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,

 

[SFC B]

You’re now a non resident. You are now the person coming in from outside ruining it for the locals.
If you’ll start archery hunting, you’ll find a much more enjoyable deer hunting experience. I know a three man crew that hunt a Midwest state for one week each year. They hunt public. The almost always fill all three tags with 130”+ bucks. Their best this year was a 168”. They hunt public land. On day one, I was texting one of them and he’d put 300 miles on his truck that day, scouting public opportunities. It’s there for the taking, if you want it bad enough.

So, even though I am a "non-resident" for tag purchases I AM a local and homeowner. I would not say that non-residents ruin anything and have enjoyed hunting many states as a non-resident.....I would say the trophy chasers that will drop huge amounts on leases and the influencers who blow up spots (and that translates to anywhere they film and spread hype) make it harder for EVERYONE who isn't a landowner with enough acreage to hunt-resident or not. I don't, and will never associate hunting with making money or think that dropping huge wads of cash in hopes of a "big rack" is a good idea for hunting. Whether it is the situation in my home state or how land access/outfitter problems based on chasing dollars out here in the west are big problems. BTW, I do archery hunt but also have to take my lump of vacation time in a manner that fits with family obligations/work......usually a week +-of archery and then a week +- of gun season. The decent sized parcels of public land in IN are several hours from my family.

 

[NR_Hunter]

I’m lucky enough to hunt some really nice private property with my bow. My friend who leases it has his family hunt out there for the gun season. They are the “it’s brown it’s down” type hunters and I just wish I could get them to pass on yearling bucks, but that’s honestly as far as I think most normal people should take it. These guys aren’t real serious hunters and just wanna feel good about providing some meat for their families. I can’t imagine wanting to be deer police, wouldn’t even be fun.

 

[Rainer]

I hate that leases have just become normalized now. It also boggles the mind that you can’t sell wildlife byproducts but you can sell access to said wildlife.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

I hate that leases have just become normalized now. It also boggles the mind that you can’t sell wildlife byproducts but you can sell access to said wildlife.

I think you specifically mean wildlife meat. You can sell antlers, skulls, fur/hides etc. which that has always boggled my mind as to me you are selling the parts that most would consider the "trophy" portion, which seems to further incentivize "trophy" hunting but the sustenance portion cannot be sold. Your point still stands though.

 

[AzTagSoup]

I just wish more kids would show an interest in hunting. There is still plenty of opportunity for them, but not a great deal of interest.
Too many other activities using up their bandwidth.

I think that has a lot to do with how they are raised. If the parents are on nextflix and ipads all the time what do you think the kids are going learn from them. I take my kids hunting/fishing/camping as much as I can. We have been on enough hunts my 16 year old says hes not even worried about tagging out he just wants to be out there.

 

[howl]

I have several different properties for deer. My kids have always preferred the brown n down opportunities even tho they're more likely to see deer on the trophy property. Killing stuff is more fun than watching stuff.

Another thing is when we were kids we could go hunt small game without parents up our backsides. Kids get rules 180 days a year at school. How much fun is going hunting where there are still more rules?

 

[Nick87]

Killing stuff is more fun than watching stuff.

It is until you've killed enough. Not everybody gets there. Some of us do.[/QUOTE]

 

[Nuts]

It is until you've killed enough. Not everybody gets there. Some of us do.

What's enough? Goals like 100 bucks over 120? 4 states with 4 bucks over 140 in 1 yr? 30 deer in 30 days? There is another chapter IMO and more to the story. Its trying to get enough. Getting enough. Getting more then enough. Then realizing you probably missed what was important. What you sought out as enough was the wrong thing. It wasn't numbers both quantity and then quality. My only hope is that its realized before its to late. That is my journey. Its not for everyone. And not everyone gets there.

 

[Nick87]

What's enough? Goals like 100 bucks over 120? 4 states with 4 bucks over 140 in 1 yr? 30 deer in 30 days? There is another chapter IMO and more to the story. Its trying to get enough. Getting enough. Getting more then enough. Then realizing you probably missed what was important. What you sought out as enough was the wrong thing. It wasn't numbers both quantity and then quality. My only hope is that its realized before its to late. That is my journey. Its not for everyone. And not everyone gets there.

My point being some of the best days of hunting ive ever had i never pulled the trigger.

 

[Nuts]

My point being some of the best days of hunting ive ever had i never pulled the trigger.

100% agree. True story