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Looks like there may just be statewide Antler Restricts.


Four Season Whitetail's
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An open ended question I guess. "if you've been hunting for 10 years or more and have shot some big bucks, WHY are you shooting the fork horn?" They're easy to kill but so are the doe. The horns are probably ending up on your barn wall and you don't get that from a doe. But really why do you shoot them instead of a mature or young doe?

 

Honest question. No strings attached.

 

Who on God's Green Earth are you to question what anybody should or shouldn't shoot?

 

Is there something really special about shooting a 2.5, 3.5 or older buck?  Just bragging rites?  How many mounts do you have/want?  Lets say you get to a point where you don't need any more bucks mounted and hanging in your house, then what, quit hunting bucks altogether?  Just antlerless hunting right?

 

What about guys that can't afford to mount a big buck, maybe they'll just nail up the 140" horns to the side of the barn.  Is that OK?  Maybe a guy just wants to shoot a 4pt and stick the horns on the side of his barn, is there shame in that?

 

What's wrong with a "Buck of A Lifetime"?  You know, kill what you want (legally of course) when you want and then maybe once in a while you shoot a "Big Buck".  That just might be the choice of many NYS hunters.

 

One more thing, don't ever say about fork horns or doe "They're easy to kill".  That is a slap in the face to many of the deer hunters of New York State that aren't as successful as you.

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He said "best" big game animal to hunt, not the one with the biggest population.

well obviously they are "THE BEST" if you base it on everyone placing them on a pedestal like they are some type of mystical creature.............I think at this point they've surpassed the Unicorn.

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Who on God's Green Earth are you to question what anybody should or shouldn't shoot?

Is there something really special about shooting a 2.5, 3.5 or older buck? Just bragging rites? How many mounts do you have/want? Lets say you get to a point where you don't need any more bucks mounted and hanging in your house, then what, quit hunting bucks altogether? Just antlerless hunting right?

What about guys that can't afford to mount a big buck, maybe they'll just nail up the 140" horns to the side of the barn. Is that OK? Maybe a guy just wants to shoot a 4pt and stick the horns on the side of his barn, is there shame in that?

What's wrong with a "Buck of A Lifetime"? You know, kill what you want (legally of course) when you want and then maybe once in a while you shoot a "Big Buck". That just might be the choice of many NYS hunters.

One more thing, don't ever say about fork horns or doe "They're easy to kill". That is a slap in the face to many of the deer hunters of New York State that aren't as successful as you.

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Really? just curious, what other big game have you hunted?

 

I have only purposefully hunted deer and only in in Maine, New Hampshire and New York. I have seen bear within range but have never shot at one (mostly due to circumstances and hunting alone).  I have attempted to hunt Moose having  put in for the Maine and NH Moose Lotteries each year for over the last 20 years without success.  I have often encountered Moose while deer hunting Moose in NH and Maine but never had a permit.  Work (available time), family and finances has made hunting in the Western States a bit out of reach for me up to the present time.  Thanks for the question.   

 

  My feelings are mostly based on the ability of whitetail to survive in situations of high hunting pressure and in difficult environments without much help from man. 

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I have only purposefully hunted deer and only in in Maine, New Hampshire and New York. I have seen bear within range but have never shot at one (mostly due to circumstances and hunting alone).  I have attempted to hunt Moose having  put in for the Maine and NH Moose Lotteries each year for over the last 20 years without success.  I have often encountered Moose while deer hunting Moose in NH and Maine but never had a permit.  Work (available time), family and finances has made hunting in the Western States a bit out of reach for me up to the present time.  Thanks for the question. 

you may not be missing much, I've done out of State / Country hunts and each time the best part was the scenery and the trip getting there............each time I said to myself that hunting Whitetail is more exciting and fulfilling, but that's just me.

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In Post 270 I was detailing what I believed you were alluding to in you final question of the post. If it wasn't, that was my error.

Your opinion and you get that but i never in this thread said one thing about farms until you brought it up. No biggie but sure shows who are the ones that stir the pot and throw lies. But we all know where those 3 wish they really stood!

 

That post you are alluding to with me saying..Sound Familiar..Was towards a statement i have said many times on this site that i said huntings future will be for those with deep pockets and you will pay to hunt.  A few on here said i was full of it....Sure looks like its pointing in that direction!

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Wait a second Sam, with the young bucks being passed the amount of older bucks should increase right?  So there are more of them out there but they still don't get killed.  That's the point in the fact (like Gman brought up) that they don't get killed by hunters very often....

 

I don't know where you are hunting but 300 acres with 10 guys is about the same as 3 guys hunting 100 acres.  Not too many guys here would thumb their nose at that.  You need to rethink your comment about seeing each other on stand too......

 

How many acres does it take to kill a mature buck?  :)

 

Just because there are more mature bucks in a general area, doesn't mean they are going to walk by your stand. Any deer is going to gravitate towards covert that has less hunting pressure. 1 guy per 30 acres is fine if it is hunted a few times all season, but it would be really easy to burn out 30 acres if that was the only place you hunted and sat there more than 5 times all season, especially if wind is not taken into consideration and no scent control is practiced. A lot of hunters get into the habit of hunting the same old stand every time, which all deer pick up on very quickly. There could be 10 mature bucks per square mile and an overhunted property could be a big buck dead zone because it is overhunted.

 

I have about 6 different properties I can hunt near my house, with woods/brush covering 1-80 acres. I don't recall hunting any one of those spots more than 3-4 times last season. I had one chance at a mature 8 but let him go. That was it.

 

You don't need many acres to kill a mature buck though, it just has to be hunted properly. If

 

The Lakosky and Drury TV-types among other things, are really good at managing pressure, i.e. hunting individual stands sparingly, scent control (I'm not talking about ozonics either), hunting the wind, etc.

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If you are in an area where you can get doe tags, I can't see a reason. If that buck tag is the only thing in your pocket and you aren't in prime area, pretty hard to say "don't" . Me and my hunting buddies have 9 deer in the freezer.. Not a horn in the bunch. We are lucky to have an area where you walk around with a pocket full of doe tags. I have hunted in parts of the state where it could be years before you see a horn.

I should have prefaced that my question doesn't apply to low density areas which is why I like the regional approach.

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Well my E version of the Outdoor News arrived today. Phade - Please forward my complaints. The E readers shouldn't get theirs late.

 

I have not read this whole thread, and I don't have time to. I have been on both sides of a lot of issues with DEC. They are hyper-sensitive to what hunters think. Communicate with them. They do listen to hunters - often more so than to other groups.

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This thread is an online street brawl. There has to be at least 5 different conversations/fights going on at once!

 

 

Funny you mention that Sam, when I was a kid we would meet at Potter Park after school to fight. I, eh, mean the bad kids did that.  No relation I assume?  haha

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