To elaborate on why we decided 140” minimum:
1. We have been consistently killing 3.5 year and older bucks, many with our bows, for several years now.
2. We have trouble judging deer on the hoof in the moment of truth. Many 2.5’s look 3.5 and many 3.5’s can look 4.5 in the heat of the moment. Figuring it out when they are on the ground is sometimes disappointing when you’ve been fooled.
3. None of us have killed many deer over 130”. For us to take it to the next level, we are going to have to up our standards.
4. Our neighborhood supports our management goals… we have 725 acres and share a long border with a 1300 acre property that practices QDM. We know many neighbors who manage for 140”+ deer. We are honestly part of the problem when it comes to increasing the overall age structure in our neighborhood. We have taken many solid 115-130” 3.5 year old bucks that would no doubt have been 140’s in another year or two.
5. Our property layout supports getting deer to the next age level. We have been able to watch deer mature and spend large portions of their daylight activity on our property. This gives us confidence to let those high potential deer walk in the hopes they are around the following year. Our top buck this year has been a regular since he was 3.5.
Now onto the 2021 deer season:
Jonathan and I went on a backpack elk and bear hunt in the Flat Tops Wilderness area in September this year. We packed in 6.5 miles and 1500’ of elevation gain before we setup camp. Unfortunately, Jonathan came down with High Altitude Pulmonary Edema as soon as we got up there. We hunted 1.5 days but by midway through the first full day of hunting it was clear that something was wrong. His lungs were filling up with fluid and he couldn’t catch his breath. It took him 30 minutes to catch his breath after lying down for bed the second night. A prolonged coughing fit in the middle of the night had us making plans for getting off the mountain. Thank God he was able to hike out on his own. The Meeker hospital confirmed his diagnosis and the wisdom in coming off the mountain when we did. All that action out West had the farm untouched during the first few weeks of the season.
I decided to take my 2.5 yr old son Robby to the farm with me for a hunt from the red neck blind. He has been begging to go for a long time so we took a Friday off and headed to the blind. He is still way too young to understand much about hunting, but we saw a lot of deer and had a good time. He brought his bow with suction cup arrows along so he could shoot deer also…
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