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The worst part about trail-cameras

TheLBLman said:
Every option has its trade-offs.
Be careful for what you wish.
That green grass in KY may turn brown if you plant it in TN.
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Wise words!

If you want to improve conditions locally, do so with your management. But asking for the State to do it for you through regulation can have VERY negative consequences.
 
BSK said:
I never discount the role of localized genetics in antler development. However, in most instances where I see a high percentage of mature bucks with 6 or fewer points, the problem is high-grading of the middle-aged buck population. I have a club client that for many years had a 2 1/2 year-old buck harvest rule. This meant the very best 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year-old were shot ever year. The bottom end middle-aged bucks were not killed. What this produced was a lot of mature bucks with 6 or fewer points. In fact, the first photo census I ran for them found 25% of all their mature bucks had 6 or fewer points, and only 19% had 9 or more points. Looking at data from nearby clients, I found most well-managed properties in the region with similar habitat had 35-50% mature bucks with 9 or more points. So it wasn't the habitat. We began a program where I produced a photo list of middle-aged bucks to protect. They were the top-end middle-aged bucks, basically 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year-old bucks with 9 or more points. The club made copies of these trail-cam photos and hung them in every shooting house - basically an ABSOLUTELY DO NOT SHOOT list. In just two years were decreased the percentage of mature bucks with 6 or fewer points from 25% to 0%. And now, 5 years into the program, 44% of mature bucks have 9 or more points, and even 27% of 3 1/2 year-old bucks have 9 or more points (it had been 5% at the beginning of the program).
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Wish there was a "Love" button.
 
BSK said:
Wise words!

If you want to improve conditions locally, do so with your management. But asking for the State to do it for you through regulation can have VERY negative consequences.
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Over the past 8 years of living here, our nieghbors patterns have changed quite a bit. Hunting pressure has increased, and I have one neighbor that shot every single buck my wife passed last year, they were all 2.5 yo bucks, one tons of potential but broken off at the main beam on the left side. Wife was pretty discouraged.

Needless to say, we haven't seen much at all this year >2.5yo.

Thats the limitation of small parcels I guess. Now with 3+ buck tags available to everyone in unit CWD, I am expecting that the days of "imagine what he'll be next year" are mostly gone.

My hope is that we will have a chance at a mature buck late January when our summer bucks come back home - hoping they have been off somewhere where the hunting pressure is lower.

As a result though we have changed our whole perception of what makes us happy on this property.
 
DeerCamp said:
Over the past 8 years of living here, our nieghbors patterns have changed quite a bit. Hunting pressure has increased, and I have one neighbor that shot every single buck my wife passed last year, they were all 2.5 yo bucks, one tons of potential but broken off at the main beam on the left side. Wife was pretty discouraged.

Needless to say, we haven't seen much at all this year >2.5yo.

Thats the limitation of small parcels I guess. Now with 3+ buck tags available to everyone in unit CWD, I am expecting that the days of "imagine what he'll be next year" are mostly gone.

My hope is that we will have a chance at a mature buck late January when our summer bucks come back home - hoping they have been off somewhere where the hunting pressure is lower.

As a result though we have changed our whole perception of what makes us happy on this property.
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Man, you've got terrible neighbors. 😂
 


ORRRRRRR getting this phone ding going over the Ohio river on your farm in Tennessee when you knew you should've been up there and went north the next day. Scrape there and a stand in the large tree on the left. Big deer for the area. Chip shot.. :rolleyes:
 
JN said:
I love having cameras out but this is one thing that can be disheartening or when you have been getting pictures of deer at a place all week just to go on Saturday and not see a one. Makes you wonder if the deer scented you while going in or if you did something to give them a heads up your in the area.
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I believe they hear the sound of our truck going down the road or they smell what we had for breakfast. The approach to the stand certainly matters too. Saturdays are especially bad because weekenders all hunt on Saturday and deer notice the extra traffic. Basically they notice everything all the time!
 

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