I hunt for a particalar buck.. I have a hit list. Hit list includes all mature deer. Some huge some crap. i push for my wife to shoot the crap, or I flip years with her. I try to get all my does in bowseason. That way I can focus on the hit list. If I don't fill the hit list I'm not worried about it b/c i replaced it already with a doe.

Basically the same thing I do. I hunt for usually 1 deer that I have seen on game camera, unless a bigger one stumbles up. All other tags go to does. If I have not killed my buck by the end of the season, I kill another doe during the extended doe season.

felt the same way when the first one showed up...and he is now 5.5 and hard as heck to find once they break up from their bachelor groups.... since then, 3 others have showed up. Could be coincidental.

Could be coincidental or not

Nobody knows your deer better then you. Its a personal decision. Put your wife, or kids on them.

yeah, though no wife and kids. (The one in the pic that got killed was by a youngun as his first deer..... after he had opened all his Christmas presents). I just feel that the majority of the does need to get slaughtered as well to git rid of the problem. That is one thing that stinks about free range, when things are good they are good...when things go south, they head that way in a hurry as well.

I think this goes back to the high fence/low fence argument. I think the needs of a high fenced ranch are different than those of a low fenced one.

Maybe there should be a low fence forum and a high fence forum.

That way people can stay out of other peoples business and we won't have to read argument after argument. Post pics of your high fence deer or low fence deer. You may want to show off the big 12 point 180 class deer on the photos forum, but as soon as you get asked "high fence?" then nobody congratulates you. Of course, you have to keep your population down in a high fence situation and if you want to shoot does or spikes then have fun doing it. I have 125 low fenced acres and I don't shoot either of them. My kids might, my wife might, but once only.



Murfdog

Did you not read all my post? I'm niether confused nor misguided. I never said that it is the law that you harvest spikes, it is the law that you CAN harvest spikes. And also that I have only ever taken 2 (in 30 years).

No confusion or misguidance on my part friend. Earl

I did not say there were not any 2 1/2 year old spikes. I am referring to my place which has a 1 to 1 buck doe ratio, a great age structure, plenty of water year round, supplemental protein feed 9 months of the year, and massive cropland that borders our ranch. My point is that when all the necessary elements for whitetail growth are met things like this dont happen. If everyone would focus as much on land management, population control and sex ratio as much as trying to justify shooting spikes and culls the whole state would be better off.

x2