Hunting Leases/Kids Hunting/Drury Syndrome

[3855WIN]

We have over a thousand acres of private ground in the family. I try to manage it to grow bigger deer, but I do so differently than most.

Basic rules of "please don't shoot young bucks, if you want meat, shoot a couple of does. They are literally everywhere. Let the bucks grow and compete. Sometimes people shoot bucks, sometimes they don't. I will say, I've harvested my fair share of pretty good bucks since initiating the goal of letting them grow. If I'm not going to at least European mount the buck and put it on the wall, I'm not going to shoot it. In the last couple of years, I've let more than a couple 130-140 bucks walk in the past with my sights set on a bigger one that had been frequenting the area.

Similar for us. We have 1300 acres that the family hunting club, all family members, leases from the family. We have some owners who don’t hunt, so this gives them some revenue. Our bucks must be two of the three-

16” inside
4” base
19” main beam

If a buck doesn’t meet two of three, they count as two bucks against that membership.

We’ve killed five rack bucks this season. Four of the five have qualified. Two of the bucks were personal best.
We’ve had good buy in from our members. We can also shot does on DMAP any day of hunting season.

 

[Treeshark]

Some folks here are dumping gas on the idea.

Good ideas fuel themselves

 

[Forkyfinder]

Good ideas fuel themselves

Do you have the same twisted fantasy about your home state?

 

[Treeshark]

Do you have the same twisted fantasy about your home state?

27-30 million acres of public land and big game management funded almost entirely people living elsewhere?

As a matter of fact yes- yes I do!

 

[Forkyfinder]

27-30 million acres of public land and big game management funded almost entirely people living elsewhere?

As a matter of fact yes- yes I do!

Pretty cool not living in a cheesy place.

I was more referring to your worship of land owner permits.

 

[Treeshark]

Pretty cool not living in a cheesy place.

Glad you like where you live! I do too

Who said anything about landowner tags? I’m beginning to think you and @Wildabeest are obsessed with those things

 

[antlerradar]

Did my best to stop it.

Some folks here are dumping gas on the idea.

Look at how much conversation there is about "management" on private land being impossible (i prefer this - some folks here tend to forget who owns wildlife) due to montanas season structure.

Not nearly as hard as you think. As long as you have a good population of does you can do a fair job of owning the bucks on nearby public land, because the number of does there is in the tank. Not going to happen if the season was earlier. Most that are trying to manage for bigger deer are not worried about the few that end up on Public. Where you run into problems is with the neighbors and people that just blast and dash from the road. Outfitters that over hunt their leases and poachers are the ones that make out the best with the current season. Commercialization has been cooking with gas since the 80's,