stik
Well-Known Member
Headhunter said:
the deer get a rest from jan through late september.
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the deer get a rest from jan through late september.
8 POINTS OR BETTER
Well-Known Member
102 said:
102
How many mature (4.5+) bucks have you killed in the last five years?
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
Thank you there, Beekeeper, I have never thought of hunting a thick area. New idea there, LOL.
Beekeeper
Well-Known Member
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:
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
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 definitely have no care or desire to brag in anyway, but I believe real experience and kills are something to consider when asking or giving advice. I know I am far from one of the better deer hunters, but I am PERSISTENT.
Funny thing is, I used to believe, with even more conviction than anyone on here, the way that everyone does who is against a lower limit or a shorter season. 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.
Funny thing is, I used to believe, with even more conviction than anyone on here, the way that everyone does who is against a lower limit or a shorter season. 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.
All my bucks were nice, to me anyway. 
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:
PickettSFHunter
Well-Known Member
60% for two or less. This is trending more conservatively every year here on TNdeer as well as "off the net". I think we could agree on that.
Beekeeper
Well-Known Member
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:
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!!!
Beekeeper said:
Honestly, this EXACT reason is why I will NOT support a change in the TWRA limits UNLESS TWRA decides that it is for the good of the herd. Or has proof that a lowered buck limit is what the majority of Tn hunters want. Not just a few members on the best campfire on the net.
Well said beekeeper, I believe you agree with the majority of hunters I have spoken with in Tennessee.
I selfishly would like to see lower limits, but not at the expense of a majority of hunter participation, and enjoyment.
102
8 points or better wrote:
102
How many mature (4.5+) bucks have you killed in the last five years? [/quote]
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
How many mature (4.5+) bucks have you killed in the last five years? [/quote]
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
Headhunter said:
HH,
You are too kind. Such flattery. Your kindness and charming personality are exceeded ONLY by your good looks and EXTREME intelligence. And yet, we barely know each other. And already you have picked up on my prowess in the deer woods. How insightful of you.
Seriously though, if hunters could just understand how there are deer, SMALL in body and ANTLER size, that are tremendous trophies in some circles. For example, the Coues deer. And at one time, the Key deer.
Similarly, hunters who wish to fill their tags with trophy caliber animals should understand that in certain areas of the country, a real trophy may be a 3.5 year old 6 point that has survived 3 hunting seasons, countless hunter encounters, and vehicle traffic. I often find these high pressured public deer MUCH more difficult to pattern and arrow than their rut crazed, northern, older counterparts.
Does degree of difficulty make the hunt, and therfore the kill, more of a challenge?
If so, does it not make sense then, that it should also make a worthy trophy?
Isn't a trophy MORE than just a score sheet and a set of horns?
Isn't the degree of difficulty, and the success rate for any hunter with that degree of difficulty deer have more to do with skill level than antler score?
In no way, in ANY face to face discussion with another hunter, would I EVER suggest that putting age on a buck would not improve his odds at growing more bone. But I will say that it is not certain that the older buck WILL grow more bone IF the other needs are not met as well.
And I will ALWAYS say, that older deer, ESPECIALLY in PUBLIC hunting areas, will be HARDER to see, and KILL.
102
8 POINTS OR BETTER
Well-Known Member
102 said:
102 said:
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.
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
I may be mistaken, but there are not any Keys or Coues deer in Tennessee. I would love to hunt either one and be dang proud to kill one from all I have read about them. Tennessee has potential, so much no one even realizes. Quite a few are already here, but hunting vampires sure is tough.
8 POINTS OR BETTER
Well-Known Member
Poser said:
You definitely have to hunt mature bucks were they are at.
And if we lowered the buck limit there would be more mature bucks in the herd. The more mature bucks in the herd, the more mature bucks hunters will kill.
8 points,
Asking me how many mature bucks I have killed in the past 5 seasons is probably not a good reference or standard to either what my skill level is, or degree of difficulty in hunting mature bucks. I have purposely added a bow to the mix to make it not only more challenging, but also enjoyable. My first deer in 1981, and my 200th kill last year were all with a bow. I have not used a gun in years. Had I been carrying a gun, several of the mature bucks out of bow shot might have had a different day.
Also, I chose to hunt mostly public land. Not because I can't afford private, but because I enjoy moving around from County to County and State to State.
But I do have one advantage most don't enjoy, TIME. I hunt a bunch each year. If I did not, I would probably be REALLY FAT and out of shape, instead of just being fat. For the past several years I have averaged about 4 hunts (sits on stand) per kill. Last year I sat on stand 48 times.
In (January) of 2010, I took a couple of my best bucks to meet TWRA's Ben Layton, in Crossville (I think). He scored them for me. Both were over 4.5. One is in the Registry with a pic from Hamilton County in 2009. The other was from 2006 or 07, can't remember off the top of my head and too lazy to look it up. I had not had any others scored at that point and was disappointed to find out how the scoring system worked. (deductions for not having symetry? Are you kidding?) It takes a WHOLE BUNCH of antler, or a lot of side to side perfection to score over 150).
That trip to Crossville was a turning point for me. After having those two scored, I realized that I would most likely never kill a bigger buck. Even in Southern Illinois. Especially in Tennessee. I had hit the Lottery.
So I took the lesson on how to score deer, home with me that day. And scored my other bucks. I have at least 2 more that will book P/Y. And one more that is too close for me to say for sure. In 2010, it cost 35 dollars per P/Y entry. I have spent too much on mounts and already 70 dollars on P/Y entry fees. That is enough.
Since that day in 2010, and since the hunting season of 2009, I have become more relaxed. I now hunt with MUCH less intensity than before. I don't pay nearly the attention to scent as I once did. I simply watch the wind and try not to touch anything in the woods. I also scout in Jan-March. Not anywhere near the season. And from the road where possible. I also am much more willing to take that 3.5 year old 115 inch buck in an area where I know P/Y bucks exist because I just feel like it at the time. Not because I am trophy hunting. Though I may regret it as a P/Y shows up under my stand later while on a meat hunt.
But it is all good. In fact, great. I never really set out to be a "trophy" hunter. Just a hunter who enjoyed family, fellowship and the experience.
So to re-phrase your question, if I may, how many mature bucks have I killed in the 5 years prior to 2010 season (2005-2009)? 5 for sure, one questionable ("tweener" probably) and I put my son on a GREAT buck last season he got to arrow that was a GREAT representative for that part of Tennessee. And i must also mention the one that still pains me today because I MISSED. As of this date, he is the biggest buck that I have missed. He was a good one.
I patterned him for two days after having found his sign the January before. He was DIALED in to this ridge side in a honeysuckle patch. I waited for the wind, moved in one morning before daylight and waited. Just after day break I caught movement under the canopy of yellow maple leaves as his legs were carrying him to bed. At 27 yards he stepped into an opening as I bleated him to stop. My arrow hit him RIGHT in the ball socket of his right front leg. It was not a shot that killed him anytime soon. I never found him. I doubt I killed him.
Seems that some misses I remember better than some kills. I think they affect me more. That would have been a GREAT, mature trophy. I am sure he was P/Y. I think that was in 2007.
I don't want to do too much chest thumping here. Many will read this and take it for what it is worth. Others will criticize and question. My attitude is to answer you in a public way because you need me to give you something that gives me "credibility". Hopefully this will. If it does not, then so be it. In the end, it really does not matter. We are just two.
But trust me when I say this. There are huntable numbers of mature, old, bucks available RIGHT now all over Tennessee. But they are NOT EVERYWHERE we hunt. they are migrant, changing, very hard to predict, and extremely good at evading man.
A hunter would be smart to adjust his expectations to fit not only what is a good representative for the area in which he hunts, but also his wallet, his skill set, and most importantly, his time.
102
Asking me how many mature bucks I have killed in the past 5 seasons is probably not a good reference or standard to either what my skill level is, or degree of difficulty in hunting mature bucks. I have purposely added a bow to the mix to make it not only more challenging, but also enjoyable. My first deer in 1981, and my 200th kill last year were all with a bow. I have not used a gun in years. Had I been carrying a gun, several of the mature bucks out of bow shot might have had a different day.
Also, I chose to hunt mostly public land. Not because I can't afford private, but because I enjoy moving around from County to County and State to State.
But I do have one advantage most don't enjoy, TIME. I hunt a bunch each year. If I did not, I would probably be REALLY FAT and out of shape, instead of just being fat. For the past several years I have averaged about 4 hunts (sits on stand) per kill. Last year I sat on stand 48 times.
In (January) of 2010, I took a couple of my best bucks to meet TWRA's Ben Layton, in Crossville (I think). He scored them for me. Both were over 4.5. One is in the Registry with a pic from Hamilton County in 2009. The other was from 2006 or 07, can't remember off the top of my head and too lazy to look it up. I had not had any others scored at that point and was disappointed to find out how the scoring system worked. (deductions for not having symetry? Are you kidding?) It takes a WHOLE BUNCH of antler, or a lot of side to side perfection to score over 150).
That trip to Crossville was a turning point for me. After having those two scored, I realized that I would most likely never kill a bigger buck. Even in Southern Illinois. Especially in Tennessee. I had hit the Lottery.
So I took the lesson on how to score deer, home with me that day. And scored my other bucks. I have at least 2 more that will book P/Y. And one more that is too close for me to say for sure. In 2010, it cost 35 dollars per P/Y entry. I have spent too much on mounts and already 70 dollars on P/Y entry fees. That is enough.
Since that day in 2010, and since the hunting season of 2009, I have become more relaxed. I now hunt with MUCH less intensity than before. I don't pay nearly the attention to scent as I once did. I simply watch the wind and try not to touch anything in the woods. I also scout in Jan-March. Not anywhere near the season. And from the road where possible. I also am much more willing to take that 3.5 year old 115 inch buck in an area where I know P/Y bucks exist because I just feel like it at the time. Not because I am trophy hunting. Though I may regret it as a P/Y shows up under my stand later while on a meat hunt.
But it is all good. In fact, great. I never really set out to be a "trophy" hunter. Just a hunter who enjoyed family, fellowship and the experience.
So to re-phrase your question, if I may, how many mature bucks have I killed in the 5 years prior to 2010 season (2005-2009)? 5 for sure, one questionable ("tweener" probably) and I put my son on a GREAT buck last season he got to arrow that was a GREAT representative for that part of Tennessee. And i must also mention the one that still pains me today because I MISSED. As of this date, he is the biggest buck that I have missed. He was a good one.
I patterned him for two days after having found his sign the January before. He was DIALED in to this ridge side in a honeysuckle patch. I waited for the wind, moved in one morning before daylight and waited. Just after day break I caught movement under the canopy of yellow maple leaves as his legs were carrying him to bed. At 27 yards he stepped into an opening as I bleated him to stop. My arrow hit him RIGHT in the ball socket of his right front leg. It was not a shot that killed him anytime soon. I never found him. I doubt I killed him.
Seems that some misses I remember better than some kills. I think they affect me more. That would have been a GREAT, mature trophy. I am sure he was P/Y. I think that was in 2007.
I don't want to do too much chest thumping here. Many will read this and take it for what it is worth. Others will criticize and question. My attitude is to answer you in a public way because you need me to give you something that gives me "credibility". Hopefully this will. If it does not, then so be it. In the end, it really does not matter. We are just two.
But trust me when I say this. There are huntable numbers of mature, old, bucks available RIGHT now all over Tennessee. But they are NOT EVERYWHERE we hunt. they are migrant, changing, very hard to predict, and extremely good at evading man.
A hunter would be smart to adjust his expectations to fit not only what is a good representative for the area in which he hunts, but also his wallet, his skill set, and most importantly, his time.
102
8 POINTS OR BETTER
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the response 102. I respect that you have got it done with a stick and string.
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
Andy, my opinion has changed because of what I have seen in Tennessee.
OK. What have you seen?
