Evalulating the 2017 fire arm deer season

Well you guys that don't have decent forage can eat that tough old buck meat if you want but I have corn and or soy bean fed deer and they mostly grow nice enough racks at 1 1/2 of age.
Now If I wanted to shoot monster 160 plus class bucks I would save my money and go to Saka CA to hunt every year.

My 2016 buck had a broken tine so was only a 7 point but was only a year and a half.



Al

 

Nothing wrong with that buck, he would have been legal here, all I'm saying without the 3 point rule here you would not have seen one that big.

 

We do not have a 3 point rule here. We have thr 3 inch rule to make it a legal buck to tag.

We do not see many spikes here. at 6 months they will have a inch to two inch nubs and at a year and a half like my 2016 buck is normal. But they feed on corn and soy beans all summer.

Is even rare to see a 4 or 6 point here.


Al

 

There is a big difference in antler growth in location and food source, where we hunt is mostly pines and they do not get big antler growth in the young bucks. It does have to be two inch bone to be counted as a point.

 

Absolutely. Where I live in SE Wisconsin, there's a lot of farm fields with corn
and soy. Up north, where I hunt, it's pines and poplar forest. The deer have much larger antlers down by home.

 

Congrats on a nice buck! Legal is legal.

Same law here. A spike of at least 3" is legal.

 

So true. You need decent genetics but even with genetics, without proper nutrition a young buck won't amount to much. I read an article that said proper nutrition should start in the womb. Young bucks with good nutrition will grow larger pedicles. Larger pedicles are like a larger diameter hose allowing more blood to circulate. This results in larger racks in following years.

People like to put mineral supplements out in the fall as attractants but I feel they are more beneficial in the early spring for nursing does and throughout the summer for all deer, old and young.

 

Same here

 

Similar to where I hunt too. Both of the camps I hunt at are on rocky Canadian Sheild where topsoil is thin and vegetation is swamps and forests resulting in less nutrician. A monster 4.5-6.5 year old buck here is 140-150". However just a few miles away from both camps is tillable ancient lake bottoms with many farms. Similar age class bucks can be in the 160-170" gross range.

 

This is a legal in my area of Michigan buck. Normally I wouldn't have shot it but it had been ran on to my property by a guy on an ATV and I could see it had been wounded.
Rather that see it suffer longer I put it down since it was legal.


Well I am mostly in the planning process as of now. I have taken one plain white 50 pound salt block to the woods and sat it on a stump on the south side of the creek. I have two more 50 pound blocks of salt and calcium staged to move to the north side of the creek once it freezes over. Those were bought to see if the deer will like them better than the plain white block. I want to do two more blocks but will wait for a few months to see what the deer like the best. Aslo maybe after the spring thaw has settled down I can again cross the creek with the tractor and heavy salt blocks.

Also have plans for a clearing they made along The creek when they dreged it back in 95 and Leveled as I requested. I plan on working it up and planting buck wheat to start in the spring. I have read and watched a lot of you tubes on food plots and have decided those people are money bags with what they spend on equipment, fertlizer and seed.

I am hopeing I can do at least half with plain old rye in the fall about Sept 1st., both the Buck wheat and Rye seed is resonable priced if you go to local farmers or the grain elevator. Added benifit of Buck wheat is the honey bees will work the flowers too. Makes a dark strong flavored honey a few people like, but also makes some dandy stuff to put back on the colonies in the fall for winter food for thre girls.

I also have a lower area in the woods full of Ash seedlings, all in the 12 to 18 inch tall range. Figure if I cut down all the Elm and Bass wood that will let sun lite into the Ash seedlings and get them going faster. Will make fire wood out of the cuttings.

The the last part is to go out and mark the oak trees the deer are working now and then come spring fertlize them. Not sure what mix yet, 10-10-10, 12-12-12 or 19-19-19 all three common and easy to find here.

I goggled that Dirt bag stuff. Reviews were not all that glowing, I also think the reviews were written on the loose stuff and not the block.


Al