He'll be good in a couple of years!

[txrdkng]

Been rifle hunting for many years all around Texas but mostly out of Uvalde, Menard and Killeen. Just recently picked up bow hunting. Every lease I have been on have had good management-minded hunters. We feed protein during antler growing season, spend a lot of time scouting good stand placement, put in the hours during season. And every year we have about the same results...lots of younger/smaller bucks with several 3.5 year old fair sized eights. We try to employ a minimum kill age of 4.5 but rarely if ever see deer this old. All leases have been low fenced, plenty of acerage, good cover, etc. We talk to our neighbors and see their results and as far as we have seen they are not indiscriminately shooting all the young deer. So...what we have been experiencing is year in and year out "saw a nice eight this morning, 3.5, should be good in a year or two" and the game pole stays barren.

I am starting to think we watch way too many hunting shows that only show the good ones being taken after countless hours of hunting by those who do it for a living. We have become too enamored by shooting big older deer that never materialize. We have let many 3.5 yr. olds walk that hunters I know would be proud to let hang in their man cave.

Thoughts? And "be patient" is good advice but quite frankly that is wearing thin. Thanks.

[dangerous dan]

On Public Land and my lease a 3.5yo is definatly a shooter

[GPBradshaw]

On Public Land and my lease a 3.5yo is definatly a shooter

Second this.


Paul

[txrdkng]

Anyone else?

[yazoomike]

Just a thought, but if you are primarily a feeder hunter maybe get on a trail away from feeder closer to bedding areas. Sometimes what you might think is not much pressure is enough to keep the more mature bucks away during daylight hours, especially with the rainfall resulting in plenty to eat this year. Rethink the way you hunt. Good luck.

[big_smith]

When we got on our current lease, we set some rules about shooting younger bucks. We also aggressively harvested does, and kept feed out year round. For 4 years all I killed was does. There were three bucks killed the first year, by other hunters, with only one meeting the harvest guidlines. I imposed a fine for anyone taking a buck not falling within the harvest guidlines and we went the next 3 years without killing a buck at all. Tough times for sure, as no one wants to pay for a doe lease. After 4 years we started to see legitimate results. We killed 3 P&Y bucks, and a management buck that year. Every year since then we have killed at least one or 2 P&Y bucks. My bud and I took the lease over ourselves so there are only two paid hunters on the place now. Our wives and kids hunt, but are limited in what they can shoot. We are very descriminating when it comes to harvest and we have numerous game cam photos that we scrutinize to make sure the buck will meet harvest minimums. It just takes time. If you don't have a long term lease, it might be hard to ever get there.