I think it comes down to as you age and change as a hunter you want different things. You need to hunt amongst people who are in the same stage as you.

Like any guy I like a big high scoring buck, but I'm happy to shoot a good solid 8pt too. I do like to strive for mature deer, but shoot does with little regard for age and culls at whatever age we identify them as such and are able to get them. They are culls, but they are as fun as anything to me. To me the management just adds more to it, it doesn't take it away. I see some of the deer that we are letting get older and it gets my heart pounding etc. just seeing them I don't have to shoot them, but hopefully one day me or my dad or brother or one of our kids will.

a trophy is what you make of it. i've killed a bunch of "trophy" does and pencil racks

I know of a ranch in south texas. 5k acre not crowded and they kill some big deer. Price isn't bad either

Rule is you have to video a buck you want to shoot and take it back and review it with the lease boss before you get the go ahead


Forget that noise I'd rather kill deer at will

'...that.

Yeah no joke, that's shopping at IKEA like IMO.

Yeah I’m out on that. Lol I’m only going to see one I want once - if I’m lucky. Can’t relate to that “video and show it to the lease boss” mess.

I've heard about that happening on a lease a relative was on, and the lease manager ended up killing the deer after being shown the video.
The lease manager became the ex lease manager shortly afterward but for other reasons.

Yep, I would suspect it's more about a power trip and "right of first refusal" than any true management goal. The goal there is "me first". Makes me appreciate the guys on my lease.

My "heyday" is located in Central Texas and is still going and betting better.

Back in the first half of 1900, most folks still hunted for meat.
As refrigerators started showing up, there was a shift in meat consumption from wild to domestic raised meat.
The true hunters continued to hunt.

When hunting in the 60's, the deer population was down from hunting but showing signs of recovery.
They were still few and far between - you might go the entire season only seeing tracks.
The deer were extremely wary from being hunted for centuries and would bolt instantly.

Between then and now, folks started moving out of the cities and spreading into the country.
More and more farms and ranches were converted to wildlife management.
Feeding the birdies and wildlife became a way of life.
Since they feed them, they become pets and not targets and the deer adapted and thrived.
And got a lot less wary and much more tolerant of people.

This has increased the deer population exponentially in this area.
Along with more deer comes better deer up to a point before they reach saturation.
It seems like we are almost to the point that they need to increase bag limit.

In the 60's, you might see a deer track so you knew they were in the area.
Today, I have them sleeping in my yard and built a high fence to keep them out of the garden.
You simply can't grow a Jalapeno in the open around here as they seem to have a weakness for them...leaves, peppers, stalks and ALL!

While everybody is feeding the deer, I have seen an increase in the turkeys and my favorite target, pigs!!
Now if we could do something with the fireants so Quail would return.

been at it now for around sixty years - you could apply the changes in deer hunting to anything else in life over that many years - things change - some for the good and some for the bad- welcome to life

I do not hunt like I did when I was a teenager but then again I was hunting 100 inch 8 points. Now I hunt differently but I hunt deer pushing 200 inches on LF ranch - I miss some of the old days and other things I do not miss.

As long as it is fair chase and legal then I am all for progress - Why? Because you nor I can stop it

Obviously, it’s STX, no real woods.

I enjoy bringing my kids more than hunting alone.

I don't think that my "heyday" has passed already, I hunt pretty much every single day during deer season and I used to not be able to. I killed my first deer at age 7 outside of Albany, Tx with a open sight .30-30, crazy amount of deer around there in the early 90's.

Hunting has been my passion in life since then and there is no way I could only drive out on the weekends/holidays to be in the woods, I enjoy it too much. Some people in my family say I'm obsessed but I don't care, it's what keeps me going.

My passion has changed somewhat. I love to hunt I love the deer. I have been fortunate to hunt the world over. I bow hunt and love the outdoors. This past few weeks I have had the chance to help my daughter get her first deer as well as my nephew. their excitement is pure and not caught up in anything buy pure hunting joy. I felt like I was 7 again. that is my future in hunting and will get me excited again.

You must be of those guys who wants to get patted on the back because you killed a deer in east Texas.

I don't want any pats on the back, but videoing a deer and then knowing you can kill it later ain't gonna happen on my place in east TX. Period. It don't work that way and ain't never gonna work that way. The first time you see a mature buck is very, very likely the last time you will see him.

All the talk I see on here about "herd history", photos of bucks that are later shot, "letting the herd age/knowing your herd", and basically all manner of other stuff where mature bucks are known like cattle and can be shopped for like groceries is all foreign to me. I have trail cam photos of deer I have and will likely never see. I see mature bucks that I do not have a single trail camera pic of and have never laid eyes on every year. There are a few that hang around enough to get familiar with from year to year (through TC pics), but very few. Even those you may not see but once a year - if you see them at all. I have owned the place for almost 15 years and my family hunts it exclusively.

East TX is a different world than most everywhere else in TX - in almost every respect.

I like it that way BTW....

NOPE.

Done with my kids....soon to be working on the grandkids......

We've got a large LF place in the western hill country. I do get some repeat older bucks on cameras and at feeders, but by and large if you see a big old deer (over 5), you damn well better shoot him and fast. You very well may not ever have any sort of shot at him again, or ever see him again on foot or camera. The idea that you could videotape him, take it back for people to discuss, then go back and check him out (as in the grocery store) is nowhere near our reality.

One of the places I hunt is a LF place and around 6500 acres of leased land. Almost every deer that is shot, I have a tc picture of or have seen in person. There are a few exceptions. Most the pictures come from one of 5 stands scattered across the property.

Typically, I can go back and find the deer from the previous years also.

I would never personally hunt a place that I had to get video approval prior to pulling the trigger, but I truly enjoy watching progression from year to year and everything that I can learn from those deer.

Usually, when someone shoots a mature buck, I've got it on camera. But not always. And sometimes it's just a pic or two in the middle of the night from a different place. And there's dang sure no certainty you'll go back out and find him again.

I do not think this is because neighbors shoot them necessarily. It's just a wild place, and we don't tend to see the big boys unless they're chasing a doe and getting dumb. Rarely would we have a mature buck habituated to a feeder. I don't know why.

But that wildness/mystery of what might or might not show up is a big part of what makes it fun for me. I would not enjoy it nearly as much if I knew with a reasonable level of certainty what was going to show up at a feeder.

As answer to the question, to me the wildness/mystery of the outdoors is what really makes it fun. I am not as much in my heyday as when I was hunting huge LF places with my grandfather. But I also haven't lost it. I try to keep it together as much as I can for kids and friends. While I do want to take good care of the herd, I also don't want to put a bunch of rules on it that take the mystery and fun out of it. Some people (especially youngsters and new hunters) need to be able to shoot deer and have fun.

+1000 on the “wildness and mystery” on what is out there and might show up.

Deer being known so well they are something awfully akin to livestock is not something I would ever want to be a part of. It has apparently become almost the rule rather than the exception from a lot of the stuff I read on here.

I’m glad I hunt where it’s not possible even if one wanted it to be.

Just making the most of the IKEA reference.

On 200 acres, there is a lot of unknowns. On 10k acres, they pretty much live on you.

Knowing your deer is not akin to livestock...smh...