Personal Restrictions

1

187coyote

New member
What kind of restrictions do you guys put on your selves as far as trophy animals. Would you give a nice one a free pass until next year so he can grow a bit?

Iron Pony
I think you know my answer, I've got a 150 grain bullet dying to move 3,300 feet per second down the barrel of a M70, no deer rides for free, especially if my toes are freezing off. LOL
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Redfrog
In my area there are lots of mulies as well as whitetails. There is a general open season for whitetail bucks and a draw for does.

Mulies on the other hand are on a draw, both bucks and does. We also operate on the priority point system so we have to wait about 4 years for a buck draw.

I was drawn 2 years ago for mule buck. Season is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday only through November. I scouted every day through October. There really are a lot of good bucks and a few outstanding bucks here. The Sunday before the season opened I spotted the largest mule buck I've ever seen, and believe me I've seen lots.

I hunted that buck the rest of the season, everyday, even days I wouldn't have been able to shoot him. The Wednesday before season closed, I found him with 2 more monsters. I would have been thrilled with any one of them. But it was WED.No shooting. I hunted for him the next 3 days... no luck.

On the last day of the season at 5pm, I shot a small, forkhorn with only one antler. He was standing beside a buck that would score 160.

I hadn't been able to find THE BUCK, so I decided to take the runt out of the gene pool. I left the 160 to breed. Almost any day during October/November I saw bucks in the 130-160 range and a few a little bigger.

A lot of areas I hunt have a general season for mulies, just where I live it's a draw.

I've hunted lots of places where our camp would only shoot 4X4 or larger. It worked well.

As far as whitetails go, when Mike Granger was here last winter for coyotes, he saw a Whitetail rack and scullplate lying in my backyard. He was kind of excited about it and thought it was a good rack. I thought it was Ok. Not uncommon around here. He took it back home with him. I'll see if he'll post a pic when he gets done fighting forest fires.
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Sorry, I posted on the other thread before you made this one.

More specifically, for me it depends where I am hunting. For example, if I was going for a "trophy" at a place I hunt in South Texas near Dilley in Frio Co. I would pass on anything under 155-160 and it would have to be 5 1/2+ years old. (This is ideally, I am not convinced I can field judge age and score as well I as I would like in a hunting situation). Another place I hunt near Sonora in Sutton Co. I would wait for a mature buck that went 135-140. The exception to the rule for me is something unique. A droptine, mule deer forks, kickers, great mass, wide spread, tall tines, etc. I killed a 10 point (6x4) at the Sonora place 2 years ago that wouldn't score 130, but it had mule deer forks on both sides, mature, heavy mass, and the left side was palmated (webbed)! A very unique buck even though I could have waited for one that would score better. I think "score" is overrated a lot of times. It's just that most circles in Texas revolve around it.

If a 115 inch 6 point is the biggest buck you have ever killed, I don't care what anyone else says, it's a trophy and something to be proud of!
 
In Atascadero there is a 2x3 that should be a 3x3. One side didn't fork so be has a club on one side. That was a year ago and that shed is probable sitting in a pile of leaves somewhere. Think of the mount that would make. I wouldn’t have thought twice about taking him.
 
This is a good thread and thanks for the kind words 187. I gotta agree with Woodrow that a trophy is a personal thing and may mean different things to different people. I saw a mule buck a week ago in velvet, that is probably gonna end up in the 140-150 range. Not huge, but he is cool because he has matching drop tines about 8 inches long on each side. You bet he'll be someone's trophy.
Some guys hunt hard for years and finally kill a small buck or even a doe. Is it a trophy? You bet it is. The first deer my brother shot with a bow was a doe. Trophy? you bet! He made the shot, the deer took a couple of steps, stood for a minute and fell over dead.
This will be my first year hunting deer with a bow. If I shoot anything it will be a trophy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
One year the hunting was soooooo tough that I finally saw a healthy 4 point buck moving thru the thick brush past the corn feeder.

It was on my brothers property and we got a late start at setting up feeders and blinds that year. I drove 3.5 hours every weekend to go to his property driving thru Dallas traffic on a Friday evenings. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif I had spent 63 hours sitting in a open blind that season without seeing a single deer up to that point. Opening day, the temp was in the high 80's. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif I knew deer were in the area as I could hear a snort or occasional hoof thump and could see tracks. I would sit there and watch this squirrel cuss at a rabbit every morning and every evening. I watched that same squirrel jump on the feeder and try to get the corn thru my scope with crosshaird on his cute lil face.

Let me tell you, when my 150 grain Failsafe nosler bullet hit that moving buck in the neck and the buck did a flip..........it felt REAL good! That buck felt like a trophy to me. I threaded the brush like a needle and hit that moving buck in the neck. My buddy is still bragging about that shot. I can remember seeing that buck appear exactly where my rifle was pointed and can remember following him with my scope thru the thick Hill country brush.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif There was no way I was letting that one go.
That squirrel is gone now too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I don't know how you could have patiently watched that squirrel without squeezing the trigger. Man I would have gone into convulsions. I threaded a round to a ground squirrel through 2 fences. It took me about 5 minutes to find the right angle. You gotta love that feeling.
 
No restrictions. Assuming I actually get to hunt this year, if a deer makes the mistake of letting me aim at it, that deer is gonna die. I'm not in a position to afford to be picky this year.
 
I bowhunt only.October its does only.November to January its ten point or bigger,rack well past the tips of the ears before it curves up and 300lbs on the hoof.In my neck of the woods thats a 3 to 4 year old deer.
Illinois is blessed with some great genetics and the whole state is a food plot.If you like huge deer and the chance at a real wallhanger apply for a tag. You won't be sorry.
 
187coyote restrictions very good topic /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif I've been hunying deer for at least 35 years and have killed more deer then most people have seen. Last year I had this hunter at my Texas lease that had been there two times befor and I let him take an 8 point and then a 10 point both around 20" body weight does not mater, but both of his first deer were only 3-4 years old. Anyway I maid him pass on 3 diffrent bucks all around 20" and he was not very happy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif On the last weekend I took my second B&C that scored 195 5/8" and I told him that is why I don't shoot deer that are not mature. He did take a cull buck that was a 6x3 and 19" after that hunt he said that he would work on raiseing his level that he wanted a B&C for the wall. All it takes is time in the field and homework.

Shoot Long, Shoot Stright and don't MISS or don't tell anyone
 
Smooth Bore,

Does SAMPSON's RIDGE ring a bell. Massive WTD in your state especially on that ranch.

Woodrow,

I know Kings Ranch is a dream trip, here are a few counties that produce unbelievable bucks, every year. Dimmit, Webb, Frio and La Salle! Those are my choices after KING RANCH. How about you?
 
I never did like the taste of antler soup and I don't want the bother of dusting dead heads on my wall. There now that that has been said it won't surprise you that I have two standards that I follow to the letter when deer hunting:

1: Is it a legal deer

2: Do I have room in my largely empty freezer

If the answer is yes to both of those questions I hold into the wind and take the shot. I'm not interested in raisin'em so they can become big enough for someone else to shoot, I'm interested in eatin'em.
 
Iron Pony,

I will go Webb, LaSalle, Dimmitt, drop your Frio and add Hall Co. in the Panhandle (check out Plaska Lodges website).

The thing is, I wouldn't turn down a trip to any other South Texas or Panhandle Co. for that matter. I went on a quail hunt in Jim Hogg Co. and I couldn't believe I had a shotgun and not my 270! A biggun could come from anywhere down there!
 
I am not yet at the point in my deer hunting to wait out for the big one. Hopefully someday I will.

But I learned last year that the best tropy I will ever have is to be there when my sons take their first deer. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
My personal restrictions are always the time factor, is this gonna be a 1 weekend deer hunt for me this year. There have been years that I hunted 7-8 days of the 2 week season.( which in my case is pretty good for the amount of time that I can spend hunting). In 86&87 I wanted a bear, me and a buddy of mine called in 11 bear in the Sierra Anchas those 2 years and never dropped a hammer on any of them. I've managed to take quite a few deer, 1- 171 3/8 and 1- 193 3/8 mulies. Low desert mulies at that unit 37A. And I've also shot a few spikes and 2 points and everything in between due to only 1 weekend of hunting for that year. Time is my restriction, I love to hunt and I love venison. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 


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