Aggressive Pose Mount

[WNY Bowhunter]

3 minutes ago, mowin said:

It's crazy how different the hunting styles are within the state.  I've only hunted in the 4U area and a little in the Catskill MTS. 

I think we first started using rifles here in Steuben County around 2001 or 2002ish. We had a lot more deer back then too.

[dbHunterNY]

On 10/31/2019 at 1:17 PM, WNY Bowhunter said:

I think we first started using rifles here in Steuben County around 2001 or 2002ish. We had a lot more deer back then too.

i think that was the case all over. ton of deer near the eastern border here back then too. saw an educational slideshow that said late '90s to early 2000's the whitetail population across the nation was comparable to the highest it's ever been.

[First-light]

21 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

i think that was the case all over. ton of deer near the eastern border here back then too. saw an educational slideshow that said late '90s to early 2000's the whitetail population across the nation was comparable to the highest it's ever been.

The camp next to mine been there for years. They have pictures from the 90's that you thought how in the world did they harvest these deer. 12 guys each had a nice buck hanging. It was amazing. 

[dbHunterNY]

22 minutes ago, First-light said:

The camp next to mine been there for years. They have pictures from the 90's that you thought how in the world did they harvest these deer. 12 guys each had a nice buck hanging. It was amazing. 

we saw a lot of bucks. back then we didn't promote QDM as much so age structure was a quite a bit younger.  with more bucks though it seems like it helped get a little more that hit the genetic lottery for antlers. wasn't sustainable though with food they had available, plus we didn't try at all to take much for doe. we saw antler growth for a given age take a dive it seemed like with fewer bucks but tons of doe. seemed like every buck was a "scrub". slowly turning around with what we're doing now, but with less deer. better age structure for bucks and overall bigger antlers, but with fewer bucks it seems like we have less that are a golden goose when it comes to antlers. hoping you can follow what i'm saying.