Before & After Pics

[PAGUY]

I'm a work in progress on food plots and land management. I'm learning the hard way more through mistakes than success's. I'm currently only working with 30 acres but in 2017 I've seen the best deer to date on the property. I had 3 bucks frequenting the property that I considered shooters.

A mature 9 point.

That I arrowed in early November.

A young 10 point that I was hoping would survive the rifle season.

Unfortunately (for me) the neighbor shot him in rifle season with only 3 days of the season left.

But I believe the 3rd buck has survived.

 

[j-bird]

I think you will learn we are all in some stage of "progress". I don't think anyone ever says, "Yep, that's it....I'm done!" Maybe I'm wrong, I'm wrong a lot according to my wife. But many of us enjoy the work and the "tinkering" and the fact of it being done, actually isn't the intent.

Glad to see you are having success - it's a great motivator. We all learn "the hard way" to some extent. Even with a forum like this, you get advice and you will learn how to adapt it to your specific situation. Sometimes the deer or mother nature or some other outside influence doesn't cooperate. It's not that you fail....it's that you learned another way how NOT to do something.

I hope your buck makes it thru for you.

 

[Tap]

Those are some nice Pa bucks. Congrats on your efforts.

 

[FL Plotter]

30 acres and 3 bucks like that....and one on the ground with a bow....you are winning. I control 1200 acres here in FL and have never had a single buck like that on our property.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Outstanding. Congrats, you must be in a great neighborhood and doing it right

 

[PAGUY]

Thanks guys. This is my 3rd year of trying to improve the property. Not sure why it was such a good year but I hope it continues. In negotiations now to lease an adjoining 50 acres.

 

[THE LLC]

Yeah that on 30 acres you are in a prime spot. I control 300 acres of well-managed habitat in northeast Georgia and several thousand in northwest Nebraska and we're lucky to find one every four years comparable to those.

 

[g squared 23]

I wouldn't judge your land management success based on the numbers of large deer on camera or even harvested. We like to think that everything we do has a significant and positive impact on the deer herd, but there are tons of factors outside of our control (mostly neighbors and poachers). If I was basing my success on the number of daylight mature buck pics, then my management has had a net negative effect on the deer on my land. Try to identify what your place is missing and fills the holes. And then enjoy the ride, and leave the competitiveness out of it. Which certainly can be difficult, because a lot of us are type triple A dudes at heart that want to have antlers on the wall to show for all our time and money. If you get to enjoy your land, spend some more time in the great outdoors instead of watching tv, and get to make memories that you can look back on and smile, then you have succeeded.


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[Drycreek]

g squared, I think you are spot on ! I have four places that I hunt, grow food plots on all, but only "control" the 85 and 217 that I own. Each year I see several good bucks from 120s to 140s, but most of them never show after velvet peel. I always get some new bucks passing through in October and November and I don't know what you do to change that.

Each place has food, water, and cover. Each has low to medium pressure. I think I'm feeding the neighbor's bucks, and when it comes time to party, they go back to the neighborhood bar to pick up a date.

All this does not prevent me from enjoying my hunting, nor does it keep my freezer empty.

 

[PAGUY]

I wouldn't judge your land management success based on the numbers of large deer on camera or even harvested. We like to think that everything we do has a significant and positive impact on the deer herd, but there are tons of factors outside of our control (mostly neighbors and poachers). If I was basing my success on the number of daylight mature buck pics, then my management has had a net negative effect on the deer on my land. Try to identify what your place is missing and fills the holes. And then enjoy the ride, and leave the competitiveness out of it. Which certainly can be difficult, because a lot of us are type triple A dudes at heart that want to have antlers on the wall to show for all our time and money. If you get to enjoy your land, spend some more time in the great outdoors instead of watching tv, and get to make memories that you can look back on and smile, then you have succeeded.


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That's sound advice and I do get a lot of enjoyment out of trying to improve the small amount of property that I have control over, but I find that I'm rarely satisfied, and always wanting for something more or different i.e more property, more variety, more diversity, more equipment, etc. The greedy part of the process is something that I'm trying to overcome because it can be very dissatisfying. I truly need to enjoy the process more. But, if I'm being completely honest, if I wasn't seeing better bucks and killing one occasionally, I wouldn't give up but I would be very discouraged.

 

[PAGUY]

g squared, I think you are spot on ! I have four places that I hunt, grow food plots on all, but only "control" the 85 and 217 that I own. Each year I see several good bucks from 120s to 140s, but most of them never show after velvet peel. I always get some new bucks passing through in October and November and I don't know what you do to change that.

Each place has food, water, and cover. Each has low to medium pressure. I think I'm feeding the neighbor's bucks, and when it comes time to party, they go back to the neighborhood bar to pick up a date.

All this does not prevent me from enjoying my hunting, nor does it keep my freezer empty.

I think my situation is the exact opposite, Drycreek. And I don't know why. I was consistently getting trail pics of 7 different bucks of all sizes throughout spring, summer and early fall. The buck I arrowed was a regular, but once November hit I was getting pictures of what I consider shooter bucks day and night. Bucks that I had no idea were within 50 miles. I'm not complaining though.

 

[Drycreek]

I think my situation is the exact opposite, Drycreek. And I don't know why. I was consistently getting trail pics of 7 different bucks of all sizes throughout spring, summer and early fall. The buck I arrowed was a regular, but once November hit I was getting pictures of what I consider shooter bucks day and night. Bucks that I had no idea were within 50 miles. I'm not complaining though.

Well, on second thought, I did get to take one buck this year that I had numerous pics of on my mineral blocks. This was on the deer lease about 20 miles from my house. The narrow buck is the one I got.

The wide buck was seen last night about 15 minutes before dark at home on my 80 acres. I tried to get my SIL on him for ten minutes and there was always other deer in the way or he was facing us with his head down feeding. My SIL has only taken three deer since I've been taking him hunting, and I just wasn't comfortable with this shot for him. It finally just got too dark to shoot and we watched them leave the plot when we could barely see with binos. He would have been ecstatic to take this buck, and I hate that I couldn't make it happen for him.

I'm not sure why the wide buck posted twice, but that just means you get to see him twice !

 

[FeedThatGame.com]

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