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Tennessee bucks

BSK said:
I'm looking at a bunch of the bucks in the Trophy Room and those posted in this forum, and I tell you what, I knew TN could do better than it was doing back when I started talking about and pushing QDM back in the mid to late 90s, but I never in my wildest dreams thought it would ever get to this point. A TON of seriously stud bucks are being killed in TN every year now. Who would have thunk it...? Definitely not me.
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You must be referring to my trophy 8 pt buck that scored in the high 30's 🤣

But he's tasty!
 
BSK said:
Was against it then. Still am. Wasn't needed. Didn't do anything. Everything we're seeing today (post 11 buck limit) is purely driven by hunter trigger control (which I NEVER expected hunters to do with the ferocity that they do today)
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Completely disagree. Even in you comments after this you agree with to some extent. AGE is the NUMBER 1 factor in having better bucks. A dead buck is not growing anymore. Not at all. The more immature bucks killed, the less the chances are to see better bucks. A lower buck limit helps more bucks live another year or 2 or more. It amazes me how people say the limit does not mater only to see area with no deer hunting grow monsters. Number one reason why is they get some age. Also, many don't realize that just because you let bucks live and grow to be mature, and some bucks will never have "large" antlers and some will have the average and some numbers of bucks will grow into "trophy" bucks, but so many don't realize just because let them live, does not you mean may see them, much less get a chance to kill one. But at least they are alive and walking around. I know how much of a chance you have to kill one when the buck is killed at 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 or the absolute nut job reg that allows people to kill spikes at President's Island.

I am happy for anyone who kills any deer they are happy with. If you want to kill a better buck, whatever that means to each hunter, then you have to let the young bucks live if you want to kill a better buck. Whether it is a mature buck, a giant antlered buck, etc. There are exceptions, but the large majority of bigger bucks are older.

To say a reduction in buck limit does not help at all is not even close to reality and most biologist I have talked to completely agree with that.
 
I never thought I would kill a buck like this in TN. I knew he was in the area, I saw him during the velvet hunt but out of the 30 cameras I had up for him. I only got 2 pictures of him ever.

I have felt like we are in the golden age of deer hunting the last 6 years.

For those that are gonna jump on the wheres you orange wagon!?. I'm at my house and my wife took the picture. That's not where I killed the deer. 🤣
 

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Dumbluck said:
I never thought I would kill a buck like this in TN. I knew he was in the area, I saw him during the velvet hunt but out of the 30 cameras I had up for him. I only got 2 pictures of him ever.

I have felt like we are in the golden age of deer hunting the last 6 years.

For those that are gonna jump on the wheres you orange wagon!?. I'm at my house and my wife took the picture. That's not where I killed the deer. 🤣
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Good to see you back on here😉 Still one of the most impressive TN bucks I've ever put my hands on.
 
dr said:
Wow, I had no idea bear preyed on that many fawns. Thanks for the info. I've wondered how many deer hogs kill as well. Do you see Elk up there? Hog Guide from Fentress Co. used to be a member, and said that when he started seeing Elk, the deer disappeared on the properties he hunted. He thought the Elk scared them away. I haven't saw any Elk, but know there are some in Cumberland CO. An old guy killed a 6x6 near me several years ago, when he mistook it for a deer. Makes you wonder If TWRA is trying to reduce deer population by bringing back bear, and Elk? They also released Mountain Lions in the Smokies. This should concern all hunters in TN. If you don't have bear, hogs, and elk yet, it's just a matter of t
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dr said:
Wow, I had no idea bear preyed on that many fawns. Thanks for the info. I've wondered how many deer hogs kill as well. Do you see Elk up there? Hog Guide from Fentress Co. used to be a member, and said that when he started seeing Elk, the deer disappeared on the properties he hunted. He thought the Elk scared them away. I haven't saw any Elk, but know there are some in Cumberland CO. An old guy killed a 6x6 near me several years ago, when he mistook it for a deer. Makes you wonder If TWRA is trying to reduce deer population by bringing back bear, and Elk? They also released Mountain Lions in the Smokies. This should concern all hunters in TN. If you don't have bear, hogs, and elk yet, it's just a matter of time.
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Can you show proof of mountain lions being released in the Smokies?
 
PickettSFHunter said:
Certainly not fewer hunters. We have way less deer so less bucks are reaching the age they need to reach to throw out those occasional freaks. I believe it's a combination of several issues.

The bear population just absolutely exploded and they have developed a taste for fawns in the Spring. When we became known for big deer, we didn't have bears, thanks TWRA for that. It's pitiful what our fawn recruitment a few weeks after birth has dropped to. I literally see more bear cubs than deer fawns, that's no joke.

Less deer has led to another compounding issue. We were already known for lots of poaching. Less deer means more hunters that decide to cheat because it's so hard to see much anymore legally. Cell camera with a bait pile has become widely popular. Get the pic, slip out and shoot the buck. I am amazed how effective that has been for a lot of people. It's more effective than anyone wants to think. I keep a hog bait out on my farm that I don't deer hunt and could shoot a particular really nice buck there a couple nights a week if I were into that.

The third issue, development. So many people are moving here in droves. You need wild areas for deer to get age here due to the poaching issues. Thousands upon thousand of acres with no roads are needed. You need large areas that can't be road hunted or hunted with night vision. We have lost so many of these areas just in the last few years to development. Most of the people moving here want to somewhat be involved in the outdoors so they shoot deer in the yard and out behind the house.

I really think the good old days are done here in my area unfortunately.
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Living in Nashville I can tell you that urban development is mostly a bad thing, but it doesn't hurt deer as bad as you think. You're still gonna have people move in who want nothing to do with hunting, and they give the deer a place to grow old. Once you start seeing some age, you'll have hunters being more picky about what they shoot because they know what's in the area. At least that's how it is around here. And you'll have more properties that are strictly off limits to hunting and are watched by the local residents so poaching won't be as easy as it once was. Deer are very adaptable creatures and can thrive in developed areas as long as they have enough pockets of woods to hide in. The initial bulldozing and development will run the deer off, but after a few years of settling down the deer will filter back in and become accustomed to the urban life.

For example here in franklin there are new subdivisions going up everywhere. The newest ones have mostly pushed out the deer since there's so much construction going on and the deer aren't used to it. But the older developments that have been here for 10 or 20 years or longer have deer bedding in peoples front yards. The only downside is it's a lot tougher to get permission to hunt anywhere and when you do, it's usually only a few acres at best.
 
Dumbluck said:
I never thought I would kill a buck like this in TN. I knew he was in the area, I saw him during the velvet hunt but out of the 30 cameras I had up for him. I only got 2 pictures of him ever.

I have felt like we are in the golden age of deer hunting the last 6 years.

For those that are gonna jump on the wheres you orange wagon!?. I'm at my house and my wife took the picture. That's not where I killed the deer. 🤣
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That is a monster buck! Congratulations! By the way, you are one odd looking feller! 😂
 
BSK said:
Oh yes, very proud. And what I'm most thrilled with is she still wants to hunt with me. I guess for her that's part of the fun - to experience it together. I've been sitting right next to her when she shot all of her deer. Listening to her breathing getting ragged and feeling the whole 2-person ladder stand shaking from her adrenaline is too darn funny!
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I have 3 daughters, 11 yo twins and a 7 yo. One of the twins has taken up deer and turkey hunting with me and I would rather see her kill a doe than me kill a 150". Just so special to get out a share something I enjoy so much with her.
 
puppy said:
I have 3 daughters, 11 yo twins and a 7 yo. One of the twins has taken up deer and turkey hunting with me and I would rather see her kill a doe than me kill a 150". Just so special to get out a share something I enjoy so much with her.
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Well said, and I couldn't agree more!
 
Actually, deer do exceptionally well in suburbia. They are generally protected from hunting and face little threat from Man, except from cars. And cars can kill a bunch! Just drive around Percy and Edwin Warner Parks in Nashville. There's always a dead deer along the road somewhere.

The below picture is from my back yard. The buck is actually tending a doe, who is lying down just to the buck's left. He chased her around, jumping those chain-link fences like they weren't even there, for an hour or so. I live in the western suburbs of Nashville (Bellevue) and have deer in my yard on a regular basis.
 

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Consider yourself very lucky if you can find deer like in the OP on a yearly basis. It is just not in cards for me where i am able to hunt in this state. Way too much rifle pressure, "brown and down" attitude, and annoying property owners for me to waste my time after the first couple weeks of season. Going forward, i will always apply for the Oak Ridge hunt (if they ever let us back in there), and occasionally hunt Fort Campbell. But, my deer hunting efforts will be concentrated in Ohio where the playing field is somewhat even for me with a bow in my hand.
 
I understand that deer do well in hipster Nashville. This is not city people like that. This is people moving to the country to be able to shoot deer and such. Actually, several of the new "developments" are tent and camper cities, people trying to take from the land what they can to live as cheaply as possible. These look like homeless camps in several cases. Even the nicer developments, a lot of these city folks want to shoot deer on what they call their "estates" of 2-5 acres 😂 This is not a Nashville situation.
 
I agree trail cams save a bunch of deer. However I don't see how you guys are using trial cams to know where not to hunt. In KY we can bait, and I do, but many times I see deer while hunting that never get in front of that camera. I've killed, on several occasions, deer that I didn't have pics of. So how, in a state that doesn't allow baiting, are y'all using cams and letting them determine where you are or are not hunting. Are you setting cams on trials, scrapes, food plots, or where?? How do you think you are getting pics of every buck in that particular area?
Biggest buck I ever killed walked right behind a cam at 26yds just before I ran a arrow thru him. Never had a pic of him.
 
BSK said:
Oh yes, very proud. And what I'm most thrilled with is she still wants to hunt with me. I guess for her that's part of the fun - to experience it together. I've been sitting right next to her when she shot all of her deer. Listening to her breathing getting ragged and feeling the whole 2-person ladder stand shaking from her adrenaline is too darn funny!
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Those are fun times for sure. I still remember my daughter sitting in my lap shaking uncontrollably as she worked up the courage to pull the trigger on her first doe when she was 11, then a couple of years later when she got her first buck. Now 20 years later she is still hunting with me although she rarely sits with me — says I move too much in the stand and make too much noise unless it's raining and we are sitting in a pop tent together.

Now when I hear her shoot, I anxiously wait for the text to tell me what she shot, did it run, how it acted, where it came from, where it ran, etc. Then she usually lets me finish my hunt and if it's not where she can see it, we start the search together— she's a good tracker. And we celebrate every deer together.

Sometimes she even gives me a heads up on deer headed my way!

Enjoy those days together!
 
Roost 1 said:
So how, in a state that doesn't allow baiting, are y'all using cams and letting them determine where you are or are not hunting. Are you setting cams on trials, scrapes, food plots, or where?? How do you think you are getting pics of every buck in that particular area?
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I don't think anybody running cams expects to catch every buck. The goal of cameras for me is to set on a trail, food plot, scrape, water hole, creek crossing, pinch point, etc. to see not only how often the spot is frequented, but also by which deer. If it's a bunch of 2yr olds tearing the place up then I know not to waste my time. If it's days or weeks long stretches between activity then I know my odds of sitting over it & getting a shot at a buck is pretty slim. But if every deer on the place gets funneled down into that one spot and it happens regularly, and during daylight, then I have reasonable expectation of getting a shot. I've just learned 4 places to not waste my time and 1 place where I should focus on.

Further yet, each specific cam location will be active at certain times of the season and that pattern repeats season after season. Case in point I see buck after buck cruising the same line but I can't see a path, I'll hang a camera to see what's going on. It's a rut path and it gets used only certain times each year, but it'll be the same times every year. With perennial camera intel I can pinpoint a few day span where my chances of a mature buck walking that line will be very high. The other 360 days out of the year there may not be a single deer take that path. It's uncanny. But it actually works that way. I never had any clue, and there's no reasonable scouting I could have ever done that could have given me that edge. Cams were the only way.
 

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