Rhino Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Spent last week trying to get ready for the season and ran our cameras for the 1st time this year. Needless to say, I'm very happy with the way our program is working in MO. Can't wait till the next pull when we're there for the opener. Here's the top 5 bucks we've caught on cameras so far. Ironically, we caught the 1st 3 bucks hitting the same mineral lick. It's safe to say we have a number of stands in the area, including new positions after checking that memory card. This 1st buck is one I have a lot of history with. Passed him as a 3.5 year old in 2012. Saw him twice last year and have many pics of him during the past 2 years. This 2nd buck is one that shook me up last year. Cruised through on a trail ~55 yards away so no shot opportunity. He's added a kicker this year. He's also the running buddy of the 1st buck. I'm not sure if I can match up this 3rd buck with any prior year's buck pics. Never seen him before either. Nice surprise. Have to use 3 pics with all the extra kickers this main frame 5x6 has. These last 2 bucks make up our top 5 so far. Initially, we caught the 5th buck on a different mineral lick than the 4th buck. They both showed up at the mineral lick were we caught them together as running buddies. The 2 mineral licks are ~3/4 mile apart. The 3rd pic below are these 2 bucks grooming each other. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smha6784 Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 man do you ever have some nice deer there. makes ms deer look like dwarfs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Great deer Al. That 3rd buck has my what if button lighting up with all those small kickers and not much mass, but his body is 5.5 on the pictures. The heavy 8 is a beauty along with that 4th buck. I'm sure the next pull will result in a few new boys showing up once that velvet drops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Looks like the makings of a great season Al. Some real nice bucks. Sure you will have a couple more that are not on the list, yet. What kind of age structure does MO harvest data support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted August 26, 2014 Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 Great prospects! Good luck this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted August 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) Looks like the makings of a great season Al. Some real nice bucks. Sure you will have a couple more that are not on the list, yet. What kind of age structure does MO harvest data support? William...This part of MO is in the antler restriction area where bucks must have 4 points on a side to be legal. What I believe is making our plan appear to work so well going into our 4th season are a number of things. Word got around early and fast that we were serious about trespassers filing charges against 2. A neighbor living within sight of our lodge keeps a close eye on the place. The genetics are good in the area. We made the decision not to deer hunt it the 1st year to let them grow and get used to there being a lack of hunting pressure on our place. Essentially we control the centralized agricultural land within the contiguous wooded area in and around us. Along with beans and corn as feeding options during the antler growing season, we have some areas planted in winter forage so they'll have a chance to come into the spring in good condition. We have a few great neighbors with the same goal. What's the goal? Simply to allow bucks to grow to maturity. One of those neighbors is the largest landowner next to us in the area. Our neighbors properties are more CRP & WRP than timber and they have no crop land. We own ~1,350 ac. that gets very light hunting pressure and all total those of us on the same plan control about 2,700 contiguous acres. Their property gets very light hunting pressure too and...they don't bowhunt. My buddy and I happen to be the only serious bowhunters in area. My son, his youngest son, and a few close friends occasionally hunt with us. It's very rare for any of us to see another bowhunter around us. Hunters come out for the gun season but the gun season is only 11 days long and gun hunters get 1 buck tag. The 2 largest neighbors owning land bordering us only allow their sons to hunt on their property with them. One owns other land that's not anywhere close to us so he and his 2 sons are just as likely to tag out somewhere else than on his land bordering us. Essentially there's only a limited number of bucks that can legally be killed in the area so they have a much greater chance to mature than usual. Last year 4 bucks were killed on that 2,700 ac. and during the 2012 season 5 bucks were killed on it but that's excluding ~450 ac. we bought in Dec. 2012. Oh...1 more thing...we only use Polaris EV's (all electric) going to and from hunting so the deer never hear ATV's running around and in our property. Edited August 26, 2014 by Rhino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maine Hntr Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 Yeah yeah yeah, we get it you've got great deer Al! Just kidfing , boy am I jealous, that's quite the list but it obviously doesn't come without a lot of hard work, congrats to what you're doing and good luck this fall, I'll sure be watching for your posts! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 Was really asking about the state management Al and how it has impacted the age structure. Awesome you have the neighbors cooperation with your management plans. Always figured a square mile of well managed ground here could potentially grow trophy class deer but our state despite their claims just won't get onboard. Latest publication some authority is schooling readers on carrying capacity and suggesting Tn age class of bucks harvested is right there with Illinois and Iowa. Suggested the lack of trophy class deer here is not age structure related. Interesting really with all the agriculture in this state and big buck states bordering Tn to the north. Must have been more than just me that wrote the state about the liberal limits impact, surely that publication is not a result solely of my most recent letter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 Can I go hunting with you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted August 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 Was really asking about the state management Al and how it has impacted the age structure. William...I don't think MO's AR's in the N 1/2 of the state help the age structure much at all. Almost all of the 2.5 year old bucks we get on cams have 4 points on 1 side. A fair number of 1.5 year old bucks do too. I've got an obvious 1.5 year old buck on cams this year that's a basket rack typical 10 point. In north MO we basically have the same genetics that Iowa has in the area where they're so famous for growing big rack bucks. The only difference is MO's gun season usually opens during the peak of the rut while Iowa's doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 Al, you sure know how to make a guy drool!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted August 29, 2014 Report Share Posted August 29, 2014 Great looking deer you're growing Al, hope you guys have a great season up there this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 Glad you are on my team this year! :jaw: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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