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

Quality deer management...harder in real life!

iatreehugger

iatreehugger

PMA Member
We have really enjoyed the benefits of a group of neighbors all holding off at shooting smaller and marginal deer. I just want you to know it is harder when you're in a tree! Tonight I let a good 3 1/2 yr old walk...he was a 9 probablly in the low 150's. He gave me a 15 yrd chip shot...and I'm still wondering if I did the right thing. I know...beauty is in the eye of the beholder...just saying, it's harder to let them get big than a person could ever imagine!!!
 
At this point, I would love the chance to be able to pass something like that up.. I'm struggling to even see a 100 incher..ha Hopefully things will start kicking in my area in another week or two.
 
deer management is one of the hardest things Ive ever done. My dad and I did it for a couple af years at a place we used to bow hunt we would only take does or bucks with bad genes and it really paid off with some big deer being takin the next year. I 150 class deer would be really hard to pass up.
 
I have friends that pass on many 160 inch deer. They say if you shoot that 160 inch how is he going to reach 180. Personaly if even a 150 walked by me I'd fling an arrow at him but those guys have already have many deer over 150 on their walls. I guess you just have to hunt by your standards and work your way up so after you shoot a few big bucks you can hold out for something bigger.

I also think you shouldnt be holding out for a 180 inch buck if your hunting in a place that doesnt have them. Thats why it helps to have trail cams to see just what you have roaming your neck of the woods.

Just my 2 cents, hope everyone has good luck these next couple weeks it should be pickin up!
 
It's very tough to practice QDM. I let a big younger 8 walk last weekend and now I'm just praying to stick a real bruiser cuz he was a skyscraper around 140 inches. I've kicked myself in the past for letting great bucks walk as well. Now, it's entirely situational for me. If I like him at that moment in time, I'm gonna whack him. Period. I may be more apt to let some good bucks walk if I knew the neighbors were doing the same, but that's just not the case...
 
In my efforts I for many years had too high of standard for the areas I hunt. I past a few bucks in the 140's in Michigan and even bigger ones here in Iowa. I have found and try to encourage others to set yourself an age standard, rather than antler score. Learn to identify characteristics of deer in your target age and make your choice that way. Takes a lot of pressure and headaches off. BTW I have not taken a buck since 2003, so my standards were obviously way out of line for the areas that I hunt. And I have also made a few mistakes when the cards fell into place a few times. Good luck and remember QDM is about a lot more than which buck you shoot.
 
I find it easier to pass on youger deer now that one of my sons are hunting. Hopefully he won't have to wait 20 years to get a good buck.
 
I think it depends on how many years you have been bowhunting. My first year I sucked at hunting and I took a basket racked 5 pointer, the next year a 100 inch 9 pointer. Then a 150 8, a 157 10, and this year a 180 17 pointer. I didn't have anyone teaching me and learned by reading the articles on this website, mistakes and deer magazines. Now I wont shoot anything that is under 150. If I am not going to have it taxidermied I won't shoot it. Once you have a few on the wall it is easier to pass the small ones up.
 
I pass on a lot of 3.5 s every year but have never passed on a 150 class animal. Running 5 trail cams I have 1 buck pic that might make 150. In my area a 150 is a rare animal.
 
If your happy with it, then should of flung that arrow! How do you know that deer isnt going to roam somewhere during the rut?
 
One time I passed a nice 3 year old 8 pt, it moved off about 80 yards then it jumped the fence.. Then I heard what I thought were deer fighting, then the buck ran about a hundred yards towards the timber.. Then I watched the neighbor shoot it. QDM :way: Then I laughed.
 
it takes a lot of antler to make a 150 inch deer and they are not behind every tree unless i knew there was a lot bigger one around i would shoot
 
Go buy yourself a small camcorder. It makes passing them fun. I'm not saying I pass a lot of 150" deer but when I see a buck anymore I usually grab the camera first. When you can rewatch the footage and know that he was dead it don't hurt so bad when you eat tags every year like me.:thrwrck: I just know what I want. Maybe I won't get it but I'll have a lot of fun trying. I usually don't think about what he'll score either. If I see mass or just a real mature body and I like him. I'll try and take him.

Here's a link to our website. Watch the video of Justin's 08' season. Everybody gave me crap for passing that buck but I knew he was to young. I started second guessing myself but oh well at least I got the video. Just last week the neighbor got trail pics of him and I might pass him again. Neat deer just think he's got a lot of potential. That's our first attempt at editing.:rolleyes: And me being an idiot on the way to the stand. http://www.sportsmensunlimited.com/about.html

Whatever makes you happy! The way the hunt goes down determines if I shoot a buck too.
 
The best money I spent this year was on a small video camera. I got a Canon Vixia HF11 High Def camcorder on Ebay for $450. This little thing fits in my pocket and takes unbelievable footage and pictures. The HF10 is identical with a little less internal memory but there are all kinds of them on Ebay right now.

Just don't bid on one for a couple days. I'm trying to win a couple for buddies right now.:D
 
Hey...thanks for all of the fun replys. It kind of shows why bowhunting is so fun...and also a fun process. I thought I would give you a little bit more info than probablly any of you want about me...but it also shows where I've come from in this fun game. I'm in my mid 40's and grew up in Indiana in a section of the state where I literally saw my first deer close to home in a picked corn field after I had went to college. I worked a minimum wage job during high school and baled hay and bought a Bear Blacktail hunter for $65.00 when I was 16. At 17 a buddy and I went to Michigan, bought non-resident tags, (our parents let us drive the 6hrs. and say its still better than video games!) with money we had saved (75 bucks at the time on 3.15/hr jobs), and set out to be bowhunters. My blacktail would shoot a whopping 158/sec. and that was before I stuck 145 gr. broadhead on it. None of our parents bow hunted...so it was all new. And somehow...I set up a ground blind behind some brush and shot a doe that very first morning. That was almost 30 years ago, and I'm still enjoying it. Fast forward those 27 years...and there I was sitting in a tree with a beautiful deer less than 12 yards away. I've had the privalege of shooting two deer in the lower 170s, and I own less than 30 acres of land. And so...I watched him walk, and I can still see him, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I don't begrudge anyone who shoots whatever they enjoy...as long as it is ethical, and done with a deep sense of thankfulness that we can all enjoy being out this fall. And by the way, if someone shoots him who has never had the privalege of shooting a mature deer, and it makes a lifetime memory...then I'm glad I let him walk. Enjoy this fall...be thankful to the good Lord above for our freedoms and His bounty...and do it the right way!
 
iatreehugger said:
Hey...thanks for all of the fun replys. It kind of shows why bowhunting is so fun...and also a fun process. I thought I would give you a little bit more info than probablly any of you want about me...but it also shows where I've come from in this fun game. I'm in my mid 40's and grew up in Indiana in a section of the state where I literally saw my first deer close to home in a picked corn field after I had went to college. I worked a minimum wage job during high school and baled hay and bought a Bear Blacktail hunter for $65.00 when I was 16. At 17 a buddy and I went to Michigan, bought non-resident tags, (our parents let us drive the 6hrs. and say its still better than video games!) with money we had saved (75 bucks at the time on 3.15/hr jobs), and set out to be bowhunters. My blacktail would shoot a whopping 158/sec. and that was before I stuck 145 gr. broadhead on it. None of our parents bow hunted...so it was all new. And somehow...I set up a ground blind behind some brush and shot a doe that very first morning. That was almost 30 years ago, and I'm still enjoying it. Fast forward those 27 years...and there I was sitting in a tree with a beautiful deer less than 12 yards away. I've had the privalege of shooting two deer in the lower 170s, and I own less than 30 acres of land. And so...I watched him walk, and I can still see him, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I don't begrudge anyone who shoots whatever they enjoy...as long as it is ethical, and done with a deep sense of thankfulness that we can all enjoy being out this fall. And by the way, if someone shoots him who has never had the privalege of shooting a mature deer, and it makes a lifetime memory...then I'm glad I let him walk. Enjoy this fall...be thankful to the good Lord above for our freedoms and His bounty...and do it the right way!
Click to expand...

Excellent post, well put.:way:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom