I was on the stand at noon yesterday rut here is in full swing.

I been having pictures on the game cam of bucks at all times of the day.

The season closes today for two weeks for gun and muzzle loader seasons.

I really hate late season bow hunting cold nasty weather deer are very nocturnal from gun seasons.

I filled my doe bow tag 2 months ago meat for the inlaws.

I have had some really nice big bucks on the game cam and call one into 80 yards a week ago but no shot.

About 2pm I saw a buck at about 60 yards but he was in the brush and couldn't see much of him just the sun shining off his horns.

We like eating venison so I said enough of waitig for horns I am going to shoot the frist one that gives me a good shot. At 4:20 a small 6 pointer came into the food plot turned broad side at 22 yards.

I drew and drove a eastman expandable through both lungs listen as he torn through the brush.

Heard him crash to the ground he went a total of 60 yards.

Not much for horns but he will eat well.

Here in my area of Tennessee, we have quite liberal deer regulations. We're allowed three antlerless deer a day for the entire deer hunting season, and we can harvest three bucks total with any weapon, during the proper season of course.

So when I want meat in the freezer, I swat does and leave the little bucks alone to see if they'll grow up.

Of course, I do have two or three bucks showing up on camera that will have to go. All three have one spike about 6 inches long on the right, and the other side is about 1/2 inch above the fur. Something genetic is my guess, and I'd really rather not have that trait passed on...

Makes a differants when one has a huge amount of deer to choose from.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Makes a differants when one has a huge amount of deer to choose from.

Well that certainly is true! I am blessed with a fair number of deer on the property I hunt. So choosing to pass on a small buck isn't a big problem for me and we really need to thin down the does a little bit.

AND, like people say, you can't eat the horns, so for a meat animal, I prefer to shoot does. I figure that way, any small buck has at least a chance of getting to be a bigger buck...

But I'll never question anyone's right to shoot whatever they please, as long as it's done legally and ethically.

So congratulations on a successful hunt!

I would have people who hunt the southern part of the state tell me they would see 20 to 40 deer a day during gun season.

Passing up several bucks before shooting the one thay wanted.

Here in the northwoods seeing 25 differant deer during the whole gun season would be something.

Seeing more then one legal buck is rare.

After hunting every deer season for 44 years now. I tell every body if one wants to eat venison you better be shooting the frist legal deer that walks by.

If you don't care about eating and want big horns you might not shoot anything for years.

I seen many a season when some one has said I'll wait towards the end of season to shoot my meat deer. Then only to go home empty handed.

Differant areas differant hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
I would have people who hunt the southern part of the state tell me they would see 20 to 40 deer a day during gun season.

Passing up several bucks before shooting the one thay wanted.

Here in the northwoods seeing 25 differant deer during the whole gun season would be something.

Seeing more then one legal buck is rare.

After hunting every deer season for 44 years now. I tell every body if one wants to eat venison you better be shooting the frist legal deer that walks by.

If you don't care about eating and want big horns you might not shoot anything for years.

I seen many a season when some one has said I'll wait towards the end of season to shoot my meat deer. Then only to go home empty handed.

Different areas different hunting.

100% absolutely true. I have been hunting up north in the Shell Lake area since I was 13, deer numbers have tanked. During the gun season I see an average of 3-6 a season. If I want to harvest anything I am going to have get a bonus tag. The big buck that i got during the bow season this year was the first big buck that I have ever seen in the woods! The thing I hear most is blaming the Wolves for this problem, which is BS. Its a combination of DNR mismanagement and a strong population of all predators (coyotes are by far more of a problem in this state than wolves ever will be).

P Dog Shooter, I didn't realize you hunted "up north" in Wisconsin. For some reason, I thought you hunted in the southern part of the state. I lived/hunted for over 30 years in and around Rhinelander, Wisconsin and yeah, I do understand your dilemna.

I remember back in the late 70's, early 80's hunting the Nicolet National Forest near Eagle River and if you saw ONE four inch spike buck, you better be shooting, because that's all you were likely to see in 9 days of sun-up to sun-down hunting.

P Dog Shooter and Shof, I am about to hurt some feelings. I don't mean anything personal by it , but facts are facts...

The problem with WI deer hunters as a whole is everyone wants to kill a deer... nobody is willing to wait or go a year or two without venison so a little guy can grow up.

I have spent two winters up there, and have watched men well up into their 60s bring first year sixes and eights to the registration station; deer with antler spreads so small you couldn't fit a softball between them, and field dressed weights of 110-120#.

I have to ask, guys: Why? Why not let the little guys go and kill does? The doe population doubles every year. Why shoot these small first year bucks?

Doubless,

You're not going to hurt my feelings in the least. Yeah, every deer hunter in Wisconsin wants to kill a deer, that's true. But your blanket statement that nobody is willing to go a year or two without venison is patently false.

Prior to my move south, I and many of my friends willingly ate tag soup, passing on small bucks so that they could grow up. And many more hunters are now doing the same, however it often times takes years to overcome old habits. And it's not just in Wisconsin that that attitude prevails, it's all over.

Here in Tennessee, I have landowner friends that insist that if they shoot a doe, they're killing next year's bucks. I sound like a broken record to them I'm sure, but I'm constantly preaching to them that a farm can only support X number of deer, now it can be all does with an occasional buck that cruises through, or it can be a healthy mix of does and bucks, but that only comes from shooting does! Yet while they say they understand, they won't shoot does, nor let anyone else onto their property do shoot does either.

But what can a person do? All I can think of is continuing my "preaching" and hopefully it'll sink into some of them....

Me personally? On the farm that I hunt, I've educated the landowner into shooting does for meat, and to take the occasional malformed/runt buck out of the gene pool. But we're only in year two of the project and I still have some does to take out. And we're already seeing some results. Where last year we saw mostly spikes and forks, this year I've gotten several fairly decent 8/9 point bucks and we have a fair number of basket racked 5 and 6 pointers. So hopefully the other landowners I've talked to in the area will do the same thing and we'll have some decent sized bucks in the next couple of years.

A bit differnt in a state that is mostly private land. In my area we have huge areas of public land.

There might be only a few areas in many square miles.

I enjoy shooting a big buck as much as any one but it doesn't have to be big to be enjoyed.

The hunt for huge horns has ruined a lot of deer hunting. A lot of hunters worry more about horn size then hunting.

I even seen dads not let frist timers shoot a frist buck telling them we have to wait for a big one.

I like hunting and I like to eat venison big medium or small I eat them all.