Amazing

[Bullwinkle]

I can't win guys

If I hammer the does more will just move in. The deer seem to migrate to the carrying capacity of the best property in the area. All I will do is shoot does. Been there done that. Hardly moved the population. Neighbors were made as he##

My neighbors like shooting does. My population is stable. Only thing I could do is quit planting food plots, put pressure on my farm and get rid of the water holes, etc to reduce the deer. I bought the land for deer hunting. Yes I use MFL so I can afford the property but my goal is not timber sales at all. I follow the MFL rules to a "T". I'd rather keep an oak than cut it no matter what it's worth. Sorry, just how I feel. Yes my goal with the fence is developing habitat in the right area and growing oaks for the deer

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

Bull I get why you have some haters. Your tactics are a little um let's say iffy for most parts of the midwest. I have no idea what I would do in that situation because we have people here in flocks killing every deer they see. The one thing we don't have to worry about is overpopulation problems. That being said your population problem is going to be your nemesis in killing a 150" buck. Historically less populated areas produce the biggest racked deer. I am sure this is due to competition. Competition for food, breeding etc. I can guarantee you that if I was in that situation I would still hunt the way I hunt which would probably be the wrong way for most of the great land managers on this site. I am a low impact hunter. Which I believe you have to be to consistently kill big mature bucks. If I am after one specific buck I will probably hunt stands in his core area 2 or 3 times a year and I dang sure wouldn't kill a doe while hunting in there. I am blessed to have several bucks on my hit list each year and also blessed with numerous farms to hunt them on. This is how I can still hunt everyday but rarely get into my target bucks core.

I have my farms on a no doe kill policy right now. We had bouts of EHD 2 years in a row so I am trying to build our herd back up to where it was around 2010. We are on year 3 of no EHD in the area so I am guessing about one to two more years and the herd should be about right from my surveys. When we go to killing does again we will have solid plan put together on how many mature doe to kill on each farm and they will be the home body doe that live on that specific farm the travelers from neighboring farms will not be counted as one of the deer taken off the farm. I would suggest trying to figure that out and take a few of those each year in low impact situations. Early season and late season with a bow is a great way to do that. Every little bit you can do with the herd is going to help you kill that 150" buck you are after. If that doesn't work give me a call and I can put you on one

 

[rlb165]

View attachment 7465 I am shocked. We have not even cut at all inside the fence and there is a noticeable thickness difference from 1 year keeping the deer out

Fence is lined with orange ribbons. Inside the fence is past them

Bullwinkle, I thought about your picture this morning when I went into our woods to do some trail maintenance, and look for potential spots to make deer beds. Here is what our woods look like now. We logged in '14.

It's basically impenetrable. I switched gears and did some work on trails in a cedar thicket. Anyway, it made me wonder what our deer density here would have to be for there to be a visible difference in habitat, between the inside and outside of an exclusion pen.
Did the biologist, or whoever you're working with, give you any kind of estimate as to how many deer per square mile they estimate to be in your area?



Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum

 

[Bullwinkle]

I think I have about 80 dpsm from sighting and cameras but the DNR thinks the county is 100+

I would guess my property is right in the middle of the surrounding properties. I don't see the 50-100 like some do in their fields. Mine is more like 10-15

There are no properties around us as thick as yours, not even close. You have some awesome habitat

 

[catscratch]

I think I have about 80 dpsm from sighting and cameras but the DNR thinks the county is 100+

I would guess my property is right in the middle of the surrounding properties. I don't see the 50-100 like some do in their fields. Mine is more like 10-15

There are no properties around us as thick as yours, not even close. You have some awesome habitat

Why do you think you are seeing less (or have less) deer than your neighbors?

 

[Bullwinkle]

My neighbors shoot the heck out of the does and we don't have as much Ag as some other areas

We also have wolves that don't help

 

[Bullwinkle]

One more - lack of thermal cover

It's why I've planted over 15,000 norways

 

[rlb165]

I think I have about 80 dpsm from sighting and cameras but the DNR thinks the county is 100+

I would guess my property is right in the middle of the surrounding properties. I don't see the 50-100 like some do in their fields. Mine is more like 10-15

There are no properties around us as thick as yours, not even close. You have some awesome habitat

Thanks Bullwinkle. Some of our habitat is almost Too awesome (thick). Can you imagine trying to get 150" of antlers thru that mess?
We had 2 days here last November where we saw 16 different deer. That is a record here on our land. We've lived here since '95.
I'm really curious to see what you learn from your fence experiment.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Sounds like you are headed in right direction

I'll post what happens these next years in the fence. In the next two weeks the trees will be marked for an oak shelterwood cut. Crossing my fingers I can get someone to cut this this year. Loggers are completely swamped. I have two logger friends who say they'll help me out. Crossing my fingers