Deer & Other Critter Harvests Since 2011
To bring this thread somewhat up to date I thought I'd share our harvests since purchasing the property. After all, that's what most of us on this forum have in common...the pursuit of the whitetail and all that comes with it thru land management. A little background - I had no idea I would ever purchase property for the purpose of hunting or for any other reason. I grew up on a farm but left after I got out of school. I hunted small game as a kid. There were basically no deer in GA until the early 70s. They had been wiped out for the most part. Hats off to GA's DNR that undertook a massive restocking program in the late 50s and early 60s. Today we have an abundance of deer with a very long and liberal season. I only hunted deer for a few years from my late teens to mid 20s. Then, when the boys were old enough to hunt, I got back into it in a big way because they wanted to hunt. We switched
to bow hunting almost exclusively when they were just teenagers. So many wonderful memories of time at deer camp with the boys and friends in various hunting clubs from those years. After the boys were grown, I pretty much got out of hunting again. They continued. Over time, Dustin, our oldest son, married, had children and hunting was very limited. Brooks on the other hand, is still single and has always hunted. Turkey is his passion along with his annual trek out west to CO chasing elk with bow. He's taken only 1 bull elk in probably 9 years of going out there but always has incredible stories with close encounters most years. For the past 3 years, Dustin has gone with him. They will be making the trip again this year in early September. Brooks has taken a nice mulley in CO, black bear in Alaska and caribou in Canada. Sometimes it nice to be single! Dustin is still chasing his 1st elk. I say all that to say that our boys have a huge passion for hunting. The passion has been passed on to Dustin's son, Jaden. He's 12. One of the greatest joys I have with the land is hunting with Jaden.
I bought the property on somewhat of a whim at Brooks' suggestion. Recreational / timber land prices took a nose dive after the almost depression in 2009 - 2010. So, I decided long-term that land might be a decent investment and took the plunge. WOW!!! I had absolutely no idea me and my family would get so much joy from owning a piece of dirt! Although I must say, it is a beautiful piece of dirt with great features. I went from being an avid golfer playing golf with my buddies on the weekends to almost overnight, abandoning golf for the most part and traveling to the farm most weekends. Thus the cabin and other buildings. As most of you regulars have seen, we now do all our family functions and holidays at the farm. It has turned into a special place for sure.
My primary land management practice is timber. Good timber management down south creates excellent deer habitat. So, the deer hunting and managing habitat for deer is a big part of what we do. We mostly bow hunt, although during the rut the rifles do come out for obvious reasons. A couple of years ago, I switched from compound to traditional archery equipment and am loving that journey today. Our archery season opens the 2nd Saturday of September. Our firearms season opens the 1st Saturday following the 2nd Saturday of October and runs through somewhere around the 10th of January. Lots of bucks get shot with such a long firearms season. But, we still manage to grow some nice bucks and keep them around on 287 acres. With all this said, following is the chronological order of our harvests since 2011 minus most doe pics.
Nothing was taken in 2011. Just didn't see a lot of bucks the 1st year. Habitat changes and food plots really fixed that issue beginning in 2012. Jaden took his 1st deer and our 1st deer in 2012 just before he turned 9. His smile says it all...
About 3 weeks later, all within 20 minutes of each other, Jaden took his 1st buck from the hour glass plot and Brooks took our 1st keeper from within our sanctuary. It was a very special day on the farm. Again, his smile says it all.
20 minutes later, Brooks took our 1st decent buck aged at 3.5.
In 2013, we took 2 bucks from the farm. My cousin's son took his 1st buck, again from the hour glass plot in mid October.
Then in late October 2013 , just as the bucks were entering the cruising phase, I connected on the best buck of my lifetime in a hardwood draw just north of the bottoms.
Brooks and Dustin whacked a few pigs with their bows in 2013. Anymore we just shoot them on sight.
2014 was an incredible year. Jaden was the 1st to connect on a buck in 2014. It was the 1st weekend in November which was the same weekend that he killed his 1st buck in 2012. I had the joy of hunting with him on this morning and out of the same ladder stand that he took his 1st buck. It was in the hour glass plot - a very productive spot. We had the joy of watching this buck chase doe(s) thru the pines for probably 20 minutes plus watch a very nice 8 pointer come in and challenge this buck during the chasing. This buck prevailed and when the doe came into the food plot the buck followed. Our 1st 4.5 year old deer.
2 weekends later, Dustin connected on his largest bow kill buck while hunting in the bean field. This buck came cruising thru the bean field after daylight. I was hunting in a hardwood draw about 150 yds away and heard the buck pile up between Dusting and me.
In mid December 2014, Brooks connected on the last buck of the season from the hour glass plot. 2014 is the only year we've harvested 3 bucks from the farm.
![Brooks buck 2014.jpg Brooks buck 2014.jpg](https://deerhunterforum.com/data/attachments/0/699-64d7bd03193b635738f6d6d80bcf7cbb.jpg)