Not an exceptional year for us

LF ranch - the six year olds were not to be found - the drought from 5-6 years ago hurt us - all these guys were 7 or older. We have some great 4-5 year olds coming - the last buck pictured is one we shot but never found - we ended our season today

I'd be more than happy with any of those deer.

No S%&% !!

If I ever hunt on a place where that isn't an "exceptional year," I'll consider myself a very lucky hunter. But, I know that y'all have, through a great management plan, created one helluva a hunting property. I'm very impressed every time you post photos of y'all's deer.

It's a shame y'all didn't find that last buck, he's very unique. Are you pretty sure he's dead?

Yes sucky year for y'all no trophy doe?

^^^ this

Great looking bucks. Congrats

ummmm........did I read the title wrong?

all these deer were in the 150s up to 170 - we typically take 6 year old and up bucks in the 170s-190s -

so it was still a nice year for us - just not what we typically take

we are lucky and spoiled for sure -

We've had a great year so far with 6 weeks to go. I'm surprised y'all aren't MLD.

Our great year is an average year for y'all so I don't feel sorry for y'all LOL!

Bet the next two years will be great!

man your a lucky dude!!!

we are MLD - we start mid Oct and stop mid Jan - three months is plenty to get things done plus our land owner gets tired! We took over 80 does and around 40 cull and management bucks off - plus lots of yotes and pigs - things look good for next few years if mother nature goes along with the program

Should've used Double Down...

not happening - lol

Great deer anyway! Looks like a great management program - the drought will take it's toll but good to have "backup" deer like that!

No shortage of bucks on camera but very few in our sights. We saw more young deer and spikes this year than any of the previous 22 years.

no matter what you feed or cull at the end of the day Mother Nature rules -

Lol, this thread makes me feel like such an amateur!

Well done!

Dang good looking bucks to say the least! is it fair to ask what county you are hunting in?

Not an exceptional year for us but things are improving. Saw more bucks and doe than what we have seen in a while. The number of doe killed on our small 216 acres these last 3-4 years is down and I think that is one reason we are seeing more deer.

inwould be interested in a spot to lease if ever available

Excellent year to the vast majority. You guys are doing it right and it shows! Can't wait for next year as the age class should be solid.

We had the same issues on our place. Tons of outstanding young deer, a few middle-aged and a few more 6-7 year olds. The effects of the awful drought in STX 5-7 years ago has produced a gap in numbers within age classes and mature deer, which we knew it would. Kind of amazing how noticeable it is though. We feed and have plenty of water on the ranch.

Do yal feed protein? It seems odd to me any place that had feed and water available during the doubts would be out entire age classes. We are in southern Duval County and since 2007 we have been feeding free choice protein slinging corn and had water out year round and we have never seen a year where the doe didn't raise fawns and I believe even in the worst years even a few raised twins.

Yes, we feed protein. Unfortunately, I took over management of this property four years ago and it had been neglected for several years prior. We had fawn survival rates of -0- to about 30% for three straight years during that period. Protein won't hide those fawns from predators. Run down bucks, either.

It's been stated here many times, and I firmly believe that, no matter how much you pour out of a bag, a deer herd will never be at it's best without timely rains, lush cover and plenty of fresh forbs and browse.

Agreed. No doubt that it helps but you can't replace Mother Nature with a bag

tlk, as the fellas have said, your "poor year" bucks, are damn fine deer by most measures, now I can see why so many THF'rs took the ranch foreman up on them $50 day hunts out there when y'all was gone I always miss those good deals

Couldn't agree more, but it surely can prevent you from loosing a few age classes back to back.

we feed protein and have plenty of water - however our feeders are penned and fawns cannot access the feed. The fawn survival 5-6 years ago was very low - we did not take any does for a couple of seasons back then due to habitat being severely affected by drought. During the past 2 seasons the range conditions have been perfect and we started taking does again - took around 90 this year off of 9000 acres.

couple of the youngsters we have in the pipeline - 3-5 year olds

I posted some of those youngsters coming up

Amazing!! Always enjoy your photos!

Great deer. Top notch place. Thanks for sharing.