cwhite

I would have given the one in the middle another year to grow. Nice bucks.

Buck, If shooting a baby buck does it for you then blast away. But your statement about them worrying about yearlings is completely false. I can understand your ignorance because by your dogged defense of killing yearlings, I can only assume that as soon as you see a horn you shoot. But ask anyone on here who have actually watched a little buck in a field or open hardwoods and ask them what happens when a dominate buck walks out. I've watched dominate bucks walk into a field and every little teeny tiny yearling buck that was in the field run like hell. If I didn't know better I would have thought you were in the bushes shooting at them. They want nothing to do with big bucks or his lady friends.

Buck, You must have missed my earlier post where I state that we take our does after the rut. We keep them to draw out bucks during the rut. This also gives their fawns the best chance at survival too. We carefully monitor our herd and pick and choose which does go. We like to kill 4 year old and older does. I wasn't sexually active in Jr. high and my kids better not be either. I am talking mental maturity, not body maturity. As an 18 year old senior in high school I would have mounted a pile of dirt if it wasn't for the fire ants. When I was 24 I was a little more relaxed. Same in the whitetail world and that is the point I am trying to make. You didn't need to come out and say you were worried about winter mortality. You are advocating killing young bucks so older bucks can survive the winter. The way I see it is if you weren't concerned with the big fella's survival during the winter then you wouldn't be in the discussion. You want to know another way to help them survive? Pass on the yearlings so you will have more bucks around to breed the does. That way they aren't running themselves ragged during a rut that drags on into January because there isn't enough bucks to bang the does the first couple times they come into a heat cycle. More bucks equals a more intense and shorter rut and a longer recovery period before winter starts.

Anyone shooting "several" bucks each year needs to be dealt with as a the poacher they are. Welcome to the northern NY. It seems like a passage to manhood to kill as many bucks as fast as one can. To hell with the future and live in the present is the attitude. I hate to admit it, but I fell into this mentality for a while when I first started to be a succesfull hunter. I realized my ignorance and am trying to make up for it by educating people of the benefits of a balanced herd. Things are starting to change slowly as more guys are passing on babies and letting them grow up. Don't get me wrong. I feel each hunter is entitled to take a legal buck/deer and I won't look down or think less of them if they do. If a single 3" spike is all a person has a chance at and takes him then I shake their hands and congratulate them on their success. Bubba, where you from?

Buckstophere, Rather than improving the older bucks odds of surviving the winter on the backs of the yearling bucks, why don't you advocate killing more of the old miserable does? They eat just as much as a yearling buck. I am having trouble following your numbers and logic. 14.5% is a pretty large increase if you ask me. Would you consider a 14.5% pay cut significant. How about a 14.5% pay raise? No one who understands deer hunting will expect the percentages of 2+ year olds to match the decline in yearling harvests. This plan allows for most deer transform from a teenage boys with raging hormones looking to hump just about anything that will stand from October to January into a more mature acting college graduate who understands what a breeding season and a hunting season is. Obviously the numbers won't match up because they are smarter and harder to kill. Doesn't mean that they aren't there. Being that winter mortality concerns you so much, what do you do to improve their winter habitat?

Culver I hunt in 6A in Northern Franklin County. We are guaranteed four 6a doe tags thanks to the land owner permits. We do most of our doe management during the late muzzleloader season. We like to let the fawns get big and fat before venturing alone during the winter and have the does around during the rut to draw bucks from surrounding properties who don't pass on a stiff hair let alone an antler.

New guy here who has been a troll lurking on this site for months without joining. Felt I should join when I had something productive to contribute. Here it goes. I can talk from experience. I hunt about a 1200 acre piece with my father, brother, grandfather, and 2 neighbors. We used to shoot any buck we saw and would give each other high fives at each spike buck gut pile. 95% of these deer were 1 year olds. When I say 1 year old, obviously I am referring to a deer that is 1.5 years old at hunting season, same with 2, 3, or 4 year olds. Our wall of antlers was filled with spikes, 3's, 4's, 5's and the occasional 6. We had two 8 pointers and a 9 pointer between 6 guys who were hunting every day for 15 northern tier hunting seasons. None of us starved but we didn't have too many trophy bucks either. In 2007 we found the thrill of a spike buck was gone and collectively decided to started hunting 2 year olds and up. We had a pretty slow season that year. Our hunting party put one antlered buck on the meat pole, but we filled up our freezers with does. 2008 we killed 2, 8 pointers and a 9 pointer. 2009 we killed four 8 pointers and an 11 pointer that grossed 167". This past season we killed a monster 5 point, four 8 pointers, and a nine pointer. We blew it on a 150+ monster because a cellphone made it to stand and went off at the worst time possible. I passed on an 8 point and 9 point the last day of our late muzzleloader season. We all killed a mature doe as well. I know from experience that passing on yearling bucks works. I don't hold anything against a guy who kills a spike but I do think the idiot who kills several spikes and crotches each season needs to be dealt with. On a side note, we have found that most of our yearling dispersal happens around August and September. That is when we notice our little bucks disappear and a whole new group of yearling bucks show up. We also find that these little bucks set up home and are there the following seasons as 6 and 8 pointers. Don't know if it is the same everywhere but that is our experience. Like the old saying goes, "If you want to kill an 8 pointer you can't kill a 4 poiner."