Holiday season

[Four Seasons]

44 minutes ago, First-light said:

I tried my hand in food plots this year. Now I have areas I mow that are in the woods and the deer love it. Nothing invested just mowing. This year we  planted. I enjoyed doing for a number of reasons. First to see how good it would turn out, always wanted to be a farmer. Draw in the Does and hopefully a buck will follow. Give them some food for the winter. It's not much but will help a few. Honestly my plots are small and really a waste of time and money but I enjoyed it. Mowing the area keeping the grasses green and does the same. It never once crossed my mind, especially in my area which is heavy in Ag, that I would keep them on my land. These deer cruise everywhere and there is so much food around it wouldn't make a difference. As for trail cameras I love the picts they take but they have never helped me shoot a deer. Trying to remember back when it was spoken word of a big buck in the area, those days are gone. Everything changes. The young guys at my camp are into the plots and high end cameras. That will keep on evolving and drones will soon be the norm. Yes a lot has changed. 

Exactly!  Unless someone is only hunting deep in the Adirondacks they are hunting animals that lives revolve around the fruits of man’s labor. To scratch out a 50ft area in the center of the woods and toss out a little Throw and Grow being watched by a camera is far from management. Very few have the land, equipment or means to really do any kind of real management. But again just giving your deer a sanctuary on your property is a small form of management. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

Well now, I throw this one out.

The whitetail deer are managing themselves quite well here, all on their own. The state throws in a monkey wrench, and a little WD 40 now and again. May or May not stop the squeak.  It does create more governmental employment, which blue states love to do.

One has to remember, a change in one aspect, ultimately affects another.  Step on enough grasshoppers, the turkey wont gobble anymore.

. 

[Doc]

This thread kind of makes one wonder how it is that any deer ever survived before trail cams, food plots, and supplemental winter feeding and careful counting and record keeping and micro management. Deer hunting is now mandated to be an agricultural project. It is not hunting anymore, it is animal husbandry. It is amazing how even back when we had a lot of very eager and active hunters, almost behind every tree, the deer herd still survived without all the assistance from our "expert" private game managers. Thank heavens we have all these "expert" people today that try to shame all hunters into all these deer management schemes. How would the herd ever survive without these people who try to tell others what deer they should shoot and which not to shoot? Of course all of this "expert" arguing and cajoling is probably a big part of the reason that hunting is slowly fading from existence as the common activity it used to be. We need all these self-proclaimed experts.......Don't we?

[virgil]

5 minutes ago, Doc said:

This thread kind of makes one wonder how it is that any deer ever survived before trail cams, food plots, and supplemental winter feeding and careful counting and record keeping and micro management. Deer hunting is now mandated to be an agricultural project. It is not hunting anymore, it is animal husbandry. It is amazing how even back when we had a lot of very eager and active hunters, almost behind every tree, the deer herd still survived without all the assistance from our "expert" private game managers. Thank heavens we have all these "expert" people today that try to shame all hunters into all these deer management schemes. How would the herd ever survive without these people who try to tell others what deer they should shoot and which not to shoot? Of course all of this "expert" arguing and cajoling is probably a big part of the reason that hunting is slowly fading from existence as the common activity it used to be. We need all these self-proclaimed experts.......Don't we?

Also probably a prime reason why so many members left this site- the same guy constantly picking fights, throwing insults, calling names, anointing himself the superior hunter, and declaring everyone jealous of his prowess.  It gets a bit tedious after a while.

[First-light]

My brother has a great attitude towards hunting. He has his name on the biggest deer taken on my property but he never lets that get in the way of a good hunt and kill.  Doe , small buck or yearling. To him it's the hunt. Opening day he has his 14 year old Grandson with him. They have this half rack 6 pt come walking down 15 yards from the stand. My brother says for him to shoot, the kids says no I want a 10 pt. My brother looks at him and says this aint TV, that is your first deer now take it. We both had to remind the kid back at the buck pole what hunting is all about. He got it but it's unfortunate what was in his mind. 

[Four Seasons]

2 hours ago, Doc said:

This thread kind of makes one wonder how it is that any deer ever survived before trail cams, food plots, and supplemental winter feeding and careful counting and record keeping and micro management. Deer hunting is now mandated to be an agricultural project. It is not hunting anymore, it is animal husbandry. It is amazing how even back when we had a lot of very eager and active hunters, almost behind every tree, the deer herd still survived without all the assistance from our "expert" private game managers. Thank heavens we have all these "expert" people today that try to shame all hunters into all these deer management schemes. How would the herd ever survive without these people who try to tell others what deer they should shoot and which not to shoot? Of course all of this "expert" arguing and cajoling is probably a big part of the reason that hunting is slowly fading from existence as the common activity it used to be. We need all these self-proclaimed experts.......Don't we?

lol. The 60’s and 70’s are long gone. Never to return. You see people still have choices. Nobody is telling anyone to manage their properties, nobody is telling them what to shoot. You see some hunters want the best the species they are hunting and others want the best of the species but are not in the position to reach that goal. Be it no or to small of property, equipment or even money to fulfill their desire. One Quick Look at any hunting site on Facebook or any other social media site will show you page after page of great top end bucks takin in this state and across the country and I would guess most of them are on farmlands feeding the deer too end feed yearly.  Hunters harvesting top end deer has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of new hunters because of a woke generation but it most definitely helps those that do decide to take up the sport. Like it or not, less hunters means more game for those out there. And some of those out there do have the means and do have the numbers of animals to do great things with their herds. And that my friend is fulfilling every Hunter dream that wakes up every morning and that is to kill a great mature animal. And 99.9% of the time those animals carry the biggest set of bone on their heads. 

[Four Seasons]

1 hour ago, First-light said:

My brother has a great attitude towards hunting. He has his name on the biggest deer taken on my property but he never lets that get in the way of a good hunt and kill.  Doe , small buck or yearling. To him it's the hunt. Opening day he has his 14 year old Grandson with him. They have this half rack 6 pt come walking down 15 yards from the stand. My brother says for him to shoot, the kids says no I want a 10 pt. My brother looks at him and says this aint TV, that is your first deer now take it. We both had to remind the kid back at the buck pole what hunting is all about. He got it but it's unfortunate what was in his mind. 

That’s all fine and well. But I sure hope you, your brother or anyone else in that camp did not show this new Hunter what this property had to offer in size of animals. Showing trail cam pictures and such.  And every other camp member talking about passing this buck or that buck waiting for a bigger one. His tag, his choice. But he sure would have know that if he passes this buck he very well may have to eat that tag. If he was ok with that then I would have told him to take some pictures and enjoy the show the young buck puts on. 

[luberhill]

2 hours ago, virgil said:

Also probably a prime reason why so many members left this site- the same guy constantly picking fights, throwing insults, calling names, anointing himself the superior hunter, and declaring everyone jealous of his prowess.  It gets a bit tedious after a while.

Agree 100 percent !

[First-light]

1 hour ago, Four Seasons said:

That’s all fine and well. But I sure hope you, your brother or anyone else in that camp did not show this new Hunter what this property had to offer in size of animals. Showing trail cam pictures and such.  And every other camp member talking about passing this buck or that buck waiting for a bigger one. His tag, his choice. But he sure would have know that if he passes this buck he very well may have to eat that tag. If he was ok with that then I would have told him to take some pictures and enjoy the show the young buck puts on. 

Yes we are guilty of sharing some of the trail cam picts with him. I get that but he has to learn about eating a tag. I'm glad he took the deer now next year let him decide how he wants to hunt. 

[wolc123]

My buddy just dropped off the liver from the button buck that he killed on New Years evening, one hour before sunset.  Wild game don’t get any better than that.   It definitely makes this past Holiday season a success in my book, even if I wasn’t able to harvest one myself, during that week.  
 

2024 was the first year, in the last (5), that I wasn’t able to kill a button buck myself.  Not sure if that was a step forward or backward for me.  I’ll decide after liver and onion lunch on Saturday.  

[luberhill]

28 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

My buddy just dropped off the liver from the button buck that he killed on New Years evening, one hour before sunset.  Wild game don’t get any better than that.   It definitely makes this past Holiday season a success in my book, even if I wasn’t able to harvest one myself, during that week.  
 

2024 was the first year, in the last (5), that I wasn’t able to kill a button buck myself.  Not sure if that was a step forward or backward for me.  I’ll decide after liver and onion lunch on Saturday.  

I usually give the liver to my dog as my wife nor I like liver .

  But she pickled 3 deer hearts 

[Four Seasons]

Can just imagine how something like this will blow the minds of those that have a problem with the new world of Whitetails. Talk about management!

[Doc]

6 hours ago, Four Seasons said:

Can just imagine how something like this will blow the minds of those that have a problem with the new world of Whitetails. Talk about management!

Ha-ha-ha.......Yes, a deer at any cost. This is the kind of mentality that seems to dominate today's hunting. No limits. Anything goes. Fair chase be damned. I blame the TV "hero" programs for this attitude of "All is fair in deer hunting". We do find ourselves letting technology do more of the hunting for us, don't we? And then we can brag about what mighty hunters we have become. It's been an interesting evolution, this thing called hunting. I see no end to it. It is starting to remind me of that deal where somebody had a rifle and camera combo set up so you could do your hunting of live animals on your computer. Yeah, we got rid of that notion, but probably only temporarily.

[Four Seasons]

56 minutes ago, Doc said:

Ha-ha-ha.......Yes, a deer at any cost. This is the kind of mentality that seems to dominate today's hunting. No limits. Anything goes. Fair chase be damned. I blame the TV "hero" programs for this attitude of "All is fair in deer hunting". We do find ourselves letting technology do more of the hunting for us, don't we? And then we can brag about what mighty hunters we have become. It's been an interesting evolution, this thing called hunting. I see no end to it. It is starting to remind me of that deal where somebody had a rifle and camera combo set up so you could do your hunting of live animals on your computer. Yeah, we got rid of that notion, but probably only temporarily.

You’re spot on. And ya know the real funny part that gets me?  It’s the guys that say that they are just meat hunters. Not all but most of these same guys do some kind of food plots or work on the lands they hunt, they spend near $1000 on a Gun, Bow and Muzzleloader. They wear $5-600 or more camo outfits on their backs. Run a good number of $150 trail cameras,with $5000 gators or wheelers to haul that meat out of the $10’s of $1000’s of dollars they spent on land or yearly leases. Bullsh!t!  This game all starts with the biggest bone in the woods and goes down from there. Most just settle for less before it’s over. Does not take more then an old weapon, wool jacket and a pair of boots to fill tags. On hunting land that does not cost them a nickel at that. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Four Seasons

[First-light]

Cheapest venison I ever paid for was on a camping/hunting trip on State land in the Catskills. Eat, sleep and hunt. Drag your deer out if you are lucky! Can't put a price on those memories. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

19 hours ago, virgil said:

Also probably a prime reason why so many members left this site- the same guy constantly picking fights, throwing insults, calling names, anointing himself the superior hunter, and declaring everyone jealous of his prowess.  It gets a bit tedious after a while.

I don't believe those members that don't log in any longer have truly left this site.