How are the shot gunners doing?
- Thread starter Hillwalker
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StickersNKickers
Camo Up!
Ok, 13 pages of comments...I will have to read in full later. But just wanted to throw our numbers in. For our farms, my brother hunted 3 days 1st season and I hunted 4 1/2 days 2nd season shotgun and we got a total of a whopping 1 doe on the ground. Congrats to my bro! I shot a coyote. I hunted other properties on the last day of 2nd and did not fill my tag. I didn't get too aggressive on our farms, and I will say that I passed a couple shots on does including a doe that was 5 yards from the base of the tree I was in. Everything else was either too far or came in right after shooting hours ended. Didn't see any mature bucks.
BDAHMS
Be here Now
That's a tuff 7.5 days of hunting right there for shotgun! And most of the 13 Pages has nothing to do with actual shotgun season results. But enjoy!
StickersNKickers
Camo Up!
That's a tuff 7.5 days of hunting right there for shotgun! And most of the 13 Pages has nothing to do with actual shotgun season results. But enjoy!
From what I briefly saw on this thread, I kinda figured that! My bro did see more deer, but was only out to fill his tag. Wanted a buck, but he opted to fill the freezer with something other than tag soup. I held out for a buck the first few days, hence the passing of a couple does, and then activity got real slow on my sits. A couple days I got tied up with a sick child. Last day I saw about 10 deer during shooting hours, but not close enough to shoot. Saw a decent buck that night, but not one I would have shot earlier in the season. Then as I drove back to the house that night, there's around 30 deer feeding in the cut corn fields...maybe 3 or 4 lifted their heads to watch me driving by and the others couldn't care less!
We didn't push our farms at all, besides maybe bumping deer on the way in/out to sit. I believe I would have seen more deer and probably got a chance at something during the slow periods if I had walked the farms and made something happen. Hopefully I can get back out after the holidays to try to fill my bow tag.
Highmark
PMA Member
No question there has to be a balance of how many deer and how many does v bucks are harvested. One thing I've never understood is how people get upset for "other people" shooting "small" bucks in "their" area. Generally speaking they simply must not understand how the whitetail population works.
"Yearling bucks typically disperse from their natal home range - the area where they were born - sometime during their second fall. They usually travel more than two miles to establish a new home range. Most biologists agree this dispersal is caused by social pressures, but still aren't certain if it is caused by adult females harassing yearling bucks to avoid inbreeding, or by breeding competition among bucks."
http://www.buckmasters.com/do-bucks-travel-far-to-prevent-inbreeding.aspx
Now you can't always do it but our "orange army" (of 10) took the position this year of harvesting more young bucks and letting does go. 1. I was seeing bucks at a 5-1 ratio to does during bow season and on trail cams. 2. The doe population appeared to be getting smaller again.
Yes not always good for people miles away shooting small bucks but its not going to hurt your population of mature bucks. If they are young they will eventually move away if they are 2.5 or older and still small (basket) you don't want them in the gene pool anyway.
"Yearling bucks typically disperse from their natal home range - the area where they were born - sometime during their second fall. They usually travel more than two miles to establish a new home range. Most biologists agree this dispersal is caused by social pressures, but still aren't certain if it is caused by adult females harassing yearling bucks to avoid inbreeding, or by breeding competition among bucks."
http://www.buckmasters.com/do-bucks-travel-far-to-prevent-inbreeding.aspx
Now you can't always do it but our "orange army" (of 10) took the position this year of harvesting more young bucks and letting does go. 1. I was seeing bucks at a 5-1 ratio to does during bow season and on trail cams. 2. The doe population appeared to be getting smaller again.
Yes not always good for people miles away shooting small bucks but its not going to hurt your population of mature bucks. If they are young they will eventually move away if they are 2.5 or older and still small (basket) you don't want them in the gene pool anyway.
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Daver
PMA Member
FWIW, not all dispersal occurs in the fall. Yes, that is one of the two key times of the year that it does often take place, but it is arguably more common for bucks to disperse in the late spring...around the time their mother doe has another set of fawns to raise. Bucks that find a new home range at that time of the year do tend to "find a home" that may well last for the rest of their lives. So it is quite possible for someone to shoot a young, thinly racked buck that in effect denies someone the opportunity to take him 2, 3 or 4 or more years later when he would be mature.
So I would be careful before making a statement like the one I bolded above. There is more to whitetail movement than the one study that you cited. Switching gears a little...I don't get upset by what other hunters choose to shoot, however, I do think there is wisdom in having hunters self regulate and choose to shoot mature deer, whether doe or buck, and correspondingly, choose NOT to shoot immature deer.
All boats float higher with a higher tide. The more older bucks that are present just gives everyone a better chance to take a mature buck at some point. BTW, I am perfectly fine with young hunters taking young deer, I just think that once a person gets some experience and has had some hunting success that it is better for them NOT to waylay 90% of the 1-1/2 year olds in a given area. With that type of mortality very few people will have an opportunity to take a mature buck in that area.
There are many, many other variables that could be discussed, but one thing is for sure...once a young buck is killed, he isn't going to grow up to maturity on anyone's farm.
Thinkin Rut
PMA Member
MAYBE....The 1.5s have already "moved away" and relocated on your ground and you are shooting yourself in the foot? If they haven't relocated yet, the does that produced them have to be there somewhere. I also believe you need to let your bucks get older than 3.5 to see if they are true management bucks.