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| What's the best management tool a land owner has?; Discussion | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 4 2012, 06:08 PM (398 Views) | |
| Renegade | Mar 4 2012, 06:08 PM Post #1 |
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Atikokan, Ontario
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What's the best management tool a land owner has? Boone and Crocket buck entries have skyrocketed 400% over the last 30 years in NA. That's a huge number! What changes have had to occur in recent years for that massive increase to even be possible. My question to you is....What is the number one (most important) aspect of whitetail management that has been implemented in the last 30 years that lauched this increase in record book animals? Second, is the change and/or trend sustainable? Lastly, where do you see the trend in the next 10 years? |
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buckstop
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Mar 4 2012, 06:33 PM Post #2 |
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buckstop northern wisconsin
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My feeling is the willingness to pass up younger bucks. Twenty years ago it was unheard of and now it seems the majority of the hunters are willing to do this. Most deer have access to good feed. Most have genetics to grow at least a very nice set of antlers . But the one thing that was missing for so many of these bucks was age. If a buck cannot reach maturity he will never reach his potential. With so many hunters allowing young bucks to reach maturity nowadays it is no surprise that Band C entries have sky rocketed. Food plots help but in my opinion age trumps food plots as bucks find high protein plants in most areas ,even in big bush areas. Yes ,I feel this trend will continue. I think we are about maxed out as far as #1 nontypical and typicals but I wouldn't doubt if those #1 deer get bumped off by a few inches but can't see a wild animal getting much bigger than 220 typical or low 300 non typical. The number over 170 typ. and 195 nontypical will continue to be impressive thru the next few decades. |
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barr creek acres
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Mar 5 2012, 02:14 AM Post #3 |
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Advanced Hunter
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The first question is a two part answer for me. It is probably the fact that more hunters allow bucks to mature although education is a big part also with organisation like qdma and others educating hunters what a 5+ old buck should look like,body proportions,mass etc more trophy minded hunters are thinking more and more before they pull the trigger. I believe this trend is very sustainable more and more hunters are passing on bucks and allowing them to reach maximum potential.I believe within the next ten years someone will break either the typical or non typical records there is just too much education and tools out there feeding this new breed of hunter. It is just up to the hunter or hunters how far they want to take it. Thank You |
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Tikkaman1
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Mar 5 2012, 09:36 AM Post #4 |
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Advanced Hunter
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This is just my opinion but I believe there were lots of record book animals being shot thirty years ago and with all the tv shows/internet etc out there in the last couple of decades the word has gotten out and more people know about B&C and scoring deer and thus more entries. I have been deer hunting for 20 years and I know when I started that if a large deer was shot no one ever mentioned what they thought it would score. There were lots of handshakes and it was either caped out or the antlers were cut off to be placed on the wall. Now the first thing I hear is I wonder what it will score? I am not putting this down as i now target mature whitetails only on my properties. One other thing I believe is the changing climate has allowed for more whitetail range throughout NA and the warmer winters have allowed deer to thrive and grow to their potential most seasons. If we continue to have these mild winters there is only one way for the trend to go and that is to continue to rise. |
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| brokenarrow | Mar 5 2012, 05:27 PM Post #5 |
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Regular
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In answer to question #1 Rene, I would have to agree with BuckStop. Passing on younger deer is tantamount to being able to see more truly mature animals. Along with that, the exponential increases in the last 30 years of harvested acres of Soybeans plays a huge part in my opinion. In 1980 Canada produced over 700,000 bushels of Soyabeans compared to 792 million last year. I think most varieties produce over 30% crude protein at the leaf stage and are still over 20% at the pod stage.( Those #'s are from SoyStats. ) The numbers in the US are incredible especially in the Midwest as far as Soybean Production. We all know deer love soybeans. That may not apply to those in the northwest, but I'm sure it has had a huge effect on antler growth over the past 3 decades. What do you guys think? Am I way off? |
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| deerfarmer | Mar 12 2012, 10:32 AM Post #6 |
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Perhaps the internet and television could be considered one of the best tools ... there has been an explosion in internet over last 10 years! Could account for better educated hunters? But probably a big part is just overall climate change with more deer numbers out there. I wonder though how sustainable it is ... mother nature always seems to have a way of fixing it self. |
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baydog
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Mar 23 2012, 07:40 PM Post #7 |
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I might take some heat for this (you either love it or hate it) but I think the best management tool has been the evolvement of quality deer management. Guys are passing younger bucks and trying to improve their hunting areas by creating suitable habitat, browse, and forage. Does are being managed in a sensible way on some properties. Lots of nice deer are being harvested as a result. There's still some monsters harvested at traditional deer camps etc that don't practice QDM but I think it's changed the way a lot of us look at deer hunting. |
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