re: Need Advice

Whats more important, making memories with your boys or growing trophys.

I can tell you how to do both and though not totally mutually exclusive, the path is different.


You may hunt those better two all year and not kill, and that may be fine with you, but your boys might move on to something more interesting.

Gasoline and perfume get a many a fellow if he isn't kept in the woods.

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Not that my opinion matters, but bucks #1, #3 and #4 should be on the no-kill list (I'm sure you were going to let #4 and probably #3 grow anyways). Bucks #1 and #3 are going to be giants one day and their genetics are perfect.

Buck #2 on the other hand is a perfect management buck. I would sick someone on that deer or shoot it myself; it is extremely unique, but in terms of genetics it is a mature deer that has reached its highest potential.




All day everyday 1 and 2 should be taken on 70 acres. 3 would be on the hit list for next year and 4 needs several years.

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and folks, this is why LA has small shite deer compared to other places. People want to take for themselves instead of management.

I have 100 acres of family land. We don't really have a management plan in place but consistently get pictures of what I would call decent bucks. The properties around us get hunted hard as well. We strictly bowhunt and very rarely pass on does. Our rule of thumb is 8 points are better. There are exceptions to the rules for example a small basket rack 8 will get passed on, or a goofy antlered deer will be culled. Since we started bowhunting, we see more deer year round and have started seeing bigger deer. I believe deer move into our property after pressure from rifle season picks up. I would let your boys enjoy a few years of killing to cure their itchy trigger finger and then worry about managing for 150" deer. It's going to be hard to manage for deer that size on a small parcel of land.

Agreed its 70 acres. At best your getting deer that either part time bed there or pass thru browsing. Your not managing or harboring anything longterm. Shoot what you can while you can. Im never a fan of shooting a young deer at all even on 70 acres. Mature does and Bucks all day every day.

You need to put some cameras in your woods on the trails. Only having cameras over a feed pile is amateur hour and you are missing most of your deer most likely, especially during the rut.

70 acres surrounded by a couple hundred is nothing. Rutting bucks will cover 1000s of acres potentially.

I'd set up your pictures with your sons and talk about it as a family. See what will make them happy.

You should likely come up with something like you only shoot 2 bucks a year you have on camera. If someone shoots a rutting buck from 1 mile away that's clearly not a local buck that's not as big of a deal.

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Been thinking about your post a bit more. Neither son has killed a rack buck. That's what they need to do. They each need to kill the first decent rack that makes them happy, then try for a little better after that.
And let that 14 yr old kill does now. Some hunters aren't very good at shooting deer when they see them. That's because they haven't shot many deer. The boys are going to have a hard time when the monster comes out if they have hardly any experience killing deer.

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Man that's a great point. Heck I've killed several deer and still get the fever when a biggun comes out. There are two 6's that are smaller than that 8 that come out every day. I would like to see what they become but, there are a couple does that we could stack up to get them in game.

Gonna order me a couple more cameras too and put them in a couple different places to see what else I'm missing. Thanks fellas.

I haven't hunted in 5 years with a gun, I killed my best buck with a bow last year only going a handful of times. It's all starting to come back to me now.

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This whole topic kind of makes me sick. Every single one of them deer is going to have good backstrap. Bunch of grown men wondering if they should take a certain buck on 70 acres. If it’s my place, they’re all in the freezer come end of season

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My question wasn't whether I should shoot those deer in the pics. My question was, should I allow if it's brown it's down with my boys. They could have dropped a doe every time we went but, I believe if we kill everything, they will never have the opportunity to take one of the deer pictured.

In the past 2 years I have let multiple 140+ bucks walk within 20 yards because they were 3. I have had multiple chances to kill young 8-11 points this year and haven't drawn back once.

My 9 year old son has permission to kill anything that makes him happy. I have already started talking to him about management and showing him the difference in deer from year to year but in 20 years the memories of him killing one will far outweigh the regret that a deer didn't grow as much decoration for my ego.

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My question wasn't whether I should shoot those deer in the pics. My question was, should I allow if it's brown it's down with my boys. They could have dropped a doe every time we went but, I believe if we kill everything, they will never have the opportunity to take one of the deer pictured.

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On my family's land the kids were always allowed to shoot 2 small bucks when we were young. After that, we had to follow the rules of everyone else in the club. The first deer I killed with my dad in 3rd grade was a spike, I look at that spike today at 36 and it means more to me than any of the big bucks hanging on the wall

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This whole topic kind of makes me sick. Every single one of them deer is going to have good backstrap. Bunch of grown men wondering if they should take a certain buck on 70 acres. If it’s my place, they’re all in the freezer come end of season.

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I grew a 200 inch deer on 100 acres of Kansas farm land with little to no cover except in a creek bed.

He had a square rack that went 2-3 inches outside his ears, 10+ inch tines at G2-4, and a base so thick he probably had between 40-50 inches of mass measurements. This deer at 5.5 and 6.5 was every bit of 200 inches Boone & Crockett.

And when I say grew, I mean GROW. I watched him for the first time as a 135 inch 2.5 year old buck, and I watched him decline at 8.5 years back to a score of about 150 inches. He died last year at what I am pretty sure was 9.5 years old, I just don't know how. But he isn't on the cameras anymore.

I didn't keep passing him up. Believe me, I hunted this deer for three seasons straight. I passed up a 150-160 inch 10 point to keep hunting this big bastard. Others hunted him too. But no one ever killed him.

This deer isn't even the only example of deer that have been grown on small tracts of land. This year I have camera footage of a 165 inch 10 point that was a 150 inch 9 point last year and has been on the farm property for the last 3-4 years that I am aware. He lives right by the house and is routinely seen from the back porch.

The list goes on and on with deer that have literally died of old age before I could get a damn arrow in them.

My point is, 70 acres is small, I agree. But to say you can't manage on 70 acres is wrong. Like I said on page one, it depends on the 70 acres.

And in what state are you allowed to take 4 bucks? Moreover, your post contains the most irresponsible thing I have seen in the thread yet...learn to appreciate the sport and take mature deer, leaving the next generation to grow and continue to flourish so everyone has the ability to enjoy. What a ridiculous thing to say....kill all 4 bucks.