dave6x6

HB Ihear what your saying. Don't get me wrong. I'm not really going to change anthing that we have been doing for the last 11 yrs based on one deer getting aged. Especially as many have said, it may not be correct. Where i hunt however there is way too much turf to rely on trail cams. I do use them for fun and to get a small glimps of things before the season but i would go broke trying to keep tabs on all the bucks this way. The challenge is on the fly age determination during hunting season. Because we were pretty confident of this buckspotential, as well as others we had pics of, we branded him a "walker" and shared the info with the other hunting neighbors who share our hunting goals. The hope was that nobody would get surprised by this really nice looking deer and have a quick trigger in the heat of the moment. Everyone seemed to agree. I had this deer at 25yrds for 15min , rubbin' and scrapin' and strutin' his stuff and in person even i wondered if i was doing the right thing. Thats why i'm not mad the neighbor shot him anyway. Just sad that things didn't go as planned. They rarely do though do they? To add to the pain, the same day the neighbor on the other side shot the 11 my buddy let walk a week earlier. He was another 130ish 3.5 that managed properties have to let go. They all say they want 150 or better, or 4.5 or better, but when the 130's step out in front of you, it takes alot of will power to just take his picture instead of pluggin' him. No one has fallen prey to the temptation more than me so i can't be too harsh. LOL

Great looking deer Ken. I've been hearing about a pie in Bristol since last yr. Not sure if thats him or not but he is a dandy. Also seen a nice buck in the Lima area as well. Congrats..

Nice job all you successful hunters.. Particularly Jeremy with that nice first time Buck..

I say step it up a notch and hold off til gun. Sounds like you don't want to shoot a smaller buck so don't. There is no shame in eating a tag and you still have gun and muzzy to try for mr. 10. If you don't shoot one of those small ones this yr then maybe you'll have more than one to get you fired up about next yr. Pretty sure you'll find a way to get a doe or two on the ground and in the freezer so don't settle for anything less than what will make you happy.

Because this deer was taken on managed property and because we've put forth goals and standards, i am glad to get some feedback on just how inaccurate aging deer can be. Going forward , my knee jerk reaction is that maybe we are actually under estimating the deer in this region. If that deer lived he certainly would have put on 25-30 inches making him around 150 and a 4.5 yr old(or so we would have though) and therfore available for the tip of my Carbon Express. When in reality he is truelly only a 3.5 whic means we are not meeting the goals set forth and not improving the age structure of the heard as we hoped to. I guess i should have been aging harvests all these past years but always thought common sence aging was close enough.

Great buck. hope it's legit. Kind of a shame that i always have to think that way these days.

I got a buddy who owns a camp in 9p. Couple yrs back he was heading into the woods when he heard some noises and soon found himself surrounded by a pack of feral dogs. As they moved in to about 10 ft, snarling and heads lowered, he decided there was no way out. Thats when he started to unload his 12 guage at anything that moved . When it was all over he had killed 4 of what he figured were 7 or 8. Blood and body parts were sprayed across the snow. The DEC came out and according to the officer, a domestic dog can turn feral in 2 weeks time, and because they have been around humans there whole life, they are much more bold when they are desperate for food than wild animals. We also have a camp in 9p and i can tell you that i have never set out for my stand without that stupid story popping into my head. I still can manage to control my fears most of the time so that i don't need the light on, but it's not easy. My brother even had gone so far as to carry a machete in with him when he bow hunts. That then compounded my fears. Now i think about feral dogs AND lunatic guys in the woods with machetes. I can't win.

WNY, at least you helped me not feel like an incompitant fool with my guess. If all those tests are that inconsistant then what do you do. Seems like it makes the most sense to just use your common sense and yrs of experience and call it "close enough". That logic on your buck works for me. Only a deer in his prime is packing on that many inches in one yr.

WNY, Your right and i was exaggerating the one in a thousand thing . You hunt this area as well so you know. and i've had to rethink some things with these results. I've seen 20 deer in the last bunch of seasons that look like this deer and they ALWAYS get the 3.5 tag put on them without any more thought after that. Now it's got me wondering. By the way, i believe the DEC did the age.

I know. I never would have believed it unless i knew that it was aged correctly. Assuming Lawdwaz deer were aged correctly it shows that i probably would have got all three of those wrong if i were to guess. You did age them correctly right lawdwaz !! LOL

Ya, my hunting parner has mentioned it on a few occations but never had time to look into it more. Sounds like a pretty big program that certainly must help the DEC in a bunch of different issues. Maybe this is the year to get on board. Thanks for the info.

Your right in that it's very imperfect but i do think the kill reports is only one of many stats and formulas used in coming up with the #'s. I have no proof but i would think it's not even one of the major tools they use. The DEC is probably pretty aware of the fact that a bunch of hunters never report kills. LOL there's probably 10 formulas to come up with the non-reporting stats. LOL

Many of you remember this buck from a trail cam post i put up before the season. We were excited to get this deer on film and decided that this was a buck we would let walk this year in hopes of being able to hunt him next season. We recognized that he had some very similar characteristics of a 150+ inch deer that my buddy shot two years ago and although we were only guessing, we felt he might be an offspring and might have potential to grow into an even bigger deer. Well last week the neighbor shot him. When he had him aged using the jaw it was determined that this was a 2.5yr old deer. I have to admit I was shocked by that. I know this area has everything needed to grow big, healthy deer but even so. My question to you is, Do you think that sometimes we UNDER estimate a deers age. Also i would love to know if you think this is just a superior, one in a thousand deer, or is this more common than some might think.

Doesn't the DEC also use hunters who sign up to keep logs of their sighting throughout the season as one of their tools as well? Not sure if this is something they do Statewide or just in my area.

LOL , 7lbs. 13oz. Length ---- duhhhhhhhhh I'm out..

Thats pretty much how we have lived for 9 days. Me and Bailey get the downstairs, and mommy is upstairs with the two Border Collies. Bailey is never allowed in the same area as the other dogs. Its just to risky.

Doc , I find it interesting that you "admire a buck with a jillion point" but feel it is somehow silly for someone else to spend their time in the woods hunting them and admire them from the comforts of their living room recliner. And You feel it is almost pure luck to shoot one and yet i can name dozens of fellas that i know from this site and from my circle of hunting enthusiests that seem to do it pretty regularly. Very rarely have i read a post from one of those mature deer hunters and thought it sounded like bragging. They are simply reporting their hunting experiences to the rest in this group. These are THEIR experiences in the woods. They only sound like bragging to people who have never experienced similar things themselves or find it hard to believe that any hunter possible could. You concider every deer equally special so when some guy posts that he's shot 30 does in the past 10 years you say congradulations. But if your the guy that passed on 30 2.5 yr olds and shot 5 wallhangers you are a braggert.

Arrow nocker, Thanks for the recipe. Never seen that before. I'll give it a try this weekend..

Your right that i didn't quite word the "license giving you the right to TRY to kill something" phrase very well but i'm pretty sure you got what i was trying to say. Sometimes my brain works faster than my fingers.. It was however a bit hard to tell if you were offering up excuses for yourself or others that have less opportunities to hunt. I do know that you made the statement without condemning the act so i'm assuming you don't have a problem with it. You made a very valid and accurate point that is a definate factor in the avoidable wounding of deer like it was just the way it is for non-landowners. As i've said before, i think that we bow hunters should demand better of ourselves, and should not let the currently small but growing number of arrow flingers get away with these practices without calling them out.

Just a quick update and thanks to all those looking for Baileys new home. Yesterday i went back to work and therefore Bailey went to be boarded for the day and night. I picked her up after work and brought her home for the night tonight and then it will be back to boarding tom- until Sat afternoon. The only time we can have her home is when my wife and i are home at the same time. Things are to dangerous for one person to try and keep tabs on all three dogs by them selves. We've been getting offers to help from some local friends but the boarding costs are going to add up fast and so we are still very desperate to finding a good home quickly. We have two potential people interested but have also had offers fall through so were not slowing down the search until something concrete comes through. You guys and gals have been great with the support and spreading the word. Can't thank you enough. Here's Baileys thank you pic..LOL

Dave, no offence but how many opportunities you have to hunt should have no bearing on when you decide to let loose an arrow at a deer. That is exactly the attitude problem that Some of us on here, and 308 in his crude way, are pointing out as being a problem. Geno didn't let that deer go because he didn't have a shot. He let it walk because he didn't have a ethical kill shot. Hope and prayer bow hunting(gun hunting, rifle hunting, spear hunting, whatever) because you may not have another chance to hunt is rediculaous. Just cuz you buy a liscence doesn't mean you have the right to TRY to kill something. Sorrry but maybe some years you go home with just memories. At least you'll still have your quiver full of arrows instead of one stuck in some deers Hindend cuz you were worried about not getting another chance. Give me a break..

Contentment in life is a wonderful thing but i was brought up to take advantage of the opportunities that are put in front of you in life. To NOT do so would be waisting a gift or blessing that has been put before you. I have been blessed by family and friends and opportunities to hunt some of the primest deer turf in our great state. I've done nothing to earn that right but i've choosen to pursue it full bore because the gift could be gone tomarrow. I would like to believe that if things were different, and trophy deer were only a dream, that i would hunt like Steve and be happy with that as well. I'm also very competitive. God Hardwired men to be that way for the survival of man kind. That compitition has been channeled toward outsmarting the king of our forest. The mature whitetail buck. And Steve you are really not much different. It appears through some of your posts that Your "compitition" is to somehow change the views of so called "measurement obsessed" hunters over to your way of thinking because you either think in many ways it is detrimental to the sport you love or detrimental to the happiness of the hunter themselves. It's seems to be some sort of mission you have to convince hunters that if they only would forget about scores and big deer, that they could also be as happy and content as you are. Other wise, as nyantler stated, you wouldn't even bother to comment on threads about scoring deer. I respect where you are at as a hunter but this is an area that some of us find very interesting and enjoyable so just let it be. By the way, i found little league to be much more enjoyable when we kept score as well. LOL

Theres your answer. They can't add out West.

Is this really some sort of "sensitive" post? All us bow hunters have lost deer and i think 9 times out of 10 you know exactly what went wrong and why. You will replay it over and over for years to come if you are the kind of hunter that cares. I don't think any debate on this forum will make that any better or worse for you when your in that situation. The hope is that you learn from it and correct the things you can control.

Welcome to the site and good luck this season. The lever action sounds like more fun to me so thats what i would use. Hey are we allowed to have another Doc on this forum?