Agree or Disagree?

[BSK]

Others have said the same thing. My question is why? Why do you self ascribe to a one buck limit on your own land? Is it just a personal thing or is every hunter on the property held to the same standard?

Because I don't want to overharvest the resource. We have 5-7 hunters on 500 acres and everybody wants to kill an older buck. With our current deer population, we can afford to lose around 5-7 older bucks per year without reducing the buck age structure. Considering most of the hunters only hunt for a week each year, they generally don't get the chance to kill more than one older buck. But if they see the buck of a lifetime after killing the first older buck they see, I would want them to have that opportunity. Personally, I'm happy with one good buck a year.

 

[BSK]

I have hunted deer in TN for over 25 years and have been a Lifetime Sportsmen License holder for almost that long. During that time, TN has set their deer hunting regs so as to manage for a balance of hunter opportunity and herd health, which I completely agree with. I'm not a wildlife biologist , or any kind of biologist for that matter, but I recognize what a difficult tight rope that is to walk. Everyone has different circumstances & objectives. There will never be a "one size fits all" solution & you'll never please everyone. Overall, I think the current regs are a good compromise.

Agree with this. I can live with our 2 buck limit. I may not like it, but I can live with it.

 

[StalkingWolf]

I say increase it to 3.

 

[BSK]

I saw in this thread that only 13% of deer harvested in TN are killed with a bow. If we discontinue bow season to replace with weapon of choice, how do you propose preventing even more areas with "deer droughts"? You don't think they'll be a big increase in the doe harvest?

I would shorten the season. I wouldn't want a three-month gun season. But honestly, I really don't care we have a bow season, even though I don't bow hunt. More power to those that bow hunt. But when bow seasons were first implemented, they were implemented for very different reasons and under very different circumstances than we have today.

 

[BSK]

That's exactly what I'm getting at. Several with their own properties and who manage the ground for better hunting self assign one buck limits. Why?

Let's say I've got a few hundred acres that I manage for good hunting. The hunters consist of myself and a few family members. What would happen if each hunter killed two bucks off the place every year? Even if they were only the oldest bucks, how many seasons before we no longer have that good hunting I've worked so hard to create?

Public land hunters don't have the luxury of setting stricter standards for the property they hunt to ensure a sustainably good hunt. Why is it good for the goose but not the gander?

Because what you consider "good hunting" may not be what others consider "good hunting." There are still those who want a target rich environment, and don't care what age buck they kill.

 

[deerhunter10]

Yes, the question was specifically whether a 1 buck limit would benefit all the deer hunters in our state, which many seemed to ignore to just focus on whether it would result in more mature bucks to hunt each fall. So when you pointed to states usually thought of for better buck potential than TN, my point was simply to remind folks that those states have gun seasons much shorter than ours. Heck, you can't even use a modern deer rifle in Iowa or Illinois, two of the three states you mentioned.

Illinois gun registration always I'd questionable with the politics in that state. As far as Iowa goes not sure on the center fire rifle. But they do have party hunts where they do deer drives. I was listening to working class bow hunter and that was interesting. Every state has something it'll never be perfect. I think a lot of people that want a 1 buck limit thinks we will have 160 plus deer around every tree and that's not the case. I think most have unrealistic expectations of what that would do. Obviously I'm going to hunt regardless but I will for sure add 1 or 2 states to my hunting.

 

[Dean Parisian]

Shorten the season. Drop the limit. My two cents but what do I know? I haven't shot a buck in TN since 2006. Haven't found one big enough to kill since then, not a good enough hunter I guess. Maybe next year. My lifetime license will hopefully last a few more years. The last and biggest buck I have ever seen in TN was about 600 to 700 yards east of the westbound exit to the Nashville airport in the ditch on I-40 a couple of years ago. Those woods are now an off-ramp to the airport. It is the state of land development today in TN.

 

[Ski]

Because I don't want to overharvest the resource. We have 5-7 hunters on 500 acres and everybody wants to kill an older buck.

That's the key. There are only so many big bucks to be had and everybody wants one. Over killing would cause diminishing returns going forward.....for everybody.

That said each region just like each property is different and requires different regulations, not a blanket standard for the entire state.

 

[deerhunter10]

Shorten the season. Drop the limit. My two cents but what do I know? I haven't shot a buck in TN since 2006. Haven't found one big enough to kill since then, not a good enough hunter I guess. Maybe next year. My lifetime license will hopefully last a few more years. The last and biggest buck I have ever seen in TN was about 600 to 700 yards east of the westbound exit to the Nashville airport in the ditch on I-40 a couple of years ago. Those woods are now an off-ramp to the airport. It is the state of land development today in TN.

How big are you looking for?

 

[Ski]

Because what you consider "good hunting" may not be what others consider "good hunting." There are still those who want a target rich environment, and don't care what age buck they kill.

A simply survey from TWRA could get a majority consensus.

 

[Gravey]

I kill 1 if that so doesn't matter to me if it's 2 or 1. If it does balance out the buck to doe ratio better I could see it but again don't care either way.

 

[TheLBLman]

Because I don't want to overharvest the resource.
We have 5-7 hunters on 500 acres and everybody wants to kill an older buck. With our current deer population, we can afford to lose around 5-7 older bucks per year without reducing the buck age structure.

I fully understand all this.
But imagine, if one of your hunters was by himself consistently killing 3 of those bucks annually, while most the others weren't getting one (and there were only 6 total available for harvest).
Such can create conflict among the group.

In my area, long-term, a sustainable harvest of 3 1/2 or older bucks has only been about 2 annually per 500 acres. In most cases, or most family farms, most clubs, etc., there really aren't enough 3 1/2 & older bucks available for every hunter to even kill one (and have ongoing sustainability).

In my situation, we were not producing enough older bucks (3 1/2 or older) for every hunter to have a reasonable opportunity at even one, if a minority of accomplished bowhunters (and muzzleloader hunters) were taking most of those bucks before most the others even went hunting.

We came up with something on buck limits that is working for us.

We have a 3-buck limit spread over 2 years.
This is more or less a 1.5-buck limit annually.

With this, any hunter can take 2 bucks,
but if he does, his limit is 1 buck the next year.
So long as a hunter only takes 1 buck annually,
he always has a 2-buck limit.

 

[killingtime 41]

I live in N East TN. Where the deer herd has been about the same for 20 years. Problem being with a 1 buck limit over here is you shoot one buck say in archery. Then what sit out in bitter cold weather for 10 days to maybe shoot 1 doe in muzzleloader if you see one at all cause that's all we have. Or 2 weeks in gun season to shoot 1 doe that's all we have id hang it up after the one Buck most likely. Or would only go couple more times. I didn't kill anything this year. So guess I'm helping the herd at least.

 

[gobbler32]

Also would result in more does shot in areas where they don't need to be...and it takes does to make bucks. While I'm for a two buck limit and against the present lack of management of the herd in Unit L, a single buck limit makes absolutely no sense in the very rare state such as TN that has virtually no limit on does for both private and public ground in so many counties.

I totally agree, the unit L 3 doe a day limit is ridiculous. 2 buck limit is ok by me but I'll be honest I saw more deer when you could possibly kill 11 bucks. That being said I didn't shoot 11 , maybe 2 or 3. The chance at getting a doe was during archery or the late muzzleloader and eventually the late,late season doe tags come about. This unlimited crap is dumb

 

[Flintlocksforme]

Why even worry about buck limits when our state is set on wiping out the herd due to cwd

Exactly it hasn't stopped the spread either. All of west Tennessee is eventually going to be CWD regulations. The question is how many years do we have before CWD is in every county. Will the CWD regulations we have now apply to East Tennessee? Or is it just good in West Tennessee because we were unit L anyway?

 

[redblood]

I say increase it to 3.

I would wager a decrease would be more likely. We have done 11, then 2, then 3 , then 2 .

 

[TheLBLman]

I would wager keeping it as is (2) is most likely.
But at any rate, they can make it unlimited by just declaring CWD,
so maybe we're debating something that doesn't matter much?

 

[Ski]

I would wager keeping it as is (2) is most likely.
But at any rate, they can make it unlimited by just declaring CWD,
so maybe we're debating something that doesn't matter much?

I doubt anything changes anytime soon. It's just a hypothetical. Idle talk for entertainment.

 

[fairchaser]

Waiting for bucks to reach 4-5 years old is hoping for something that almost never happens in a CWD environment. A few with below average antlers might make it. We had one 5 year old buck with above average antlers harvested on 18000 acres amongst 50 hunters. So if you want kill a buck every 10 -20 years, go for it!

 

[BSK]

I fully understand all this.
But imagine, if one of your hunters was by himself consistently killing 3 of those bucks annually, while most the others weren't getting one (and there were only 6 total available for harvest).
Such can create conflict among the group.

In my area, long-term, a sustainable harvest of 3 1/2 or older bucks has only been about 2 annually per 500 acres. In most cases, or most family farms, most clubs, etc., there really aren't enough 3 1/2 & older bucks available for every hunter to even kill one (and have ongoing sustainability).

In my situation, we were not producing enough older bucks (3 1/2 or older) for every hunter to have a reasonable opportunity at even one, if a minority of accomplished bowhunters (and muzzleloader hunters) were taking most of those bucks before most the others even went hunting.

We came up with something on buck limits that is working for us.

We have a 3-buck limit spread over 2 years.
This is more or less a 1.5-buck limit annually.

With this, any hunter can take 2 bucks,
but if he does, his limit is 1 buck the next year.
So long as a hunter only takes 1 buck annually,
he always has a 2-buck limit.

A very unique system TheLBLman, and one I agree is great for your circumstances. I like it!

But we are talking statewide limits here. What is the purpose of a 1 buck limit? Theoretically, to improve the buck age structure. The problem is, I see no indication TN - as a general rule - has an inadequate buck age structure. In fact, it appears quite good, on par or better anywhere else I have worked. So for this purpose, a 1 buck limit isn't needed. What is another goal of a 1 buck limit? To prevent the overharvest of bucks. Yet I see no indication TN hunters are overharvesting bucks.