What it actually is defines the reason why so many land owners are now high fencing their land. Everyone has a right to kill as many deer as the law allows. Just so I have this clear you would support people hunting next to you, you have let’s say 1000 acres, and your land is surrounded by 20 acre parcels, and you would support each land owner killing 20 deer per parcel? It would not bother you in the least and you would not do anything to address it because hey, they all did it legally?

Just because somethings legal doesn’t make it right. But then it definitely looks like you and I simply have different beliefs...great country isn’t it!

So now it went from a 50 acre tract down to 20? I don’t think he is saying he supports it, just making fun of you for throwing a fit like a little girl. Yes to each their own, and if you hunt next to people that you disagree with the way they hunt/shoot, find another place. There’s nothing you can do about it but gripe.

I would be more worried about why “my” deer are leaving my place to go to a smaller track of land than how many deer they were shooting. The land supports a certain number of deer and it doesn’t care about fences! Chances are if your neighbors can kill 10 deer per year then you should thank them for keeping the herd healthy. Most leases don’t shoot near enough doe!

Best way to not get pissed is have the attitude you dont own one piece of wildlife, no matter how much you feed the animals...If they are free range they are exactly that...TPand W set limits according to region/county counts..People fail to consider that not ALL land is hunted.. I have a ranch that is next to my 120 acres...2250 acres..hasnt been hunted in at least 15 years...The old lady had litter bugs on her place so stopped leasing it.....

In response to the OP, it sounds like the conflict was not meat vs horn hunter, but that the two new guys were not following the lease rules. Remove them, and say good by to your problem.

I know several families that will go through that many deer especially if they have teenage boys or like to make a lot of jerky. Me and my wife go through 2 a year and it is just her and I. I literally have not bought meat from the store for my own use since 1986 and we live virtually on game and the garden. So I can see 5 deer being eaten by a family pretty easily.

At to the gist of the thread, I am just a meat hunter now. I spent a lot of time in my youth and younger days after hides, heads and horns. I even went to Africa 5 times. But now all I go for is a few tasty does for the freezer. Antlers of any size have no interest for me since I already have a bunch on the walls gathering dust. If your thing is hunting for antlers, then good on you and I hope you get a monster. If your thing is hunting for meat then I hope you get a tasty young one. If your thing is hunting for fun then I hope you have an enjoyable season. To each his own.

Bad juju on those that abuse privilege! Bulls make money and bears make money but pigs ALWAYS get slaughtered. As for meat versus trophy, with what most spend on deer meat ($15-50/pound), seems more practical to do your "meat hunting" at HEB. Just sayin...!

Crybabies. If you don’t like a spot because of the neighbors, get a new spot. If the guy down the road killing 5 and filling his tags bothers you, get in a club that leases big tracks and only hunts trophies. Buy your own place big enough to support “your” deer then supply everything they need so they don’t leave.

If none of that helps you then really you just want to beach and nothing will change it. The state decides how many we can kill and where. I will never worry what the neighbors do, that’s their business. Dang sure ain’t gonna jump on FB and make remarks trying to pick a fight then coming on the forum hoping for support.

About like cussing someone out at the ramp for keeping 5lb bass. Childish

I personally don't see what the big deal is. A person pays money to be on a lease. Is the same amount of money for a meat hunter or a trophy hunter. Each is allowed a certain amount of deer to take. If the trophy hunter doesn't shoot anything and the meat hunter shoots 3 young bucks so be it. Not everyone wants antlers and not everyone wants the meat. But IMO neither should dictate what the other should do. I do not lease. I have hunters come to hunt and I charge them $100 per antler point. I could give a rats rear end if they take a 10 point of a fork horn.

That last sentence is actually not true.

I feel much as you do about not over harvesting deer. But the other side of that same coin/swing of that same pendulum is being so enamored with antlers that you are willing to pen deer in to make sure you get them. Obsessions either way (meat or antlers) lead to ridiculous actions on both sides IMO - even though both actions are legal.

This is exactly what the op is talking about. You have no concern for your herd or the animals it’s all about your bank account. To each his own but I hate to see this disregard and lack and respect for the animals. Be a steward of the land and take care of it. When we trophy hunt we either start respecting the game or just quit. Me personally, I feel like I shot enough bucks and it’s really tough to find one bigger so I spend much more time bird hunting. I still deer hunt and am always trophy hunting but usually don’t see one to hunt for. Quail hunting is awesome but it’s not about the kill when you hunt with dogs.

Explain the rules up front. If they violate them, don't accept their money the next year. Easy enough. However, sounds like these guys may be trigger happy and just enjoy killing any deer that walks and call themselves "meat hunters" to justify what they're doing. Father and son, both killing five deer??

Deerhunter61 It seems to me reading your post you are badmouthing meat hunters.I just concider myself a hunter period.I sometimes hunt for meat for the family and always hunt for a good buck during the rut.Thing is I don't badmouth trophy or meat hunters.To each his own.What you were describing as your peeve was couple of hunters not following the rules of your particular lease.Like someone else here said-easy fix Run them off.I hate it when either group starts talking bad about the other.Why can't we all just be brothers of the hunt? JMHO

You are talking out of your rear. I do not have concern for my deer is BS. Just taking what you think is a trophy every year is not doing the Deer any good. Some will never be so called "Trophys" in your mind.Not every buck will be a 200 inch deer even if force feed every day. A certain amount of acres will produce a certain amount of healthy Deer in a given year. Feeding protein 365 days a year only adds to that amount.Adding to the carrying capacity is not being a good steward of the land. People like you pi** me of and I am glad I don't have to deal with your type.

I am a "meat hunter" in the regard that I am willing to shoot the culls for friends to fill my tags. I don't shoot whatever I see moving, I study the deer before I pull the trigger, I am not out to clean house, but do enjoy the hunt as well as the meat. I have a buddy who says that nobody will shoot the doe's and invites me as I have no problem with it and that goes for the spikes too. He tries to maintain a healthy ranch and don't mind using my tags to help him with that. I am in no way a "Shoot What You See" person, unless of course its feral hogs and I leave them where I find them.

It is unfortunate that you have someone who basically cleans house of anything moving. Its disrespectful to shoot anything you requested be allowed to walk and that would be grounds for removal in my opinion. I do enjoy watching the big boys out running around and respect my buddy enough to let them pass on their genetics.

My family can easily eat 4 and my daughter's are 2 and 4

I consider myself a meat hunter. But I target mature animals. I'm not gonna shoot a doe with a fawn. I may shoot a 2 year old buck though. I'm more likely to shoot a big doe than a small buck.

A good friend of mine tries his best to take three deer each year. He keeps the meat from two of them for members of his immediate family, and the meat from the remaining one goes to close friends. One of these three usually comes from me. I will usually take one more and have it processed for my family and friends. While we try out best to take a buck with the biggest rack possible, it’s secondary to filling our freezers with meat, legal of course.

None of us is ashamed that we prefer meat over large antlers.

I consider myself a management minded hunter.
By this, my goal is to harvest the oldest mature buck on the property I am hunting.
However, I will shoot a doe if I feel the population can handle it. Or possibly a cull buck if I truly feel it is an animal with inferior genetics. I would only have an issue with a hunter who shoots a young buck that should be allowed to reach maturity. To each his own but I personally would not be on a property with someone who does not share the same long term management goals.

Don’t sweat the know it all deer herd managers that have never owned an acre of land Don. Lots of these big bad herd managers only worry about their lease from Sept-Jan but are the first to say they are stewards of the land....

Can every place in Texas handle taking 10 doe and trash bucks on 50 acres? NO. There are lots of places that can though and those places would actually benefit from it. Years of horn hunting has led to some out of control doe populations on some properties. Was on a mld hunt a couple years ago that needed 100 doe killed on 1500 acres. We literally loaded a 16ft trailer down 3 times in one day and still left tags to fill. Took home 12 and divided between 3 households. My house was out of deer meat before the next season opener.

This meat vs trophy is just another way to separate us as hunters. Shoot what you like and don’t worry what the neighbor or FB buddy does, you’ll be happier.

We do both at our place. Yes, I'm hunting for the largest mature buck I can find. But until recently our neighbors (900 acres) were only trophy hunting and we're over-run with deer. Several years I took five does, or a spike/cull and four does, or a trophy and four does, as did my dad. This was on 600 acres. We also had some family hunt, so we might take 15-18 total per year. The other neighbor (600 acres) leased out but they only took about 10 deer per year. There is another 400 acres that isn't hunted at all. I look like a meat hunter but really I'm trying to manage for all the deer in our area. We do discriminate in what deer we shoot, it's not just brown-down.

And we eat the snot out of deer meat. Link sausage, breakfast sausage, ground meat, steaks, backstrap, jerky, chili, summer sausage, roasts, the list goes on. We can easily eat 3-5lbs in some form per week, which equates to about 5 Mills county WT per year.

We shot 11 deer of our 300 acres last year... 9 does and 2 bucks. The bucks weren't much to write home about but we let several 120's-140 inch deer walk. We will eat every stitch of that meat and be ready for more. Are we meat hunters? Are we trophy hunters? I don't know. I guess im more of a meat hunter, if deer didn't have meat I doubt I would still hunt them but I would still hunt them if they didn't have horns.

After taking 10-12 deer/year off our 300 acres for the past 10 years we still have more deer than recommended by carrying capacity.

That would make a fun poll.

No pure answer here. People that own their property can allow whatever they want, whether it's friends / family or if they lease it. Some subscribe to fill your tags as allowed by law and some take a stance of proactively putting rules in place to allow for the best long term interest of the herd.

Every place is different and should not be a carbon copy of another. Way too many variables in play.

The place we lease has no specific (supplemental) feeding requirements but there are harvest expectations as it relates to bucks. Our core group has elected to add a supplemental feeding program, knowing full well those deer can end up in front of a hunter that does not. It is what it is. If you can afford a good deer lease, you're probably not worried about the price of beef going up 20 cents a pound. I'm as happy punching a hog as I am a deer but would be a liar if I said I don't have high hopes of taking a big buck that I've watched on cams and felt like our work has helped allow him to reach "shooter" status. I haven't shot a buck in 4 years and it's NOT because I didn't have the opportunity. I did have one that popped out with 10 minutes of shooting light 2 years ago that I would like a do-over on but it was opening weekend. Hindsight, I may have added 2 more years to his contribution to the herd and that's a good thing.