taking inventory / establishing standards...

[dan]

In order to set size standards of bucks, one would think it would be important to know whats available on the land hunted... I set my standards differently on every property I hunt based on whats available... I might take a 2 1/2 year old on an over hunted piece of public, but if hunting where a very large buck is I might hold out for one specific animal..
The best way in my opinion to set standards is to know whats available on the land... So lets discuss methods of taking inventory.. Ones that come to mind are shining, trail cameras, and glassing. Does anybody have any other methods? Do any of you have a certain size buck you hold out for regardless of inventory?

[Ack]

I have pretty much set my standard on the public land around my at a 2.5 year old buck, mainly due to the lack of them and the amount of pressure. I use cameras a little, but more-so on private land than the public land.....I get real gunshy of leaving my stuff out on the public land.

An inventory tactic I use is word of mouth...I pick the brains of a lot of people to see what deer they have seen where. I walked in to a spot on the public land last year after hearing about some good bucks hanging out on the adjoining private land. About 7:30 that morning, sure enough one of the bucks they had seen came out into the clearcut about 50 yards from , but unfortunately never got any closer. Since it worked for me last year, I will definitely be checking that spot for many years to come, because there will more than likely always be better bucks back there.

[JRM6868]

I use trail cams extensively I run about 12 cams a year on three different properties I hunt. I also glass fields during the summer when I get a chance. My set goal is 150" or better every year. If the properties aren't showing anything that big which is rear I won't kill anything and see what shows up in the rut. I pass multiple 120's and 130's every year. I'm lucky that I have some good properties to hunt with some good genetics. Besides that the wife won't let me mount anything else unless it's bigger than what's on the wall already. Lol
To caveat that if a buck made a hunt memorable or was freaky in some way I might be tempted but that decision comes at that time. My goblins to shoot another BIG 8 or gross Boone again. I also bought a video camera this year and want to capture a hunt on film. So I'm adding an extra challenge to my hunting.

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[Stanley]

I have a great rapport with my neighbors (I know what you're thinking, I'm actually very easy to get along with). We trade information, trail camera pictures etc. the buck I was after last year was spending most of it's time on the neighbors property. Didn't get him and to my knowledge no one else did either. I also like to find all the drops I can. I have drops from previous years bucks that I have killed. This is a great tool in helping me figure out what might be around. I really don't have a set goal, but 140 I like to say is lower limit, 150 is doable most years.

[cornfedkiller]

Trailcams on field edges and over minerals is my main inventory. My hunting land is a ways away from home, so glassing and shining there are tough to do. When Im there for the weekend, we generally do some shining, but thats about the extent of it. I glass and shine around home now and then, but dont hunt much around there, so its mostly just for fun..although if I saw a nice buck, I would probably go after him.

Word of mouth is another great tool..Im not sure why, but people from town always tell me about big bucks they see. I think its because they know I like big bucks, and its a conversation starter or something, but it never fails. (Our previous discussion about bucks by word of mouth reminds me that you also have to take what they say with a grain of salt - since their HUGE bucks generally turn out to be 100" haha)

[beddedbuck]

On my farm lease I use trail cameras, but my best resource is the farmer. He is out in the,fields daily. When I get out there to hunt, I stop in say hi and he tells me the pattern he has been seeing lately and by the alphalpha he chops he tells me where I can expect to see them. The love the alphalpha new sprouts. That is my best early season. The other day he saw over 20 bucks behind his pasture. We had a year like that about 5 years ago. Hope they keep this pattern for atleast another month.

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[muddy]

I go off what my landowner and his wife tell me for big deer on the property. No on knows more than they do about what's hanging out on their land. Last year when I showed the my archery buck they said, "thats not the one we told you about, looks like you got outsmarted again!". That raised my eyebrows a touch as my archery buck was pretty decent.

Off private property I just go on instinct, I'm lucky enough to know when I'm in big buck territory and since I shoot for size rather than specific deer I Just hold out till a big one walks by.

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[Southern Man]

Having only 1 buck tag per year makes knowing what's avaiable kind of important. I'll use trail cameras in late summer and glass the soybean fields in the evenings. But what I count on is I feed during winter until sometime in March. I have several trail cameras I place around the spot to monitor what's coming to the feed as well as what's moving around it. I get a tremendous amout of doe and small buck pics pics, but I get some good ones too. Season is over so more than likely what I get pics of will be around come season the next year. Not always but mostly, we don't have the winters like you northern fellows for a winter kill. Seldom do I see a buck that I haven't got pictures of. Word of mouth doesn't seem to be a very good way to find good bucks for me. Everthing is relative and what's big for someone else is not necessarily big for me.

I won't necessarily hold out for the biggest bull of the woods. For the last several years my standard was a 3.5 yo or better. That's a decent buck here. We've talked of uping the game this year but that will be a tough row to hoe.

One parcel of public land here offers 1 free buck tag. My standards probably won't be as high there due to the difficulty of the hunting, not now anyway.

[Southern Man]

Besides that the wife won't let me mount anything else unless it's bigger than what's on the wall already. Lol

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I've see pics of that wall, nice.

[Indianahunter]

Every year in July I set up an observation camera site Usually 4th of July weekend when I have time off work. I use an awesome mineral blend a local guy makes, and I rake it in to the ground and cover with corn to get established quickly with deer visits. I run that camera until August 15th when squirrel season starts here then I pull that camera. I then look to see how many bucks does and fawns we have in the area and can decide at that point how many does to harvest based upon the ratio. On our property I have a personal 140 minimum. We always have a few in the area. I know a lot of guys say that you can't shoot a 140 if one doesn't live there. Well in a sense that is true and if you are the type that has to take a buck every year I guess I can see your point. Harvest what you want it is a trophy if you are willing to take it's life and are happy with the kill. On the other hand if you are the type of guy who wants to shoot 140+ 4 year olds then it doesn't make sense to kill every 120 that comes past your stand. So then I usually hear the argument that "If I don't shoot it someone else will". That logic doesn't make a lick of sense to me. We didn't use to have 140 class deer on the farm, and our only management technique has been let the little ones walk and hope they make it through the season. We now have deer meeting and exceeding those goals, but it has taken some time and you have to decide how many does to kill, not just kill all the antlerless deer you can as most states want. Where the does are there the bucks will be also, so if your neighbor has a greater deer density then chances are he is going to be seeing better bucks than you.

[JRM6868]

Every year in July I set up an observation camera site Usually 4th of July weekend when I have time off work. I use an awesome mineral blend a local guy makes, and I rake it in to the ground and cover with corn to get established quickly with deer visits. I run that camera until August 15th when squirrel season starts here then I pull that camera. I then look to see how many bucks does and fawns we have in the area and can decide at that point how many does to harvest based upon the ratio. On our property I have a personal 140 minimum. We always have a few in the area. I know a lot of guys say that you can't shoot a 140 if one doesn't live there. Well in a sense that is true and if you are the type that has to take a buck every year I guess I can see your point. Harvest what you want it is a trophy if you are willing to take it's life and are happy with the kill. On the other hand if you are the type of guy who wants to shoot 140+ 4 year olds then it doesn't make sense to kill every 120 that comes past your stand. So then I usually hear the argument that "If I don't shoot it someone else will". That logic doesn't make a lick of sense to me. We didn't use to have 140 class deer on the farm, and our only management technique has been let the little ones walk and hope they make it through the season. We now have deer meeting and exceeding those goals, but it has taken some time and you have to decide how many does to kill, not just kill all the antlerless deer you can as most states want. Where the does are there the bucks will be also, so if your neighbor has a greater deer density then chances are he is going to be seeing better bucks than you.

Good point. That's why I eat tags some years. If you don't let them walk they won't have a chance to get big. One property about 8-10 years ago we stoppe shooting bucks 120 and under and now we have 3-4 deer that are 140" and bigger per year. It's a pain to eat a tag but the rewards come. Some we pass and find out the neighbor killed them. Thats the way it goes.

[muddy]

Good point. That's why I eat tags some years. If you don't let them walk they won't have a chance to get big. One property about 8-10 years ago we stoppe shooting bucks 120 and under and now we have 3-4 deer that are 140" and bigger per year. It's a pain to eat a tag but the rewards come. Some we pass and find out the neighbor killed them. Thats the way it goes.

I asked a buddy in NE Iowa several years ago what his mentality was on passing deer that a lot of people would be psyched about. He said "You can't shoot a 150 if you shoot a 130. You can't shoot a 170 if you shoot a 150. You can't shoot a 200 if you shoot a 180." It was fairly arrogant but it made a lot of sense to me. Yes, he was hunting superb private land and that very fall he passed up a buck in the high 170s because it was busted. The next year it was in the high 190s and his buddy shot it. They dont' get big by being shot when they're young.

That being said, I'll pound a 170 every chance I get!

[tim]

cameras cameras and cameras. pictures dont lie, i love scouting /topos/shedding for the lay of the land in winter/spring. but cameras are my favorite. there is room for error in most else. tracks/scrapes/beds/rubs/farmers info/size of poop etc.... all room for error. pictures dont lie if anything they look smaller in pictures. ive always said if at first glance at that viewer i say wow its a shooter in my book. i have been passing more as i get older. i dont set too strict of standars for myself cause if at that moment of truth i wanna shoot , i will .

[BackWoodsHunter]

I use trail cams on our families private land but that's the extent of trail cam use. I do some glassing there as well, we have a tower built on telephone pones about 35ft up on a hill so it makes it pretty easy to see whats around. That is Oneida county, WI and the deer numbers seem to be on the rebound but the quality of bucks just isn't there. A lot of it is our fault/hunter fault. Last yr we had 5 spike bucks on camera 1 was wounded during bow season and a wolf snack, 1 was shot by grandpa with a bow, 1 shot by dad with a gun and 1 shot by the neighbor during gun season. So now we had one spike left. Its hard to see an increase in quality deer if you don't let them grow this we are learning the hardway. This year in 2 weeks time we have had 13 different bucks on camera the biggest being a 2.5yr old 8pt. Hopefully some make it....with all that background I am more than satisfied with a 2.5yr old land either on our private land or some of the nearby forest crop land that I hunt in the same county.


In other parts of the state I am trying a new technique. I did my homework and my scouting. I read my maps over and over I found some bedding areas, I dissected some, others I couldn't due to spring flooding, but I read the sign and found the bedding areas. I am new to this and will never claim to be an expert. But I believe that some of the sign I found can and does indicate the quality of deer using the bed. I have some spots I'm not so interested in hunting, sure there were beds or A bed there but the location didn't seem well chosed by an older, wiser deer, and the sign in the surrounding area was that of a large animal. Basically I scouted the areas and based on the difficulty of access, surrounding vegetation and terrain and sign in the immediate bed I let my imagination come up with what caliber deer is using that area. That may sound fruity or whatever but for this season its all I have to go off of. I attend school in central WI, hunt/spend most time in northern wi, but spend summers at my "home" in milwaukee WI. Makes scouting/monitoring deer in your hunting spots difficult when you never spend much time in one spot...

[Indianahunter]

Good point. That's why I eat tags some years. If you don't let them walk they won't have a chance to get big. One property about 8-10 years ago we stoppe shooting bucks 120 and under and now we have 3-4 deer that are 140" and bigger per year. It's a pain to eat a tag but the rewards come. Some we pass and find out the neighbor killed them. Thats the way it goes.

I asked a buddy in NE Iowa several years ago what his mentality was on passing deer that a lot of people would be psyched about. He said "You can't shoot a 150 if you shoot a 130. You can't shoot a 170 if you shoot a 150. You can't shoot a 200 if you shoot a 180." It was fairly arrogant but it made a lot of sense to me. Yes, he was hunting superb private land and that very fall he passed up a buck in the high 170s because it was busted. The next year it was in the high 190s and his buddy shot it. They dont' get big by being shot when they're young.

That being said, I'll pound a 170 every chance I get!

Yeah I am with ya bubba! I am not at the level to let 4+ year old deer walk or anything bigger than 150" If the opportunity is presented and arrow is flying.