Let's see your pictures from past seasons

[Rusty]

I'm embarrassed to post any more of my deer after the last bunch of pictures.  

 

Edited June 1, 2017 by Rusty

[Silver Belly62]

rgw  some nice mass on those tines 

 

GG  nice pic's of some great hunts, hope to cross off a few of those on my list in the future 

Edited October 30, 2015 by Silver Belly62

[Silver Belly62]

Dang GG, are you looking to adopt a son?  I'm available.  I'm really good at cutting firewood and I don't eat much.  I'll even sleep out in the barn so I'm not in the way.  

Right !  Maybe two, lol.  Definitely wouldn't mind pick'n his brain on some of those DIY hunts, those are the kind I'm interested in

[Rusty]

my best buck to date

 

Wow rgw, that's a great buck.  I love the forked G2s, it gives it some really cool character.

[gobblergetter]

Eight hunters...7 Bulls,

7 cows and 4 mulie bucks

DIY Colorado Rifle

[Rusty]

Eight hunters...7 Bulls,

7 cows and 4 mulie bucks

DIY Colorado Rifle

 

Nice!!  

 

 

Is that what they call a "Target Rich Environment"?

[Rusty]

[DV1]

Wow Gobblergetter, that's an awesome lifetime of hunts, you win!

 

Here are some of my recent ones. All bow kills, some private, some public land, all Ohio or NJ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rusty]

You got some great deer there DV1 !!!    

[DV1]

You got some great deer there DV1 !!!    

Thanks. Love the shot of you with the buck and the recurve. Wish I was into taking pics back then. 

 

Been in a drought lately. Haven't killed a deer...any deer... with my bow in NJ for 3 years. We just don't have them like we used to.

[Rusty]

Been in a drought lately. Haven't killed a deer...any deer... with my bow in NJ for 3 years. We just don't have them like we used to.

 

No we don't.  Up by me in zones 3 and 6 it was always pretty easy to get onto a couple of good bucks each year, but the last 5-10 years have seen a drastic drop off in both deer numbers and big bucks.  And we can't blame over hunting here like the more liberal zones, hunting pressure is way down compared to 20 years ago.  Zone 3 has only 1 doe day and antler restrictions and yet deer numbers continue to fall.  It's got to be a combination of our forests maturing and too many bears and coyotes.

 

Hopefully after the October bear hunt gets going we will see a reduction in fawn predation and an increase in our deer numbers up here.  

[DV1]

No we don't.  Up by me in zones 3 and 6 it was always pretty easy to get onto a couple of good bucks each year, but the last 5-10 years have seen a drastic drop off in both deer numbers and big bucks.  And we can't blame over hunting here like the more liberal zones, hunting pressure is way down compared to 20 years ago.  Zone 3 has only 1 doe day and antler restrictions and yet deer numbers continue to fall.  It's got to be a combination of our forests maturing and too many bears and coyotes.

 

Hopefully after the October bear hunt gets going we will see a reduction in fawn predation and an increase in our deer numbers up here.  

Yeah, I would suspect bears are a big part of the equation up there. We do have more coyotes now than 15 years ago, but I've been hunting some of the same areas since 1980 and our hunting pressure, for deer, is as high now as it's ever been. Years ago, small game was king. Guys loved rabbit and quail hunting. Now, seems like deer hunting is the only thing people do, and they do it a lot. before it was something you "also" hunted, now, it's all we do. I'm guilty of it too. I don't hunt much else any longer. 

 

In the last 15 or 20 years, the Division has done a great job of buying up some fantastic habitat, and adding it to the WMA system. Unfortunately, they have done a horrible job managing their lands for deer. The deer numbers are so low in many places, I don't feel right about shooting a doe...and I have no qualms with shooting does, I love to eat venison. Two of the places that went to WMA's were places I hunted before they became public, so I know how good the hunting was, and could be on those lands. 

 

There really is no justification for the early EAB bow season, unlimited antlerless tags, 6 buck tags, lengthy antlerless gun season with big deer drives, on those lands. The is no over-population problem, quite the opposite. There really needs to be a diametric change in thinking up there in Trenton but I'm not holding me breath it will ever happen. The number of hunters will fall drastically, eventually, and it will not be because of XBox or the iPhone...it will be because there isn't enough reward for the payoff in the deer woods any longer. If you want to get, and keep kids interesting in hunting, you have to show them a little excitement, and right now the squirrels are the only thing for them to see out there. 

[gobblergetter]

Yoo Doug

There is some adrenaline filled moments preceding those pics of yours !

Congrats.....again and again...

[DV1]

Yoo Doug

There is some adrenaline filled moments preceding those pics of yours !

Congrats.....again and again...

Yeah, the deer are great but my favorite hunts were my 2 week, backpacking in the Colorado Rockies, bow hunts for elk. I never killed one but my brother did. We went too early for good bugling but saw fantastic country, and plenty of game.

[gobblergetter]

I miss those archery Elk hunts during the rut...calling in a bulging bull is something you never forget.