No point I don’t reckon but the first buck I think is older than 4-5 with a crappy rack. Unless my judgment is wrong. I’m fairly new to deer hunting again I hunted when younger but got back into about 8 years ago and yes def still learning. And this property is 200 acres.

Ah ok I gotcha. Yeah he might be that old. Hard to say.

I don't shoot old deer cause they messed up. I usually shoot 5 year old but not always. I hav had a few crappie 5s that i let walk. To what Matt said - i had an ugly cull at 5. Never had chance to shoot him and was not sure i would. Next hear he grew considerably - still a cull - but much nicer and i shot him as a 213 pound 6 year old that i skull mounted

We operate off of #1 and have been pretty successful at it. Of course we are a core group of deer hunters that know we all are pretty good at field judging. Unless it is a kid that has never killed a buck before we are kinda particular about the guests we take.

After several years of using cementum aging I’ve also decided putting a year age on a deer is a joke. I only try to identify juvenile, mature, and senior. That buck is senior.

Yep. Lumping them into age categories rather than specific years is far more accurate. Same with tooth wear. You can identify fawns, yearlings, and 2+ with accuracy. After that there’s a whole lot more that can determine tooth wear for an individual deer.

An outfitter in Alabama said he went to high fence after trying to manage his deer for about 10 years and not seeing antler improvements. Some of that could have been no trigger restraint, but genes are a big factor. There are a few folks here that actually have land in the right areas and trigger restraint. One study in a no hunting area showed the progression of a buck and it's best rack was at age 7. How many folks could allow a deer to get to seven, when any buck is a trophy in some areas? Some folks are going to take time off and have everything set up to take out the older age class bucks. Then if someone takes out the younger class deer everyone wants to complain about no bucks. It can be really frustrating when you have that one guy shooting all the good deer. Some small bucks can become freaks if left to grow, even in Alabama. Over the years you hear and see more of those freak bucks that still seem to make it to get a large rack. The tough part is trying to be the lucky one to be in front of the big one. Big bucks are not hard to kill, it's just trying to get the buck killers to let a few go every now and then.

^^
For me - big bucks are very hard to kill!! I think its way easier to kill 5-6 year old gobbler than a 5-6 year old deer. Trouble is having a big deer or a turkey to hunt. I hav killed my best the last few years - but i had to hunt my butt off and be there on That exact day and it was late season. This year i hav hunted hard and hav more mature than normal - but it has not worked. I hav shot one nice deer. But - i hav small property and usually at best only hav one stand available to hunt the wind on and some days i do not hav that - the wind eill be wrong for every stand!! The weather and wind hav been the hardest part for mw this year. Like yesterday - on stand - wind switches and hits me in back of neck. I get up and leave. Typical of my season!! Today is a switcher - so i prob will not go. My hole season as been hunting lesser stands waiting on a good wind to hunt my best stands

Amd when i kill one - it always seems like the last 10
Min of legal. Nothing ever happens easy

Some of the better deer I've ever killed have came from down wind. I think sometimes they just aren't paying attention. You ever been walking thru the grocery store and bumped into a metal pole because you were thinking about something else?

Cant say I have ever done that, but I have chased several does right into VERY dangerous situations LOL

Boy I disagree!! 😂
Killing mature deer has never been a problem for me. Having them has been. If I have one to hunt I can normally kill him.

I think you have to look at big buck killing as two eras , before corn, cameras and QDMA and after. I know several hunters up in this area that would kill 10-15 gobblers every spring , but rarely killed a 4 YO buck. This is not aimed at you Matt or anyone in particular , but corn and cameras have made superstars out of some hunters who couldn't buy one without it.

Yeah I know. I’ve seen it here too. I’ve killed a few mature bucks over corn too, but I’ve killed more without it. In early season it’s as simple as waiting on the wind to get right and go kill him now that corn is legal. At least it is here. There’s not a single buck that survives here unless we want him to. Otherwise he’s very killable regardless of age.

Here is reality:

I have more than 1 place to hunt. If I hunted property "A" I could go around bragging about all the big deer I killed but I'd have to stay off the Turkey Forum because while there are Turkeys they are not easy to kill. And I limit most Turkey seasons in 3 States.

If I hunted on property "B" that's easy to kill turkeys on... I'd be on this forum asking is a 5 year old Buck with a Basket Rack a "Trophy"?

I've hunted places that for whatever reason I could kill a Turkey nearly every trip and this was not specifically due to the numbers of Turkeys about... just for whatever reason it's easier. I don't know why or what the differences really are..... but I've had that play out multiple times in my life and hunted with people that were allegedly awesome Turkey hunters that in reality just had a good place to hunt.

Same with deer.

Anytime someone is tooting their horn that's what I'm thinking because that is the truth of the matter. I've seen some true dumbasses that can't hunt for crap kill really good deer because they have good deer to kill and neighbors don't shoot everything they see.

I know a guy that kills at least one mature 120”+ buck a year that doesn’t ever know what the wind is doing or what the deer are doing. He just goes to green fields and is there when the mature buck happens to show up in the daylight. I told him he’s an idiot for not playing the lottery every week because he is the luckiest hunter I’ve ever met.

Goat it’s got to be the Gobbler to Hen ratio on the easy turkey property 😂

Same part of my frame of reference... I know a dude that has probably 10 each 150+ inch deer on his wall all bow kills.....That's impressive. Still impressed either way BUT He told me his secret one time was not drinking Coffee so his body didn't give off a Coffee odor. I was like.... Do What? WTF you dam topwater idiot?

Pretty sure he's just got a good spot to hunt. You can't kill what isn't there.

Oh I agree with him. That’s why I drink tinks during January.

Small amount of land and not being able to hunt best plots makes it hard. Most of the season i only had 2 fields i was hunting in clark. Big acreage and lots of stands probably makes it much much easier. I did think i had a chance to be done by early jan - but it been hard. Been a month since i hunted my buck field. Lot of that is due to wind. Of everything this year - the weather by far has been the hardest keeping me from hunting where i want to hunt. I am not going to hunt wrong wind and i cannot beat a swirling wind-and if u cant hunt best spots - its hard. My plots are in a thicket mostly - got a lot of pine trees on my land. Some of it so thick u can’t walk it.

We are not all playing with same deck of cards. But i do hav one advantage - i am the only one that can screw mine up. My pressure stays down at best spots - i purposefully keep pressure down - but there a ton of times i cant hunt anyway due to wind. My last 3 weeks should be good - but personal commitments coming up going to eat up 3-4 days a week minimum now. Then will wind be right when u can go?? So Like i said - its hard. For years - i hav taken my best deer - but i would not call it easy. And i got freakin deer that still not Comfortable with a freakin banks feeder that been there 5 years - thats crazy. But i hav learned - not all deer the same - not even on my small lease and i hav hunted all across the south

And for me - its all about pressure and wind - thats with or without corn. Hunting club or no hunting club! Amd i was taking some of the best deer off clubs when i hunted them - but i hope i never go back. Small acres can be hard - but i would not go back to clubs

So many people hunt wrong winds in clubs - among other things with childish games