abrown

Should of, could of, would of... you just learn and keep going. Maybe he lived to give your friend a chance at a bigger one later! The biggest buck I have ever shot was looking right at me! So to say it's a poor choice, well we don't have a choice at the shots we get, we just seize the opportunities when we do. That's why we practice! I'm still learning too.

Collars or no collars? If they have collars, I'd get down and grab em, take em back to the owners, if not, then I know what I'd do here, but your laws sound like there different. Probably did the best thing by just leaving them alone.

Hey guys, reporting in, I haven't abandoned yall. Been hitting KS pretty hard, I've seen alot of young bucks, but only a couple of machure ones. I shot a 9 pointer, but hit him too high, and the opposite shoulder stoped the arrow, found a little blood, no arrow, so I'm hoping he made it!! Had a NICE 8 coming into a grunt and rattle, then the dang deer feeder went off!

Diddo, the birds will usually sit tighter when your pushing them into the wind. Also, cat tails and reeds, I usually always flush birds around or in them. Guess it's the water!

YES, started a couple years ago. LOVE EM!

I have no problem with it, if it's done legally! It's not allowed here. I have a friend that farms in SC, he told me he was raised running dogs, but it wasn't until he started using a climbing stand did he REALLY start having luck. SO, again, please tell me how letting the dog run the deer and shooting them with buckshot is a sound managment practice? BTW, I have coon hunted quite abit, after deer season is closed! Coon hunting you go to the dogs, the dogs don't come to you, SO I highly doubt hunting deer with dogs is harder! Have you EVER climbed a big oak tree with a 22 revolver trying to kick a coon out? P.S. I'll challenge any dog hunter as to the quality of deer you shoot to the quality of deer that I shoot out of stand on a 160 acres!

Sounds good, let us know how the decoy works out! I have the same set up, but no decoy, and it's still early here to be using estrus doe scent.

LOL, I'd like to know the history behind it! I agree with ya, but just don't care! When you go to school and major in this stuff, then you get out and get a job, and get to talk to all kinds of hunters, you find out quickly there's hunters' w/$$$ and there are hunters that just enjoy being out hunting. BIG difference, usually the hunters' with cash kind of talk down to ya, while the hunters that just enjoy being out will BS with ya.

Each hunter measures success their own way. A hunter that only gets the time to hunt a couple days out of the season might measure success in just harvesting one, on the other hand, I truly believe the more you hunt and time you put into it, along with putting more deer down, you don't measure success with kills, but with the quality of the 1 kill you do get. You also understand the only way your going to get that trophy is by passing up young deer. If that means that someone kills that young buck, maybe that'll mean as much to them as if I was to kill a Booner! I saw a young girl that killed a HECK of an 8 pointer last year on public land, one that NO ONE would pass up! Yet there was a hunter that made the comment to her, "Ya, that's a nice deer, I might have shot it"! It kind of makes you sick when people do or say stuff like that!

LOL, you say no one that works at Lowes usually know ANYTHING, well I can confirm. I worked at a Lowes for 3 months, and I couldn't answer half the questions that where given to me. The difference was, I told em, I really don't know the answer to it, but I'll sure get you one. Luckily we had a couple of guys that did, so I could get a good answer. I've also had ALOT people tell me that the customer service was pretty bad too. Sounds like I need to take you with me when I get a new vehicle, between you and my wife I could get a heck of deal!!!

I wouldn't say body size has everything. I think it's more the personality of the buck that dictates dominancy. If body size was the issue, then mulies would be spanking the whitetails, instead of how it actually is.

LOL, it's not about the record book. Sure that sets a foundation, but the more I hunt, the more it's about killing a machure animal. 75% of the problem is people are too woried about just killing something. To say that 90% of whitetail hunters could kill a machure mulie, couse or blacktail is dumb. They can't, that's proven if you look at the success rate the wildlife departments put out! I buy ofc elk tags in CO, 20% success rate on bowhunting! Now, please inform me how you get 90%? I'm pretty sure that's with draw results too! The point is HOW you hunt them! Again, inform me how many of you guys have taken machure animals off public lands with a bow?

I think it'd be cool, as long as their P&Y. I get a kick out of people who just hunt whitetails on private land. Try public land, and get a trophy quality animal! Not to mention each species you hunt, you have to hunt different! I guess not too many hunters get out of their "Comfort Zone". I've been hitting elk, I hope to eventually get mule deer, caribou, and hopefully moose! DIY!

Good choice of school. If they pulled the wheat frield out, did they turn it into CRP? I hunt a 160 CRP field in KS, bucks LOVE IT. The cover and bedding area. There were soy bean fields, they where half a mile and farther, shouldn't make a difference, they'll still hit em. Talk to the land owner, his friend done a deer count with the KS wildlife department, pretty well all the big bucks where on bean fields. Now that there cut, and colder weather has moved in, they should really start to move. If I was you, I'd be hunting cover. I'm not saying the oil field workers poach, but the traffic alone will push them into cover.

Good question, alot of variables. I really don't know what it would be. The area I hunt, the deer are moving pretty good. Only thing I know is there might be some ag fields their hitting, then hitting your feeder and cam on the way back to their beds? I had some bean fields, and not alot of bucks where hitting my feeder except after or before light. Now that they've cut them, I'm seeing more machure bucks migrating to thicker and more territorial areas. Unless the neighbor's have hunters that's leasing the boundary and their keeping the deer stirred up?

Speaking personally, Mr. Blanton and Al Krouse hunted on a ranch a good friend of mine managed. I was in Iraq, and later was handed a Thank You card from my friend with their signatures on it! I'm pretty ate up with hunting, people watch sports, I watch the hunting channels, YEAR ROUND, so getting that was better than getting a signature from Payton Manning!

I agree, most "Pro Hunters" have access to areas we'd only dream of, and how do you think you get that? Reputation and ALOT of $$$ I honestly believe if alot of hunters had the opportunities to hunt the places they hunt, we'd be able to harvest the quality of deer they do. I know they do put in ALOT of time in the stand, but it's also their JOB. As far as outfitters go, how do you consider it hunting when they tell you where and when to sit in a stand? I'm sure there are Pros that are good guys.

I had this one come in, and ended up getting into it with a bigger 8. Decided to be little picky when you know there's bigger ones in the area!

Being friends and neighbors to a gamewarden, you don't shoot a dog then go around and run your mouth, with that being said, dogs that run free, regardless, it's the owner's responsability to keep tabs on their dog. By NO MEANS do I agree with just shooting ANY dog that walks by, you NEVER know who's coon dog or cow dog it is, but by looking at the breed you should have a good idea whether or not to shoot it. A little common sense goes a LONG WAYS. I have friend in South Carolina that owns lands, he told me that the hunters will release dogs on one road then drive to the next and wait for the deer to come by, letting the dogs chase deer off his land into the road right of way. That's a SORRY way of tresspassing by letting the dogs do the dirty work! Cats on the other hand, well if it's within range it's down. Cats have NO regard to our native bird populations and will put a hurting on quail and pheasant!

What are the local laws pertaining to your own land? If you have a pet, is it not your responsability to keep track of him? Why should wildlife or calves pay for the lack of responsability of the pet owner? Although I was hunting several years ago and had two collared pointer pups come running by, I gathered em up and found the owner. There's a LONG line of What if's. Aggressive or not, big or little, collared or not. Alot to take into account.

Trophy Taker drop away, smack down, and regular pronghorn.

I had the same thing on one of the capes I caped out, the taxidermist said it was actually common, that they rub it off on their antlers, and that it was no big deal, and it doesn't show on mounts.

Congrads! That's a stud, and a HOG. One good thing about shooting him this early, you'll get some good vidals out of him! He has a pretty cape too. I've started measuring and caping all the bucks I shoot, and giving them to the taxidermist. Takes the price down a little when you do down one worth mounting.

How about this one? I honestly don't know, I just figure he's atleat a 3.5, probably closer to 4.5.

I'm not saying people can't age deer, it just seems like EVERYONE can now that they watch TV, and listen to biologist talk. It's good that the community is getting more and more educated on wildlife management! The more educated the better. I was working the Kansas State Fair a couple weeks ago, and there was a PETA booth, I about fell down laughing. Your in a place where the fashion statement is CAMO, and you have a booth! Where do they think wildlife and parks get their funding! Pittman Robertson, license, not to mention the biologist that go to school to do it. Guess what I was trying to say, is it's just good regardless, that more and more people are getting involved.