Success rates on Mature bucks

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tim
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby tim » Wed Dec 16, 2015 4:14 am

headgear that's crazy no broken racks? some years it seems most of the deer on my place have broken tines or missing beams or a browtine. this year the buck I shot had a broken kicker 0ff a g2 and the split from a browtine was broken off.i agree with spy on this u cant have tons of does and barely any bucks and expect to see bucks searching and competing for does because they don't have to.they will still chase them before the doe is ready but with few bucks your odds of seing this happen greatly decreases


loneranger
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby loneranger » Wed Dec 16, 2015 5:32 am

I am here again with my little 40 acres in Iowa. Iowa supposed to me the Big old buck mecca. It is in some QDM areas,,but not in mine. I see yearlings and 2 yr olds each Nov,,and next year most seem to be gone. Why? Because I have a lot of neighbors that shoot anything during shot gun season.. Still,,I have time on my side. I can hunt every day. With only 4 stands on 40 acres though my place gets over hunted by me. I still stick to it. Hoping a love sick buck makes a mistake. This season saw more does than usual--13 different does. Saw 4 or 5 2yr olds,,4 yearlings,,one 3 yr that I spooked,,and finally one 4 yr old,,,which I will post a pic of,,if I can ever figure out how to post again, These deer after 65 hrs of sitting,,over 24 days of last week of Oct thru November.
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Matty
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby Matty » Wed Dec 16, 2015 5:47 am

loneranger wrote:I am here again with my little 40 acres in Iowa. Iowa supposed to me the Big old buck mecca. It is in some QDM areas,,but not in mine. I see yearlings and 2 yr olds each Nov,,and next year most seem to be gone. Why? Because I have a lot of neighbors that shoot anything during shot gun season.. Still,,I have time on my side. I can hunt every day. With only 4 stands on 40 acres though my place gets over hunted by me. I still stick to it. Hoping a love sick buck makes a mistake. This season saw more does than usual--13 different does. Saw 4 or 5 2yr olds,,4 yearlings,,one 3 yr that I spooked,,and finally one 4 yr old,,,which I will post a pic of,,if I can ever figure out how to post again, These deer after 65 hrs of sitting,,over 24 days of last week of Oct thru November.


You don't have any nearby public land that you can explore? That's what I would try to do to lighten the pressure on your property.

Keep in mind too that not every piece of land is created equal. The young bucks you're passing may be making it to older age classes, but perhaps your property just doesn't have good mature buck habitat. No doubt, some of those young bucks are probably being killed by neighbors, but I'd bet there are several getting older, bigger and smarter in unmolested areas.

On a somewhat related note, my buddy goes out to Iowa to his wifes family farm every time he can draw the non-res tag. The bucks he passes makes me drool and stutter. lol....Supposedly it's not one of the better areas of Iowa either, but it seems like big buck heaven compared to where I hunt. I hate sitting in a tree around here and getting a text from him. "Just passed this 150" I want to jump out of the tree. lol

Good luck to you.
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby loneranger » Wed Dec 16, 2015 10:34 am

I have friends with hunting like that just 10 miles from me. Large acreages with Trophy hunting minded neighbors all around. It makes a difference. Little to no public land near me. I really cannot complain. I came here from an area that if you saw a yearling you got excited. As I said before, I basically hunt the rut. I have small food plots and some apple trees. I keep a few doe groups dedicated to my property and they draw in the bucks from all over,,so I never know what may show up. Does take a lot of sitting though. I hunt mornings and evenings. I know there are probably more mature animals cruising past my stands when I am not out there. They have long moonlight nights to play when Im not around. I have taken a mature buck each of the past 5 seasons,,by mature I mean 4 yrs old or older so I should not complain. Maybe one season in there a 3 yr old. Not all 150s, but I am more into age, than scoring racks.Not bad for 40 acres!
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby loneranger » Wed Dec 16, 2015 10:36 am

Nice lookin buck in your picture there!
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Matty
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby Matty » Wed Dec 16, 2015 4:40 pm

Thank you very much. Not my biggest, but my most recent. I know that all my NJ public land bucks are pretty small compared to what most guys kill on here though.

We do occasionally have some real big bucks, but I can't usually gain access to them. The majority are completely un-huntable since we have a lot of towns that don't allow you to hunt or discharge a "weapon", including bows. But every couple of years I might find one on public that slipped through the cracks long enough to get really big. Don't usually kill them, but that's why I'm on here. LOL I mop up the dumber decent bucks. lol

I hear you on the age thing too, that's generally my goal as well, but 3.5+ can make me happy, unless I know of something specific. Sounds like you're doing really well though, 5 years in a row on 4+ yo's. Sounds like your tactics are working!!! I'll shut up now. hahaha...Keep the streak going. -Matt
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DeerDylan
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby DeerDylan » Wed Dec 16, 2015 5:19 pm

Another eye opening thread, I've got a lot to learn!

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wmihunter
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby wmihunter » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:02 am

I've seen 2 for sure maybe 3 or 4 total after 400 plus hours in the woods over the last 20 years

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whitetailassasin
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Re: Success rates on Mature bucks

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:44 am

DeerDylan wrote:Another eye opening thread, I've got a lot to learn!

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That is what I was hoping for from some of our more experienced beasts. Would put into perspective how hard it is to get on a mature buck and what to expect when your going through a season.

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