Have you ever wondered?

Off to the ranch tomorrow for a long weekend hunt with some of my closest buddies. First hunt of the season and we are all pretty excited. Here's a 9 yr old we also found during our scouting trip. Gonna be a fun weekend.


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Amazing deer! Keep us updated on the hunt and I don’t mind looking at the pics at all. Good luck!
 
Johnny, Let me start by correcting the idea that I am hung up on score. If you will look thru my thread on La. bucks as well as most all things I post regarding my management approach I mostly talk about age in reference to specific bucks.I did show the score on the wide B&C buck as a response to your question about world records from the area.I think he is very unique and as stated one of the widest B&C bucks in the world. I have numerous B&C qualifying whitetails as well as mule deer, elk and sheep. I've never entered any of them. Draw your own conclusions.


My interest as a manager is to grow the highest quality deer herd I can within the circumstances I have. Indicators of that include, b/d ratio, weights per age class, age structure, impact on habitat and , yes, trends and antler size especially of mature bucks.

To accomplish these goals I provide as much nutrition as I can, and manage the herd and habitat as best I know how.Not so different from what many strive to do. I do employ game fences on some of the property and have found it to be invaluable for the benefit of the deer.I can provide a better environment, with less stress, growing higher quality healthier deer and deer herd than I can without the fence.I've been on 'both sides of the fence' and have a pretty good reference point. That is my value system...to do what is best for the deer.

Regarding my La. farm I think I have been very open about where we are now and the history. You are right. We were never able to grow the quality of deer I wanted before the game fence. The game fence was the best thing that ever happened for the deer. However to think these deer feed or act in any way like cattle is...well condescending to whitetail deer.

I know you don't like game fences. Fair enough. I think you understand that I value them as a tool to benefit deer. We have different opinions here. So what.I am very happy with my decisions. If you are happy with yours then life is a very good thing. Lets go enjoy the upcoming deer season.

Baker I can appreciate your view on scoring. I hope it's not as unique as it seems to be.
For the record I don't have any thing against it, but it's just not what gets me up in the morning.
I don't think killing of any kind should be competitive...ever.
Also I enjoy seeing your pictures. Keep em coming!
 
Just back from the ranch where we had a great time. Couple of my buddies got great deer and lots of nice bucks seen. I never found the buck I was looking for, an 8 yr old non typical I thought would be my target buck. Then this main frame 8 point showed up. I filmed him at 40 yds yesterday with no gun. Course went back looking for him this morning unsuccessfully. Magnificent and now HE is my target buck. And yes, for the record he is not the highest scoring buck on the ranch but as handsome as a buck can get. Nice drop tine also for those that like that sort of thing. Plenty old enough.


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Just back from the ranch where we had a great time. Couple of my buddies got great deer and lots of nice bucks seen. I never found the buck I was looking for, an 8 yr old non typical I thought would be my target buck. Then this main frame 8 point showed up. I filmed him at 40 yds yesterday with no gun. Course went back looking for him this morning unsuccessfully. Magnificent and now HE is my target buck. And yes, for the record he is not the highest scoring buck on the ranch but as handsome as a buck can get. Nice drop tine also for those that like that sort of thing. Plenty old enough.


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What a deer. Saw off that drop tine and he’s a perfect specimen.
 
Couple of data points on bucks above. The 9 yr old 10 pt in post 42 above had 46" mass. ~25 and 26" main beams .187" for those that like scores. We rattled him up to 30 yds after watching him where he couldn't be shot for over 30 mins. ... very exciting! Thought my buddy was going to have a heart attack! The mainframe 8 pt in post 48 had a drop tine for the first time which was his undoing. His 8 pt frame was 177" and he totaled 200" even. 24 1/2" wide
 
Most of us will never encounter a 7 yr old on our places. Heck...down here, 4 yr olds are about as rare as a needle in a haystack. Those are magnificent animals! Thx for sharing.
 
I just noticed that you asked if there are poplar stands there??? Kinda funny. I'll answer with a story. Years back a buddy asked if he could send a tree climbing stand down for his upcoming hunt. With a laugh the answer was yes but you also need to send a tree.

The country is mostly low brush with parts impenetrable. Very dry. Thorns, stickers, cactus, rattle snakes, lions, bobcats, coyotes by the zillions with the tallest thing being a mesquite tree. Most inhospitable. Lots of black brush, guayacan, yucca, guajillo pear cactus...mostly all legumes. It's a different world down there in most ways. The people are wonderful, the food dynamite, the weather awesome during hunting season and the hunting is over the top.
you make it sound great - someday maybe would like to try a hunt like that -
 
I should also add that the seasons are long and the weather fantastic. I just wrapped up our season returning home Friday. And for you northern boys the weather is generally mild with mostly sunny skies. Actually was colder than normal this year...heck we had several days where there was frost. Was a terrific season!

Happy to help if ever you want to venture down.
 
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