I have sort of the same problem but when you can see a young basket rack 8 pt hanging in someone's camp and you are trying to all achieve the same goal of larger bucks, it is hard to not try to get the message across. Good luck!

I don't think it is so much about an over zealous "management minded" person as it is about someone coming onto his place and telling him what or how it will be. Perhaps calling my wife something less than a virtuous woman would generate more fury in me than someone coming onto the place I pay taxes on and telling me what will or won't happen, but not much else. Dang, I wish I hadn't clicked on the thread, I mad for the man and I don't even know him.

That is a righteous anger my friend. You paddle your boat and let your "neighbor" paddle his.

Our deer hunting lease, our deer hunting rules,
which is the TP&W's deer hunting rules for our county.
The End

There was a way to say essentially the same thing that would have improved your neighbor relations instead of poisoning them. Unfortunately your neighbor didn't choose that way.

He could have handled it better. Said several of your neighbors were doing such and so and asking if you'd be willing to join in the effort.

I keep commenting on this thread 'cause I don't blow off arrogance very well. I understand the OP's frustration. I have one neighbor that's a very humble, polite man and I'm very thankful for him. Most neighbors want something for themselves when they approach you and are nowhere to be found when you really need something. One surgeon neighbor has told me I should lease the grazing rights to the guy he leases to, and, when he was building his house right on our fence line, actually expected me to let his dozer operator come on my place and shape the field to his preferences. Some people have a painful lack of perspective.

I wonder how many folks that are in the "my lease, my rules, go jump off a cliff and die" would also be the same types that would wail and moan if they found out their neighbors weren't management minded at all and blasted every set of horns they saw.

Because ultimately, that will impact you. It may take a season or two, but it will eventually trickle down to you and what you will see in terms of numbers, age, and quality. Just a thought.

And I've never understood the "shoot does in December/Jan" argument personally. Seems to me that you are likely shooting a bred doe if you wait that long, which impacts your numbers the following year. Seems that taking your doe in November, then spending the rest of the season hunting for the nice buck and taking the mythical 2.5 year old spike out of the herd is a better management strategy.

X2

So how do you feel about that in the future TPWS would come out to every ones lease and tell them which deer you can and can not take. They seem to know everything about game management as well as some on here.

.....said my piece!



They're gettin' real close to this now....

Private land public resource.

Management gets tricky

At least it's not draw or issued tags

I was watching a hunting show the other day. It was a dad and his 8 year old daughter. A very young small 4 point walked out and she shot it. Put a smile on my face.

That would have made me smile too

The neighbor handled it wrong obviously. But there are areas where neighbors willingly band together and put some limits on what is shot, etc. in an effort to improve the quality of the deer herd. My brother in law has 70 acres near Brownwood and my young nephew likes to hunt there. Problem is they rarely see any deer because they are surrounded by other small acreage folks who kill anything that walks no matter the age or size.

A landowner certainly has the right to shoot anything they want on their property as long as it is within the law. But shooting yearling bucks is not something I would feel good about personally.

You missed your chance in my opinion. Should have agreed with him "Absolutely, but what is your idea of a shooter buck?" If he says 5 years old, jump his [censored] and say at least 6. If he says 16 inches you say 20. Mature 8 pointer, WE never shoot anything less than 10...

Turn it around a tell him not to shoot those dinks. Then go do whatever the hell you were going to do anyway.

And you know, we have had people come on here and complain up one side and down the other that their neighbors are ruining the hunting for everyone because the neighbors are not good deer stewards or land stewards.



Interesting consideration. When you have two chest beating hunters with equal authority on different properties, one who is trying to tell the other how to manage and one who isn't about to be told how to manage, then you have an impasse and eventually butt hurt complainers. So, would you rather be mad at your neighbor or the TPWD and be able to commiserate with your neighbor about TPWD?

Im just happy on the property I hunt, my fellow hunters really don't get into each others business. Ive been asked my opinion and I respond, if the deer excites you, by all means you should take it. If you are on the fence, let it walk.

I dont want any drama. I dont want any hunter on the property to feel afraid to bring their deer to camp. I will congrat any harvest as if its a state record. You know what Ive discovered? Generally the other hunters respect my area, my equipment and are friendly. They know I respect thier decision and they respect mine. Its a very friendly deer camp.

One mans trash is another mans trophy. Remember not everyone has been hunting as long as you. And most important, you cant eat horns

I have no problem with that personally - I believe in the "to each his own" philosophy. However the other side of the coin from your camp is one like I am in where the hunters prefer strict management and want to produce as much as the ranch can produce. So we do have limits on what deer can be shot - age is the main consideration. As a result, we have hunters who go some seasons at times without taking a trophy buck (they may shoot culls, does, management deer) but are very selective when it comes to a trophy. Everyone buys into it and it is a group effort and the results have been impressive with deer on a low fence ranch being taken in the 160's over 200 inches.

So neither way is right or wrong - it depends on the goals of each hunter and each lease or landowner.

It would have put a smile on my face too. I think most anybody is able to agree that the rules, whatever they may be, generally are a lot more relaxed when young kids are involved. And for good reason - you want the kid to experience some level of success so that [hopefully] they take a liking to the past time of hunting.

If thats whatyou want to do at your canp thats fine. Just don't go to your neighbors and try to force them on your rules. If you came to our camp with demands, you'd be told to leave the property or the sheriff would be called. Thats the whole point to this thread. Someone else going to another property owner telling them what they can shoot on their own land.

I stated in my first post that the neighbor was wrong to have told the OP that. Your post was specifically about how you run your camp and mine was about how we run ours. No argument

The ones that slay me are the guys loading up their 14" 2.5yr old 8pt, then you hear them at lunch at the café 'Man, there aren't any good bucks around here'....

To be fair, I didn't read the OP's post as though the neighbor came over making demands that the OP fall in line or else. Sounds to me like it could very well be a case of the neighbor making a comment in hopes that the OP would be open to listening, and the OP got defensive real quick.

Or it could have been a piss poor delivery method by the neighbor. But based on many of the responses on this thread, I'm betting that even a good delivery would likely cause many people to bristle instantly, regardless of the discussion - simply because many people don't like the idea of possibly doing something a different way than what they are used to.

Sounds like neither one of you have a right to say what the other can do on their own place. I don't seen any harm in a neighbor wanting to talk to you about what he is doing on his property and I agree with you that he doesn't have a right to make you hunt any particular way your place. I would say he's welcome to say whatever he wants, but his approach could have been a lot better, that's for sure. Either one of you is entitled to your own opinion.