stik
Well-Known Member
Headhunter said:I believe we would nothing but benefit by giving the deer a rest.
the deer get a rest from jan through late september.
Headhunter said:I believe we would nothing but benefit by giving the deer a rest.
102 said:Making a statement about setting buck limits or length of gun season based on a hunters experience with a few Tn. Counties over a few years is like trying to fix the US economy by regulating gas prices to 1.00 per gallon. That will be GREAT for some of us, but in the long run, it does NOT fix the US economy.
I have been fortunate enough in the past 30 years to not only have been able to hunt across state from Polk County to Hickman County, but also in Alabama, N.C., Ky, Ga., and Illinois. Mostly on Public, high pressured land, but also a little private land sprinkled in the mix.
Not only are the areas different county by county, let alone State to State, but these counties can be dramatically different from one side of the road to the other. IT has literally taken me YEARS of note keeping, scouting, and hunting to find the "golden" spots. It has not been easy.
But in all this, there are a few things of which I am certain...
1-CONSISTENT success, year in and year out, is MOSTLY about one's ability to KNOW what areas to begin looking at and then scouting. Rather than trying to change state or local laws, that ultimately will do nothing to improve overall success rates, hunters should adapt to changing conditions, pressures, weather, and GEOGRAPHY. Kinda like deer do, in order to be CONSISTENTLY successful. HUNT THEM WHERE THEY ARE! Rather than trying to grow them where they are not, and probably will not be in your life.
2-I have been to Ky. and heard "the Fourth of July" opener. AND IN ILLINOIS. All I can say is...VERY IMPRESSIVE. UN BELIEVABLE. I actually feel sorry for the deer. (and the hunters). That first day there is not a minute that goes by without a shot being fired. Deer go nocturnal as do squirrels, turkeys and even ticks. It is simply amazing.
In areas that I frequent I have never witnessed anything as drastic in Tennessee. Deer in Tennessee do get to be much more difficult to see, but not like Ky., and Illinois.
After reading your posts I was wondering if you knew to adapt to the deers movement or you just hope that the deer would adapt to your chosen method of hunting!! :grin:Headhunter said:Thank you there, Beekeeper, I have never thought of hunting a thick area. New idea there, LOL.
What was the basis for your strong opinion back then (your previous way of thinking)? I am assuming that you must have felt pretty good/strongly about something back then (pertaining to deer hunting, seasons, limits, etc) to make you argue that point, just as you feel strongly today about the reduced limit, shorter season preference that you desire. What changed your mind to make you do a complete 180 and have a change of heart in what you desire in the deer woods (length of season, limits, etc)? For lack of a better explanation, I am trying to understand why/how one day you push(ed) for agenda A and now you are totally against agenda A and now you support agenda B to the fullest. Please explain.Headhunter said:In my younger days, I would have argued, anywhere at anytime, against anyone who wanted to try to tell me a shorter season or a lower limit would be a good thing.
I have hunted for about 40 years. I didn't start hunting til I was in my late teens. I didn't have a mentor so what I learned in the first years I learned by myself. I didn't kill a deer til 1977 but since that time I have killed over 150 all of them in East Tennessee. Every deer I have killed was special to me. When I quit getting the adrenalin rush and the sweaty hands when I get a chance to kill a deer I will probably find something else to do with my time and money.Headhunter said:How long have you hunted and how many deer have you killed in Tennessee? How many (let's say just nice bucks because that is all I have killed) nice bucks have you killed in Tennessee?
Beekeeper said:I have hunted for about 40 years. I didn't start hunting til I was in my late teens. I didn't have a mentor so what I learned in the first years I learned by myself. I didn't kill a deer til 1977 but since that time I have killed over 150 all of them in East Tennessee. Every deer I have killed was special to me. When I quit getting the adrenalin rush and the sweaty hands when I get a chance to kill a deer I will probably find something else to do with my time and money.Headhunter said:How long have you hunted and how many deer have you killed in Tennessee? How many (let's say just nice bucks because that is all I have killed) nice bucks have you killed in Tennessee?
I have never cared about the size of the antlers on a deer and I have mounted only one of the 150+ I have killed. I have given a lot of antlers away and I have a lot just laying around. I hunt because I enjoy hunting not to try and prove anything to any one. I see the mounts you have as a tremendous wast of money and wall space but if you enjoy them it is your business, not anyone else.
When I started deer hunting I only had 2 weeks to hunt. Now I get to hunt 8 or more weeks and I like it!!!
Headhunter said:102, less than a week after gun season closes where we hunt in KY (and it is just like you said, a war) the deer start showing back up. In Tennessee it happens also, but we shut our deer down for 2 months. I have hunted in different states and in many different areas and conditions. I have helped cull does in many places. Gun pressure affects deer to some extent and it will even make does go nocturnal and be ultra wary. I am not against gun hunting in anyway, I love it. I spend way to much money on guns, reloading and optics, but anyone can see the effect and a long gun season is not good for anything other than pressuring deer. Much of Tennessee just seeing deer gets difficult after the first of December. I do not care about other states or care to be like them, but I believe we would nothing but benefit by giving the deer a rest.
I know you are the world's greatest hunter and you can kill any buck you want anytime you want, I get it. Not everyone is like a legend like you are. With the number of hunters and the pressure on the deer some kind of a rest cannot be bad. I would much rather have a shorter season where deer are visible than a 2 month season that is useless for 90 percent of it.
102 said:8 points or better said:102
How many mature (4.5+) bucks have you killed in the last five years?
I am not sure why this matters. But I am sure you can do a search and find them somewhere on here. There are a few pictures floating around.
If you ask because you sincerely want to know, and would like to discuss the area that you hunt for tips and possible ideas that may help you, then PM me and we'll visit on the net.
Otherwise, it is too much chest thumping for no reason and little good will come of it.
102
102 said:But in all this, there are a few things of which I am certain...
1-CONSISTENT success, year in and year out, is MOSTLY about one's ability to KNOW what areas to begin looking at and then scouting. Rather than trying to change state or local laws, that ultimately will do nothing to improve overall success rates, hunters should adapt to changing conditions, pressures, weather, and GEOGRAPHY. Kinda like deer do, in order to be CONSISTENTLY successful. HUNT THEM WHERE THEY ARE! Rather than trying to grow them where they are not, and probably will not be in your life.
Poser said:8 POINTS OR BETTER said:102 said:8 points or better said:102
How many mature (4.5+) bucks have you killed in the last five years?
I am not sure why this matters. But I am sure you can do a search and find them somewhere on here. There are a few pictures floating around.
If you ask because you sincerely want to know, and would like to discuss the area that you hunt for tips and possible ideas that may help you, then PM me and we'll visit on the net.
Otherwise, it is too much chest thumping for no reason and little good will come of it.
102
102 said:But in all this, there are a few things of which I am certain...
1-CONSISTENT success, year in and year out, is MOSTLY about one's ability to KNOW what areas to begin looking at and then scouting. Rather than trying to change state or local laws, that ultimately will do nothing to improve overall success rates, hunters should adapt to changing conditions, pressures, weather, and GEOGRAPHY. Kinda like deer do, in order to be CONSISTENTLY successful. HUNT THEM WHERE THEY ARE! Rather than trying to grow them where they are not, and probably will not be in your life.
This is why I ask. You tell everyone what it takes to be consistent at killing mature bucks, but are you able to do it yourself.
How many mature bucks have you killed in the last five years? Are you doing it consistently (every year)?
I sincerely want to know because if you are killing mature bucks every year, I will listen to what you have to say. If your not killing them every year then your just blowing smoke up everyone's rear, trying to tell them how its done.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that 102 does not kill mature bucks every year (honestly, I couldn't tell you if he has or not, but I do highly respect his opinion and skill level). This being the case, do you deny that consistent success on mature bucks in TN is about one's ability to identify where mature bucks are and hunt them appropriately? Do you then conclude that the best way to kill mature bucks consistently is to lobby for a change in state and local laws?