I've hunted long enough to remember when seeing a single deer was an event. In 1977 my dad was lucky enough to shoot three deer-those were the only deer he saw the whole year. I started hunting with him in 79 and I think I saw two deer that year. In 1980 I took my first deer (a doe by herself) and took another doe later that year from a group of four. The rest of the time I didn't see anything.

I certainly don't want to go back to those days but I think there is a balance to be found.

Hunted a 100 acres between Brady and Llano for over 20 years and saw 20-30 at times per sit. In that 20 years I never once saw a buck that would score over 120 and even when we started using cameras we only ever had one "shooter" (5.5+ years old and 140+ score) on camera.

I still hunt this place to shoot a doe or two or to let kids get a chance to see a lot of deer or shoot their first deer.

Personally, I'll take the place where I'll see less deer but have the chance to shoot a mature buck.

Quantity for sure

I like to see deer. I spent too many years hunting swamp land where you see deer maybe twice a year

So what you're saying is all those who hunt in these areas and spend a small fortune on corn and feeders are just wasting their money? We both know better.

It really depends on where I hunt. Most of the time I just like seeing animals. But if in Colorado or New Mexico I like to see less and maybe a large one.

Last year was my first trip to Texas. I had to hunt my [censored] off to be successful. I saw one shooter the first four days and I passed on him. I ended up taking a buck on my second to last hunt. Of course, the morning after I saw the two bucks I had been hunting after I already harvested my buck. Lesson learned, hold out even if it means not harvesting a deer. The buck you are hunting might come out the last minute of the last hunt. I was happy with the 9 point but the two bucks I was hunting were much better.

I like seeing deer, even the doe but I don't shoot all I see.

It really depends on where and what I am hunting. If I am hunting a particular buck during archery season then I do not want to see but one deer or very few deer. Lot less eyes. If I am hunting during the pre-rut or into the rut then I want a lot of doe/bucks around to draw in a mature buck.

To bad deer only eat from feeders and food plots. How on earth would the deer ever survive without a feeder or food plot.

I've killed several deer hunting over trails or small clearings.

Take a drive in the evenings in the hill country and you'll see plenty of deer grazing off in pastures with no feeders in sight.


This isn't 1974 the population in Texas are at historic highs. If your not seeing deer they are just concentrated somewhere else or your hunting mediocre country

Easiest way to kill one on some places is to get away from the feeders.

Not at all. I'm pretty much just saying you're FOS. And I'm right.

Rancher is right on the money. When I was a kid growing up we usually walk and hunted or found a good tree near some trails and climbed up and sit till dark. If we hunted South Texas it was walk and hunt.

My feeder in East Texas has been slinging corn for about 3 months and I've seen ONE deer at it. A trail I cut through a thicket has deer traveling it multiple times a day and it's less than 100 yards from my feeder.

We all know feeders and corn don't always equal deer

Hunting is fantastic over a feeder in the hill country right until acorns drop. After that your feeders might as well be throwing gravel.

Feeders are a great tool but not an end all be all.

Of all the animals I have on my wall only one was shot under a feeder, and it was a protein feeder not a corn feeder, that buck wouldn't touch the corn

Should have made this a poll. I'm in the quality camp.

I also notice after we shred roads and senderos that the deer tracks seem to appear out of nowhere. They like walking down clean open paths as much as we do.

Can only comment on my experiance in hopkins co.and i will say hands down i prefer more deer. Before the ar rules and regs [bag limits] i would see several deer at a sitting. mostly does and small bucks with the occasional good buck.Now after several years im lucky to see a deer but i have seen better bucks. Now that i have seen both worlds will take seeing more deer over bigger bucks any day.Dont need to kill a deer anymore for meat but last year i sat a week without seeing any deer at all and that gets boring as heck. Now i did get a nice 10pt after thanksgiving but was also the ONLY buck i saw all season.

I am no doubt in the minority, but I can sit in a deer stand all morning and see few or even no deer and be happy...but if I aint catchin a fish every 5 minutes, I'm out.

having done both, I would want quality and management over quantity. I have shot far more does and management deer than I have quality bucks. and far more does than bucks period. I like to kill a deer or so and have meat, but I would rather see bucks grow to maturity than see them shot young. its a little slow on the days you see nothing in the blind, but I also do not like to see deer flock to a corn feeder because they are near starving. usually where you have such high concentrations the herd is hungry and out of balance. as much as I like to see them, I do not like to see them like that.

as a younger person hunting in the hill country and looking at tons and tons and tons of does and younger bucks. I shot a LOT of does. for a beginning hunting this is good. a lot of practice lining up a shot on an animal and making a shot from the stand. for training young hunters as I will be when my boys get a little older lots of shot opportunity is a good thing. there doesn't have to be an out of balance deer population though to create shot opportunity. on our place there's amply opportunity to harvest deer along with plenty of hogs and javelina to exercise ones trigger finger.

the dry years when I hunted the hill country I'd have deer coming out of the brush to corn before I'd even gotten in the blind. all told I'd see 30+ deer in a sit majority does. and they were so hungry I could have filled all 5 of my tags in one sit. the deer wouldnt' even run off when you shot. I'd fill all 5 tags on does that weighed 50-60lbs and wouldn't even put a dent in them.

Quality... I have always enjoyed the pursuit of a single deer. However I pursue multiple single deer a year and enjoy the company of sharing the woods with any wild critter coming by.

Excellent reply! Big racks are nice, but not worth trying to cook. Just being in the woods is the best part of hunting. Sausage is a bonus.

Actually they also like to be able to eat closer to the ground where most of the smaller weeds and such are. Also probably like here they like to be able to see what is around them. I know my Ibex don't like tall stuff. I have to do a lot of shredding if the weeds or grass gets too tall.