First year hunting

86hunter

New Member
New to the forum. Just got into hunting as a hobby. Will be hunting Marion/Lamar county in Mississippi.
I decided to start with a small plot maybe 30ftx15ft. No equipment so I put lime down at the end of July then came back and sprayed. Burned dead grass about the first of September, fertilized and put throw n grow and oats. I’m feeding record rack sportsman... so far I’ve counted 4 does 2 fawns. No bucks yet tho.



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Welcome. With those does, you will eventually have some bucks around when the time is right. Good luck with your hunting.
 
Welcome to the forum 86. That’s a small plot, but you gotta start somewhere. It’s gonna be a good place to see what you have in the way of deer. Be aware that food plotting is contagious and self fulfilling, so good luck !:)
 
New to the forum. Just got into hunting as a hobby. Will be hunting Marion/Lamar county in Mississippi.
I decided to start with a small plot maybe 30ftx15ft. No equipment so I put lime down at the end of July then came back and sprayed. Burned dead grass about the first of September, fertilized and put throw n grow and oats. I’m feeding record rack sportsman... so far I’ve counted 4 does 2 fawns. No bucks yet tho.



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Welcome and best of luck. You’ve come to the right forum. There are many guys on here that have forgotten more about habitat management and deer hunting than most people ever know in the first place. It’s literally a gold mine. Read up!
 
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There he is.. he’s small but a buck is a buck to me.


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This is my take and it’s worth what you’re gonna pay for it:), only you can decide what deer you will attempt to take. Most of us have been hunting for years, and we hunt for slightly different reasons. Or maybe I should say we have different priorities.

When I was a young guy with a large family, a legal deer was just groceries on the hoof. I still love venison, but a doe serves the same purpose, maybe better. Now that I’ve killed lots of deer, several antelope, some axis deer, and one elk, my priorities have changed somewhat. In East Texas, (small acreage and lots of hunters), a buck has to be 3.5 years old for me to consider taking him, and 4.5 is even better. You won’t find a lot of bucks around here that are older than that.

That’s what I do, but what you do should be based on your wants and desires. Don’t let anyone shame you for shooting a young buck at this stage of your your development as a deer hunter. As long as it’s legal, enjoy yourself and fill the freezer. Good luck !
 
Enjoy your land, shoot what gets you excited, if you have does, a buck will always come around it just might not be during light. As you age as a hunter your philosophy will change as far as to what you want to shoot and why. Don't let anybody tell you what you should shoot as long as it's legal but do take into consideration population trends in your area as to how many to shoot if your planning for multiple tags. Just because the DNR has unlimited tags in an area it might not be a good idea to shoot as many as you can.

As it has been said above, this sight has loads of info in previous threads on basically all aspects of deer hunting and management. Have fun searching and asking questions.

Welcome to the sight and addiction.:)
 
You need to learn to kill deer, any deer. My first two were button bucks and very few hunts since have been as memorable. Worry about “passing” and horn porn and all this elitist land manager stuff later. Just go out and have some fun, make mistakes and learn from them. Give thanks to the deity of your choice that we live in such an awesome place and have the freedom to participate in such an amazing sport.


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You need to learn to kill deer, any deer. My first two were button bucks and very few hunts since have been as memorable. Worry about “passing” and horn porn and all this elitist land manager stuff later. Just go out and have some fun, make mistakes and learn from them. Give thanks to the deity of your choice that we live in such an awesome place and have the freedom to participate in such an amazing sport.


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A lot to agree with in this post, but I respectfully disagree on two points. Land managing is not elitist, unless you try to force your ideas on everyone else, and hunting is not a sport, at least it shouldn’t be. Competition has a place in sports, but not in hunting. IMO !
 
A lot to agree with in this post, but I respectfully disagree on two points. Land managing is not elitist, unless you try to force your ideas on everyone else, and hunting is not a sport, at least it shouldn’t be. Competition has a place in sports, but not in hunting. IMO !

Call it a “pastime” or whatever you want, that’s completely semantics. I was urging against competing or comparing himself to anyone else or what they shoot or pass.

My idea of an elitist in the hunting world is someone that will look down their nose at someone else for shooting a small buck or jake, instead of celebrating every harvest as a win. It’s fairly prevalent and I’ve seen it much, much more commonly in land owners than guys that hunt public land.


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Call it a “pastime” or whatever you want, that’s completely semantics. I was urging against competing or comparing himself to anyone else or what they shoot or pass.

My idea of an elitist in the hunting world is someone that will look down their nose at someone else for shooting a small buck or jake, instead of celebrating every harvest as a win. It’s fairly prevalent and I’ve seen it much, much more commonly in land owners than guys that hunt public land.


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My neighbors can kill anything they want as long as they do it legally...ie a archery during archery, muzzleloader during muzzleloader, etc...which means no weapon upgrade from whatever is legal for season. We all have goals and I could show you a literal pickup bed load of antlers from 1.5, 2.5 or 3.5 yr old bucks I have killed. I was proud of everyone of them except 1...walked up on hill behind camp 10 minutes into first hunt and shot smallest 8 point on property and was completely tagged out with 9 days off to hunt...miserable...

I may seem elitist to my neighbors but they all own land and can do what I did which is spend time, sweat, and money “mostly time and sweat because don’t have much money” and made their place attractive to deer like I did...I am not a member of a coop and I just do my own thing...I don’t compete with any of my neighbors and I don’t ever consider it “my deer” until it is on the ground and tagged by me. I once had a past neighbor from 1/2 mile down the road stop while I was hinge cutting along the main road for screening and ask me what I was trying to hide...I told him I was making it all but impossible to see a deer to shoot from the road. If me taking measures to make sure deer are taken legally makes me elitist then so be it...other than that. Small bucks no problem! My grandsons can kill any buck on the place from small to large and we will celebrate! If my neighbor decided to drive over and show me the small or large buck they took, we will celebrate!
 
It looks to me like we’re all on the same page. I passed a buck yesterday morning that I would have gladly taken in days gone by. That’s on an 80 acre place with hunting all around me. If my situation were different, I’d still take him with no shame. However, I have a place that I can hunt where I can kill a doe for meat this afternoon if I want to. So with that in my pocket I don’t have to shoot any 3.5 year old buck. It’s probably a 50/50 chance that one particular buck won’t be seen next year, but neither my son nor I will kill this one. That said, I’ll never “look down my nose” at what other hunters legally do. For instance, nothing pisses me off more than the crossbow vs compound argument, or the compound vs stick bow argument. If the state says it’s legal, then I’m all for whatever it takes to make folks happy they came to the woods. Carry on ! :)
 
It looks to me like we’re all on the same page. I passed a buck yesterday morning that I would have gladly taken in days gone by. That’s on an 80 acre place with hunting all around me. If my situation were different, I’d still take him with no shame. However, I have a place that I can hunt where I can kill a doe for meat this afternoon if I want to. So with that in my pocket I don’t have to shoot any 3.5 year old buck. It’s probably a 50/50 chance that one particular buck won’t be seen next year, but neither my son nor I will kill this one. That said, I’ll never “look down my nose” at what other hunters legally do. For instance, nothing pisses me off more than the crossbow vs compound argument, or the compound vs stick bow argument. If the state says it’s legal, then I’m all for whatever it takes to make folks happy they came to the woods. Carry on ! :)

Heard that.. im going to be using a Barnett assault 350 crossbow this year. Maybe get a compound next year


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86 I'm only 45 mintues to an hour north of you located in Smith County. Mississippi is a whole other culture when it comes to deer hunting. Take it from me and use this forum as your own "fact checker". There's a lot of good ole boys around these parts that will lead you in the wrong direction. Feel free to contact me anytime you need help or maybe a blood trailing dog. Also pace yourself. Our 4 month long season is a marathon. You can burn yourself and your spots out quick. Pick the right days to hunt and you'll be rewarded. I've also learned. The best thing I have on my place compared to others is low pressure. As the season wears on we get more and more deer. Also if you want any advice on micro plots I'd be more than happy to help. A 5 gallon can of gas and a walk behind tiller and you can tear up some ground quick. Good luck
 
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