So What Happens To Deer You Pass On ???

[Curran]

The lives of deer are amazing if you really think about it. They're all individuals. Some are homebodies. Some roam. Some disperse miles away from where they were born and find new areas to live. We are only witnessing a fraction of what they go though on a daily basis. Sure they're pursued by hunters for a few months each year, but even that is broken down into hours spent on stand. For the most part hunters are sitting stationary for a few hours at a time, waiting, watching, and preparing for an opportunity at a good buck. The rest of the year the deer are living their lives, just trying to eat, sleep, and survive. They're avoiding coyotes, dodging cars, getting shot by poachers, suffering loss of habitat, catching diseases, dying of old age, and a long list of all kinds of other things.

I don't have land to manage, or tons of places to even hunt. I hunt a lot of public and so I've finally wised up and quit passing deer, unless it's a fork or something. If a deer bounds in front of me chasing a doe, and I get excited by that, I'm gonna go ahead and shoot. Why? Because it's fun to shoot deer when you're having a fun hunt. So to you guys passing all the 2.5 and 3.5 year old bucks I just have to say thank you!! I appreciate you very much!!

 

[brock ratcliff]

Is there still miles of corn standing, Rich?

 

[Cogz]

If your goal is to someday kill a 140 it will never happen if ya shoot a 120 or 130 class deer. Just shoot what ya like and be happy with it,ya cant worry about what the neighbors are doing takes all the fun out of hunting.
Their is more and more hunting pressure every year..we have hunters on all the neighbors properties but they dont all get killed and some years the biggest do.
I'm good with eating a tag just not gonna shoot something I myself am not happy with. I have goals every year sometimes it doesnt happen.
As far as age if a buck is in the 160s and only 4.5 he is getting an arrow if he walks by. I think most guys get the age thing wrong most of the time thinking they are older than they really are. I woulda swore the 167 inch buck I killed last year was 5 or 6 but sent a tooth into the lab and he was 4.5..still woulda shot him if I knew he was 4.5

Even the teeth don’t offer an accurate age most of the time. I can’t remember the numbers but it’s staggering how ineffective tooth aging is.

 

[Fletch]

Is there still miles of corn standing, Rich?

Brock, I don't know..

 

[brock ratcliff]

That may be a factor this year. Brian’s place has been slower than normal due to corn standing. Meanwhile, we have corn but also have a volunteer emergent food source than has apparently drawn deer out of the corn, so we are seeing em. And by that I mean older bucks too due to the does being there.

 

[Floki]

Finally... I'm so happy... Excited can't describe how I feel....

Ive heard about that deer all the way up in my parts of the state. Best of luck. Remember tho haters going to hate ya kill it.

 

[Fletch]

That deer definately gets a pass... But I do have a squirrel that sets my camera off at least 30 times a day... Where's Jamie when you need him....

 

[Big H]

Top left pic 2015, I believe. I passed him at 20 yards. Bottom pics are 2018 couldn’t get a good shot at him. Didn’t see him in 2019. Last pic is last year. I am guessing he is 8.5-9.5 this year? His rack has never done much but his body is huge.

 

[Fletch]

Top left pic 2015, I believe. I passed him at 20 yards. Bottom pics are 2018 couldn’t get a good shot at him. Didn’t see him in 2019. Last pic is last year. I am guessing he is 8.5-9.5 this year? His rack has never done much but his body is huge.

Come on man... That's a cow with horns...

 

[Mike]

 

[Bowkills]

We have thousands upon thousands of acres of corn here yet. If we get one more rain gun season will be a riot sitting in the corn. I dont wish farmers any crop loss but its magical hunting the last standing corn so i hope for some rain after a few days of harvest this week.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Just a couple of examples of the 70% and "the way things used to be". Daryl Dawkins got passed twice as a 3 year old. Clearly the right call for getting to hunt a great buck, not so much for shooting him as a good, or a great buck. He now hangs in NC in the home of the guy that was leasing the farm N of us. He's a good dude and earned this buck, so I'm not bitter. I actually miss them as neighboring hunters because they were disciplined and on the same page with me. He's one of the outliers and we miss his genes. His daddy/grandpa/uncle was a specimen too and I also passed him twice at 3, he grew to 5 and vanished. RIP Daryl Dawkins and Moe.

Moe circa 2010

 

[Diablo54]

I’ll bite because I’m bored plain to death.

Some years you have big deer. Some years you just don’t. Most of the time they grow. Sometimes they shrink.

i had a target buck. 5.5. Maybe 140” this fall. Couple years of history. He was shot on the second day of season by the neighbor. After that I ran 16 cameras until I found my buck. Those 16 cameras were on 7 different farms all across Athens and meigs counties. I worked my but off to find a deer I wanted to shoot and until 2 days ago (still running cams for dad) this was the biggest buck I had seen all year.

that being said. I didn’t settle for one of the 10 130” deer I found because it’s not fair and the neighbors shot all the nice ones last year leaving me no giants. I put my head down and found what I wanted.

I do think what you’re saying is hypocritical Jesse. It was really fun to see Danny voice his opinion so he could make himself feel better about his buck also .

I don’t care what anyone shoots. But I will say something if people are being plain silly and that’s what that was. you’re trying to make yourself feel good about doing something your brain knows you shouldn’t. I’ll say it.

I haven’t posted in a few years and probably won’t for a few more unless I’m mentioned again.

With all that being said. Deer die. There’s no guarantees. But you can be sure if you pull the trigger or let the arrow go there’s a guarantee he won’t make it to next year. I thought that was common knowledge.

shoot what you want and be happy. Good luck to all of you

 

["J"]

@Diablo54 Good too see you drop in, Taylor…. Miss you and Jake around here….

PS I think @Fluteman wants too challenge you too another tree climbing contest

 

[Curran]

What if you passed on this deer?

The Mysterious Adventure of an Exceptional Buck | National Deer Association

www.deerassociation.com

 

[Big H]

What if you passed on this deer?

The Mysterious Adventure of an Exceptional Buck | National Deer Association

www.deerassociation.com

View attachment 139315

Holy crap!

 

[giles]

That is crazy to think about! And only captured one time on one camera. Mind blown

 

[Mike]

Incredible trip!

 

[bowhunter1023]

There's been a couple black bear do something similar. I know it's an outlandish thought, but when I see something like this where an animal is an extreme outlier, it makes me think about reincarnation. It just seems like a human thing to do