucky. There’s been zero bucks taken on this property in the last two years. Fortunately I have more land where I have 2 bucks I can hunt, albeit not giants but imagine if that was your only land. You’re going into bowseason with a hell of a feeling.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

And yet in the same state, Native has a good crop of nice bucks on small acreage. I probably have more mature bucks on my property than I have ever had. My son in law in Louisiana told me it is looking like he has the best crop of mature bucks he has ever had. My buddy who hunts the next property over said he is getting more mature buck pics for this early in the season than ever. I think it is more area specific than generic widespread.

But that said, our g&f is trying hard to increase harvest with the additions of straight walled seasons, early velvet seasons - and removal of antler restrictions due to cwd regulations had been an age structure killer

I think states like arkansas, louisiana, MS, OK are just behind the curve and catching up. Most folks arent looking to buy in louisiana, south ar, ms, and ok - and I dont mean just for deer hunting. We are not seeing the increase in populations in these states that a lot of other states are seeing. I know quite a few deer hunting folks who look to buy land in KY, KS, IA, etc. not many looking to buy in AR, LA, MS, AL, GA - etc. OK is receiving some interest.

I remember years ago when I lived in GA, SW GA was the last place you would think about going to deer hunting. Now they are some really great deer down there. Sometimes, not being the top of the class is not a bad thing

That’s a good point to make. I bet you still have properties around your generally area where people don’t even hunt. Granted I’m sure they aren’t the pinnacle of management but it’s a place of refuge. Deer can go there to get old and maybe they will make a mistake at 6 and chase a doe by someone. I was leaving Monday and saw another camper pulled into a 2 acre lot a couple miles from me. Looked it up and it’s some guy from Georgia. I promise he’s not camping there, he’s using it as a base for hunting. Every property in my area is hunted.

 

[SwampCat]

And another thing, while I have seen a substantial increase in mature bucks, as have other friends in my circle - that still does not mean 150” deer are becoming common. They are still a very, very rare animal in these parts.

The deer on the right is a mature deer. So is the one in the background



From the side. What do you think he scores - 100?



Our average 5.5 yr old deer scores somewhere around 118 or 120. While more mature bucks is a great thing - by far the majority of hunters I know have never killed a 150” deer - or even a 140” deer. Killing five yr old 120” bucks is not going to bring a flood of non resident hunters into the state

 

[SwampCat]

I think our biggest advantage is cover. And it is only increasing with the recent prevalence of emerald ash borer. Cover is all around me. Food is premium to get them out of cover. While we do allow hunting with dogs, not many folks use them anymore.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I love score, but maturity is the thing that matters in my book. You very rarely can have score without age. High grading is having a massive effect on what animals make it though. Often times it’s the “wrong” ones making it to maturity.
Like this guy. I’ve had him for a couple years, he’s at least 7-8. But no one has wanted to put their tag on him in that time