Bowslinger
New member
My wife and I bought this 55 acres in October of 2004 south of Nashville about 45 miles. I didn't see much or have much success in that first hunting season here, til the last day of the season. I saw a nice buck making his way thru the trees about 50 yard from my stand, about an hour before the shooting light faded. That gave me a positive feeling to hold on to til the next season.
During the off season I got busy with food plots and mineral sites in an effort to help boost the quality and quantity of deer on my property. I planted 10 acres in beans with small strips of corn running thru it. I put my cameras out in the early spring and left them all year to get an idea of what was going on around the property. Needless to say, the doe population was very strong. So I began to actively reduce the doe numbers in the 2005 season, and I let everything that had any kind of bump or knob on top of its head walk. Including a couple "decent" bucks, by Tennessee standards, that I had seen on my trail cams and from my stands during the season. I took 5 does out of the woods in 2005, which seemed to only make room for more does over the next 2 years.
I maintain the food plots year round, by planting rye, oats and winter wheat in the late summer/fall and continued to see increasing numbers of does on my trail cams. But by the end of that 3rd season I also started to see larger bucks showing up more regularly, and I managed to take a nice 8 pt in 2007.
Last year was not a very good year, as I had pnuemonia during deer season and only got out to hunt 2 seperate days thru the entire season, but I did manage to take 2 more does out of the herd.
This is the year I plan on "cashing in" on some of my efforts...
During the off season I got busy with food plots and mineral sites in an effort to help boost the quality and quantity of deer on my property. I planted 10 acres in beans with small strips of corn running thru it. I put my cameras out in the early spring and left them all year to get an idea of what was going on around the property. Needless to say, the doe population was very strong. So I began to actively reduce the doe numbers in the 2005 season, and I let everything that had any kind of bump or knob on top of its head walk. Including a couple "decent" bucks, by Tennessee standards, that I had seen on my trail cams and from my stands during the season. I took 5 does out of the woods in 2005, which seemed to only make room for more does over the next 2 years.
I maintain the food plots year round, by planting rye, oats and winter wheat in the late summer/fall and continued to see increasing numbers of does on my trail cams. But by the end of that 3rd season I also started to see larger bucks showing up more regularly, and I managed to take a nice 8 pt in 2007.
Last year was not a very good year, as I had pnuemonia during deer season and only got out to hunt 2 seperate days thru the entire season, but I did manage to take 2 more does out of the herd.
This is the year I plan on "cashing in" on some of my efforts...
