Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Common here.

Bucksnbears

Bucksnbears

Well-Known Member
K, first off, I gotta say, I'm not sure what has happened here in Nw Mn the past 10 years?

30/40 years ago, we had tremendous bucks. Hunting pressure was 20xs what it is now.
No, not kidding.
Season has been open here for 2 weeks and I have yet to see a bowhunter out.
Firearm season is dang near a ghost town!

Muzzelgun season..., what's that?

Besides that, it's what is happening to our bucks? They are getting an older age class but even with history (3_4 years), they just seem to stagnate at 130ish inches.
Even at 5_6 years old.
I shot this old timer bout 10 years ago. Guessing 7,8 years old. He never grew much (or at all) in the 4 years I watch him. He was a HUGE bodied deer just never grew antler wise. 128" when I killed him.

We have better crops now, WAY less hunting pressure, great soils.
I'm at a loss as to why our bucks are not preforming after wise?
20240928_202520.jpg
I
 
With technology everyone is shooting more high scoring young bucks. That means the poor genetic bucks live and breed. I can't tell you how many super serious hunters I talk with who say I don't have a high scoring old buck this year to hunt, just culls. High grading is a big problem. The only solution is to have great neighbors, and that is almost impossible.
 
Agreed. And I think that is why generally speaking MO doesn’t have the high end deer that everyone thinks it should. Hunters and antler point restrictions took the place of Darwinism and have caused the genetic quality to go backwards. I have heard the golden triangle in IL is the same way now. I know of managed properties in MO, one 1100 acre contiguous tract comes to mind that has older age class deer and is in a good area with good neighbors that rarely produces a deer in or above the 60s. In the 80s through late 90s that area consistently produced a 180 plus every few years and was not managed at all.
 
In my area of Minnesota, it’s still too many hunters. We see great 2.5 and 3.5 great olds but they all end up in the back of a pickup !

We have crossbows now and they have taken out some good bucks already !
 
From what I’ve witnessed, the genetics are still there at 2-3, but with more people holding out for bigger antlers they’re forgetting to factor age into it.

A 150” 3 year old is a sitting duck for the rifle season. I’ve tracked multiple bucks that were stellar at 3.5 to see how many make it. The % is abysmal.

I had a buck that I figured was 2.5 come by me 4 times opening day of rifle chasing does…he was all over the place. He did end up getting shot later in rifle and went 129.5 with 5 brow tines. He was a young pup no doubt when I saw him in person.

These two bucks were on my farm last fall; the one on the left is alive only because we passed him multiple times. I highly doubt he would have had that luxury on some other properties. The one on the right was shot. He was 4.5 and I personally had my son pass him the year before when he was 3.5 during youth rifle.

They’re just not going to make it to maturity in any great numbers without some trigger control in today’s world.

e73bfed0495c5ab66df5b79a1c7a5dfe.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Muskrat24 said:
Agreed. And I think that is why generally speaking MO doesn’t have the high end deer that everyone thinks it should. Hunters and antler point restrictions took the place of Darwinism and have caused the genetic quality to go backwards.
Click to expand...

Disagree. Even though we don't have the age structure in MO, average 2 and 3 year old antler size and score have increased substantially over the past 20 years in our area. When we do have an older buck slip through, they've been 145 - 175 range at 6.

And I'm in the "hills", not the river bottoms..
 
Bassattackr said:
Disagree. Even though we don't have the age structure in MO, average 2 and 3 year old antler size and score have increased substantially over the past 20 years in our area. When we do have an older buck slip through, they've been 145 - 175 range at 6.

And I'm in the "hills", not the river bottoms..
Click to expand...

There’s a fair number of older bucks in my area that aren’t 130”.


You can bet you a$$ that most people will not shoot them either.

d14d9dd902ce4d381c0837041937073a.jpg

e0ee630a1f51b64b9bbee1f912c4724b.jpg




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
This 3 year old sure was visible. He was popped later during rifle season on a neighboring property. I had his left side shed as a 2 year old and he was easy to identify.

7a5afe4b3e149db20fc8760d1ae95cc4.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not sure how to interpit it all.


30 years ago, we had lots of great bucks shot and there were WAY MORE hunters.

Weight wise also had went way down.
30 years ago, a 230# dressed out buck was no big deal.
Now, even our older bucks seldom dress 200#.

Nother topic...
Why have so many of Mn's top tier bucks have been killed in non ag lands years ago?
The Breen buck comes to mind. I know that area we'll. (FUNKLY)MN.
solid bush for MILES!
what about the sheds found (Mn Monarck), again, solid bush country.

Both of those areas, people have about all done given up deer hunting.
 
Bucksnbears said:
Not sure how to interpit it all.


30 years ago, we had lots of great bucks shot and there were WAY MORE hunters.

Weight wise also had went way down.
30 years ago, a 230# dressed out buck was no big deal.
Now, even our older bucks seldom dress 200#.

Nother topic...
Why have so many of Mn's top tier bucks have been killed in non ag lands years ago?
The Breen buck comes to mind. I know that area we'll. (FUNKLY)MN.
solid bush for MILES!
what about the sheds found (Mn Monarck), again, solid bush country.

Both of those areas, people have about all done given up deer hunting.
Click to expand...

Just throwing out real world examples of what's running around now. You decide what the data says to you :)

I've wondered if the giant bucks from yesteryear, that haven't had modern bucks to match them, weren't a product of super low deer densities where they had unlimited top quality feed/browse to grow to such dimensions.

The Knife Handle buck and the General from NE come to mind. The #'s/deer density wasn't very high when those giants were running around.
 
Last edited:
These are the bucks that make it to 6+ with ease in my area. He went 127 I think it was. Definitely under 130 I do remember that.

77b00f9bd69548bc8cd1bf52f704e31c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom