Bamahuntin

I use Trophy Rock simply because it is a natural salt deposit mined from the ground. I try to mimic Nature when possible. I'm a bit hesitant to use anything highly processed or refined.

Considering how poorly baited sites performed back when we were conducting studies on the effects of baiting on hunter success, no I would never bait, even if it were legal. Heck, my neighbors' illegally bait now and they never kill any of our older bucks.

Using the Severinghaus tooth-wear aging method:

Deer #1: 5 1/2
Deer #2: a "tweener." At least 3 1/2 and possibly 4 1/2.

Am I the only one that still kills small basket racked bucks? I see everyone with these nice racked bucks and I think that is great, but that ain't what's getting killed on my small slice of heaven. I guess it depends on what you consider "small basket racked bucks." The only buck size limit we hav...

And, another thing I have noticed is........not everybody can find and get pics of mature bucks; even on the exact same property! You cannot randomly place a camera and expect to get mature buck pictures. They do not just wander around blindly. THIS is the statement of the century. The difference i...

Very cool information! Every buck is an individual. Some travel great distance and some are real homebodies. I've seen GPS collar data showing bucks that don't leave 100 acres in a year, and bucks that cover 18,000+ acres per year. Would you say the majority do one or the other? I don't have many e...

GREAT stuff! That's an amazing amount of work and study put into those kills. You should be immensely proud of those deer.

Very cool information!

Every buck is an individual. Some travel great distance and some are real homebodies. I've seen GPS collar data showing bucks that don't leave 100 acres in a year, and bucks that cover 18,000+ acres per year.

Thanks for the answers BSK. From what my neighbors that have hunted here for years tell me, the mini rut around thanksgiving sometimes is evident and some years it isn't. The weather was a lot better for daytime movement last year than this past season during the week of the muzzleloader hunt so I ...

BrentM, Certain aspects of deer biology appear to be extremely complex. Breeding dates is one of those things. Strong evidence exists for these dates be genetic and hereditary along the female line. At the same time, equally strong evidence clearly indicates--especially in the Deep South--these date...

If big antlers are your goal, definitely take care of any 2-year-old bucks that are well above average. Working inside high-fences, where individual bucks can be followed over their lifetimes, has taught me that the vast majority of true trophy mature bucks were top-end all their lives. In essence, ...

Just like some women, some does cannot conceive for a variety of biological reasons. These does, even though they enter estrus and are bred, continue to cycle into estrus every 28-30 days, and will do so 3, 4, and even 5 times. Basically, well into spring. In my opinion, it is these does that cannot...

daniel white wrote:Kill em dead, especially them ugly ass turkeys

THIS! I hate those nasty seed-eating fathered rats! ;)

It is a big balancing act. Balance your goals with the amount of work you're willing to put in... Like Bryan said, most of what needs to be done is usually habitat/land or hunter based. A very low percentage of the time is it wildlife related. Maybe a combination of the two but rarely only wildlife...

Along those lines, how many acres do y'all think you need to have (1 owner or under cooperative mgmt) to yield a tangible change in age structure, ratios, etc. So much depends on the habitat of the property, how much control the hunters/managers have over that habitat, and the deer density for the ...

I'm currently awaiting a reply on what procedures they offer for due process when seasons and bag limits are being set. Can you give an example of a state that has legal due process for hunters as for the setting of bag limits? I'm trying to think of an example and cannot. Although several states h...

That's pretty site specific Edwardo! Those descriptions looks like deer hunting units in Michigan, which are sub-county.

ikillbux wrote:Regs MUST be done on a county-by-county basis, and then provide exceptions on a permit basis for clubs and landowners within each county that need tighter/looser regs.

That sounds like the perfect system. However, I have no idea how difficult that would be for the state to implement.

And yet there's still a huntable population in that county even with all the governmental intrusion. How can that be? When the people of this state through our legislature enact game and fish laws to conserve and replenish game species, that's not intrusion. When a man or a small group of men on a ...

Edwardo, I'm having trouble understanding your beef. What is it you don't believe the Game and Fish Department has the constitutional legal authority to do? Alabama hunters and fishermen have been completely removed from the rule making process when matters concerning hunting and fishing seasons an...

Edwardo,

I'm having trouble understanding your beef. What is it you don't believe the Game and Fish Department has the constitutional legal authority to do?

I don't care how anyone hunts until it starts to spill over on to my property or surrounding properties. Personally, I hunt for mature deer. I could care less what a deer scores, doesn't matter. The age and the experience is the trophy. What does bother me is seeing 1-2 individuals/landowners that ...

I personally believe that any mature (5.5 yr old or older) buck is a trophy, but don't expect everyone to subscribe to my scale. Hey, if you can successfully pull that off enough to make you happy, you da' MAN! And I mean that seriously. Killing bucks 5 1/2+ is not easy. I've only been able to do i...

Currently we are in a place where our Dept. is trying to allow folks to manage their own property with liberal antlerless harvest limits. Due to the education process for several years of "kill all the does you can" mentality, we've created a problem. Especially in the areas in north AL where the l...

Thank you for your reply. I agree with you in principal, and in application regarding misuse of data to support a specific agenda. It's just the responses to some very knowledgable people's well reasoned posts that gives me pause. I personally believe that any mature (5.5 yr old or older) buck is a...