Buck hunting/No tresspassing

[horst]

I was just reading yet another post about people closing thier properties to hunting.And theres always posts about holding out for a buck, or letting does and small bucks walk while you wait for a big un.

I know theres a lotta reasons people post thier properties, a lot of it has to do with tresspassing and slob hunters.But I was curious how much of it also had to do with the buck only hunting attitude a lot of hunters have, or the quest for a big set of antlers most of us seem to be on.

Say a guy lets you into his place to hunt, maybe hes got to many deer, maybe thier doing crop damage, what ever the reason is they let you hunt.So you set up on thier place, and day after day you let small bucks, and all the does walk while waiting for a good buck.Now is that really doing the landowner any good?

So the guy sees you back there, never shooting a deer, you come out empty handed night after night.So he decides if hes gonna have trophy hunting on his place he might as well make some money at it.the next year he leases all his ground out to someone else at a price you cant afford.And another properties lost.

Just curious how often you think this happens, where people happily let hunters in to control the deer population and get disgusted with the lack of results they see?I know its not always possible to shoot a lot of does due to the number of tags you can get or for other reasons but I wonder if sometimes we dont kinda screw ourselves over with the trophy hunting mentality thats taking over deer hunting?

[need2hunt]

Re: Buck hunting/No tresspassing

Out of all the properties I've hunted I've only had one that was a farmer with a kinda "kill em all" attitude and he had this because of the crop damage. The problem is the only thing that there was to hunt was a very small pine grove in the middle of a cornfield. I did take every deer off of there that i could, unfortunately that was one. His real problem is there is private hunting refuge of a few thousand acres next to his place, you can drive be there and see literally hundres of deer in the evening, but they don't come over until after its dark and are gone before daylight. Would probably be a good shotgun spot but by all the stands it looks like a small army hangs out in the trees once that comes in.

Other than that all my other places are people that don't mind someone they can trust hunting the property and they don't allow any strangers or any one they don't know well hunt... usually it's just me with a guest and one other guy with a guest thats it. I've lost more spots to because of family disputes or property changing hands than any thing else.

If I get on a property where the farmer once the deer thinned out, I don't have a problem with that, I'll hunt the does and fill up my freezer and my friends freezer. I would probably still pass on smaller bucks in the early season with the hopes of getting a big boy during the rut but if the opportune time passes and no big boy I wouldn't have a problem filling my buck tag on a younger buck off of that perticular property.

[Doc]

Re: Buck hunting/No tresspassing

[ QUOTE ]

I wonder if sometimes we dont kinda screw ourselves over with the trophy hunting mentality thats taking over deer hunting?

[/ QUOTE ]

Horst-

I would imagine that the scenerio that you described does often screw us out of good hunting land. But let me explain how that same attitude can also screw bowhunters out of hunting seasons. In NY, Bowhunters are starting to be viewed as buck hunters.Those in charge of controlling the deer population are beginning to feel that they are not getting a big enough bang for their buck by letting bowhunters have all of the prime hunting times (pre-rut and rut) prior to firearms season. One change that is being proposed for next year is to dump a doe only, muzzleloader only, season right in the middle of the bowseason. The higher harvest of does has been given as one of the reasons for this change.

So yes, trophy hunting can cost us in more ways than one.

Doc

[billygoat]

Re: Buck hunting/No tresspassing

I have hunted a several farms in So. WI my whole life. I have never had to lease land and actually, could probably continue to hunt w/o leasing land for years to come, however, I have found some farms to be better hunting than others. Here is my rationale: Some farms I hunt, the owner lets numerous individuals on, others I hunt are very restricted. Most of the farms that are "unrestricted" seem to not have the quality of deer as that of those that are restricted, and I believe it is because not all individuals hold to the belief of trophy hunting, and indeed the owners want deer off of their properties. one farm in particular though offers a very open hunting policy... the farm is approximately 800 acres stretched over and broken up over a 2 mile stretch of land... among that 800 acres is a 140 lease property that seems to offer very health trophy hunting. I have never hunted the lease, I have however hunted the rest of the farm and have observed several shooter buck but have noticed a sharp decline on the number of does. Interestingly enough, on any given night I could drive by the lease and observe 10-20 doe in the field? It looks like I will get a chance to lease the property this next fall, and if I do, I think their will need to be a little doe management going into effect.

[carbonhunter]

Re: Buck hunting/No tresspassing

One property i hunt the landowners asks us to shoot a doe each before even looking at a buck, for that exact reason

[VTbowman]

Re: Buck hunting/No tresspassing

I let quite a few bow hunters and as many rifle hunters out there with me and I make it clear to shoot up the doe when legal.

Rifle season is a 1 deer (1 buck only) season.

Archery is a 2 tag season but I ask to help thin out the doe, but shoot a buck if given the opportuntiy to.

Which is rare.

Out of 4 bow hunters only 1 got a deer. A doe shot by me. One guy missed a doe with his recurve.

No bucks sighted at all by any of us.

Out of 4 rifle hunters one 1 got a buck (4 pointer). Me again... Many many doe sighted too, and 1 spike but way to far to shoot at.

In ML season 2 guys got 1 deer each. Button buck that was thought to of been a doe and an injured fawn doe. Not me on either this time. Both were legal.

Its tough up here to even see legal deer no less get close enough to thin them out.

[buckee]

Re: Buck hunting/No tresspassing

That's one of the reasons we have been taking does first, before we take our bucks, off of one of the farms I hunt.

The deer, especially the doe population, has really been getting up there in the last few years, so two years ago, I promised Don (the farmer) that we would each take a doe first. It has made him happy, and as long as he's happy, that's all that counts.

I also got one guy and his buddy, booted off the property this year. They were suppose to comply with the doe-first rule last year, but opted to take 2 bucks each and poached a third to boot. He along with his friend are gone, gone, bye, bye and we won't miss them.

I have been given complete control over who hunts the farm and who doesn't, as of this year. My hunting buddies and I, along with the farmer, decide what needs to be done over a period of time to keep the herd down in size and produce some quality bucks as well. It's a give and take situation. One for the farmer to control the herd and one of our choosing to please us. I like the arrangement.

[wtnhunt]

Re: Buck hunting/No tresspassing

Well Chris, the wife found out a lot about what is going on behind us in talking to a co worker who has permission to hunt one of the parcels of land back behind us. We never knew for sure who was hunting that particular parcel, but we always hear a lot of multiple shots during the deer seasons. Think that landowner has a total of about 150 acres of which part is farm land and from what this woman told my wife that landowner told them to kill EVERY deer they see . Unfortunatley these idiots are some of those who are wounding a lot of deer and my wife read the woman to almost be somewhat in a way boasting about how many deer they shoot or shoot at .

Now as a landowner I let someone, another member of these forums hunt here just this past Saturday. My wife and I met Ladydiehard and I was impressed with the way she went about asking permission and with how respectful she went about asking about everything. When asking what type of deer I allowed to be taken, I informed her mature does and mature bucks were open and she was very happy with that.

Think a big problem is that a lot of people never ask in the first place, or do not respect the wishes of those landowners who do open their land. Having problems with tresspassers kind of leaves landowners at least in my own situation not really feeling real comfortable about opening up their property to just anyone. It is a bit tough to know whether or not to trust someone to respect your wishes on your property especially nowadays. I can understand the reasons behind a landowner making rules and for more landowners closing their property due to people who show a lack of respect.