Hunting Leases/Kids Hunting/Drury Syndrome

[rogerthat]

Kicked out, death penalty. On places like that the guys on them know what they signed up for; you can’t have a lease with older deer if one guy goes rogue and starts shooting young ones. All in $15-25k/year per spot is typical, and guys spending that amount of money want to kill big, mature deer. It’s a very different mind set than what I would assume the vast majority of HTer’s would consider enjoyable hunting.

The more I think about this the more you’re blowing my mind. What does having one of these spots buy you? Family access to the property? Multiple bucks per year or just one trophy buck? Maybe Texas is different but the number of bucks that have the genetics to be really big is really a small fraction of the population. I listened to a podcast with a guy on a podcast that had access to a large large amount of property in the Midwest and if I remember correctly he was only finding a few over 170” on any give year. I have to believe the majority of deer shot off these club properties are older age class poor genetic bucks. Really like to hear more. This is insane stuff for $15-25k. That’s a dall hunt every other year instead.

 

[Nuts]

The guys doing that probably view it more like a golf country club membership. I could set up 10 farms for that dollar amount and put kids on deer. I think the forementioned deer hunts are far more likely to point things toward a euro trash elite mans game then someone leasing land to give kids decent opportunities.

 

[Bonasababy]

Said it before and will say it again for those in the back of the room. The QDM movement has done more to take away Access, Opportunity and arguably Recruitment than a lot of the other points we debate on this forum.

Hit lists, “my deer”, land managers, associated influencing, feeding of wildlife to congregate and attract them in the name of “management” and herd health, antler restrictions, earn a buck programs, I could go on forever.

I seriously question if I’d have the fire for deer hunting that I do if I grew up in the current environment.

The irony of all of this for the QDM’ers is everything they’ve worked for is the first thing tossed out the window when CWD enters the scene and within a few years it’s back to having to hunt for any deer. Literally watched this play out in real time.

To the OP, good on you for giving those kids an opportunity to get out, have fun and enjoy a chance to take a deer.

I remember going to a meeting where officials from the then new QDM association were speaking. Most of their talk was reasonable..they did have some genetics discussion messed up... until someone pressed them on shooting does and smaller bucks. They actually said that should be avoided...but they can be good targets for women and kids!

Survey after survey has shown support for hunting...but that support drops dramatically when its clear its focused on trophies only.

 

[El Jason]

This is insane stuff for $15-25k. That’s a dall hunt every other year instead.

Or a lot of cow elk hunts, with solitude and a few good friends.

 

[F250]

My personal opinion… there’s no way you can age a deer on the hoof, so accurately that you can tell a 4.5 year old from a 7.5 year old 100 % of the time. In fact, I doubt the average deer hunter ( including myself) can accurately age a deer on the hoof beyond the age of 2.5.

 

[D_Walt]

Genuinely curious how they are “on the hoof” aging these 7 and 8 year old deer.

Pretty much have to identify them early on at 4 or 5 years old, because 6-8 year olds generally have very similar body characteristics until they start to go downhill.

 

[D_Walt]

"Kicked out, death penalty. On places like that the guys on them know what they signed up for; you can’t have a lease with older deer if one guy goes rogue and starts shooting young ones. All in $15-25k/year per spot is typical, and guys spending that amount of money want to kill big, mature deer. It’s a very different mind set than what I would assume the vast majority of HTer’s would consider enjoyable hunting."

Not to digress the conversation. But what is the point of only shooting 7 & 8yr old deer other then to say you did? I don't believe everything I hear or read however a pretty reliable podcast the other day noted that the majority of the B&C record bucks are held by 5yr old's. So if the point is proper managing I suppose they are managing for age structure. That in itself isn't a bad idea but that's a lot of money to not shoot deer in there prime. Basically by those standards you would have to let the world record Hanson Buck which was 4 walk and had Hansen killed that he would be kicked off

When the age structure is skewed older you see more big deer…just because there are more in the herd. On places that supplemental feed bucks don’t drop off and sometimes get bigger up to about 8, at least down here. Deer exhibiting “undesirable” antler traits are generally culled from the herd at an earlier age.