The tools (cell cameras and bait) have gotten lazier, easier and better and reflects on kills. Folks mimicking shows with hit list etc….and a 115 inch looks pretty good to most.

A few things that bother me is using cell cams to kill deer and turkey. Cell phone sends a pic and off they go to kill it. It’s happened several times that I know of and more so than not.

Instant gratification

We just want to go hunting and have fun. We want to keep doing the things that are working for us. If we want to run cameras on our property that’s our business. If I want to dump a truck load of corn at each one of our stands that’s my business. If we have a first time hunter come to our place and they want to show a fork horn or even a spike for his/her first buck, we what them to be able to and then have the chance to kill a good one the next day. Will they do it? Probably not but that chance is there for them. I will agree that the season is way to long but you don’t have to hunt everyday. We know and hunt the best times on our place. We know that after the 2nd week in December till the 2nd week in January is a really slow time on our place so we hardly hunt during that time. It allows the pressure to be lowered on the place. Like I said in another post. Y’all need to worry about what you can control and leave what you can’t alone. We do not try to negatively affect our neighbors and if anything we are doing does, all they have to do is talk to us and we’ll work together to try to resolve it. Other then that, mind your own business and leave us alone.

As a taxidermist I've seen better quality racks this year than I have in the past 15 yrs.

20 years ago there where 5 clubs with in a 10 minute drive from my house that had 3000-5000 acres. Now there's 1 club with 2300 acres with almost 50 members... storal of the mory is less land and more hunting pressure. Plus lease prices are so high folks feel like they have to kill a buck to get their money's worth. Any buck.

The answer to your question is that most old mature bucks easily pattern hunters around the corn piles. I’m not a biologist but baiting has been legal in Louisiana for as long as I can remember and not many old bucks are killed at a corn pile. However the younger buck will dang sure feed at them regularly which makes them an easy target. That 100” 3yr old buck that some think is to small to shoot may be a monster to someone else. That’s the great thing about hunting. We have that choice to shoot that deer or not. We feed on our place and we have lots of mature bucks on camera. Will we kill those bucks at the corn pile. Hell no!! But when I’m off in the woods on the side of the main trail that all the does use to go the corn and he follows them or skirts around down wind in late January, hopefully I’ll be in the right spot to get him. Most of our guys are content sitting on the corn pile watching the younger bucks with the hopes of a mature buck walking out. It rarely happens but sometimes it does. That’s their choice and if it makes them happy then I’m happy for them. I’m just as happy for the guy that killed the 6yr old 150” or the guy that killed the 100” 3 yr old. Both are trophies to them.

I’m not trying to define what a trophy is to anyone. I’m asking whether a reduction in older age class deer is going to impact hunting’s future. I think it will.

I strongly disagree with how easy it is to kill mature deer on bait marshmud. It’s very easy in early season and in rut.

. I personally wish they would 1or 2 buck limit and shorten rifle season to month of January only or 4 weeks around rut because parts of state is different times of rut. Limit doe days. Only thing they will not touch is baiting because I believe it brings in to much money and will be here forever unfortunately.

I haven’t seen that be the case up here.

what were the rules 30 yrs ago, buck a day and doe days now it's a doe a day and 3 bucks/season and we see a decrease in numbers. My rant on this is we will chastise a hunter behind his back for killing a spike/4pt because he could grow up to be a potential B/C, P/Y deer but pat someone on the back for killing the DOE that produced that buck because he was meat hunting. How many future bucks are not produced by killing the Doe? Do know there are other variables. Quit killing the mommas.

Could not have said it better. The last damn thing I want is somebody at the state level telling me what's best for me. I was one of the suckers who purchased the lifetime licenses for my children/grand children that was supposed to cover everything for the rest of their lives. Hence the name "Lifetime". Years later let's add baiting privileges, reef privileges, etc. Do I trust the people who would make these decisions? No. Manage your own properties and I'll manage mine.

Not on our place. On occasion we will kill a mature buck over bait but not very often. It would probably be a lot different if there was just a couple of us hunting the place. All I’m gonna say is someof our guys don’t pay attention to detail like some of us do. It only takes one screw up with a mature buck and the chance at killing him over bait goes out the window. Also we have so much natural food the bucks don’t really hit the corn till after most stuff is dead in the woods. So we don’t see many mature bucks in the early season. Now if we have an acorn crop I know where I’ll be in early season.

There are always going to be plenty of older age class deer running around. I’m not sure I follow the logic of cell cams means more kills unless you mean people are killing them at night when they get a picture of them because that’s still when most of my bucks are on camera. Most people hunt on small acreage, they just go hunt their spots regardless. Now if you want to argue baiting is potentially causing more young bucks to be killed, ok. But not really sure I agree with the cell cam aspect. Cameras have been used for years well before cell cams came out.

I don’t think either have anything to do with a decline in numbers or sizes. I know it os a totally different deer but look at other places in the us. Baiting has been legal for a LONG time. And you think they use cell cameras too? You betcha. However, they onky get one buck per season so they make it count!!!! Our liberal season and liberal bag limit is the main culprit. Plus like others have mentioned, inability to enforce laws.

I honestly can’t remember ever “tagging” out. I just don’t hunt enough or have the privilege to hunt in an area that gives me the opportunity.

I do like the length of the season since I have to work and have kids and family that lives out of town, etc. I get more opportunities to hunt. But some people are wearing it out and killing just to kill. I’m not for more government control, but some people can’t help themselves

If anything a cell cam or any cam for that matter should keep someone from shooting a younger deer. Lot easier to know a specific deer than to see it for the first time and make a split second decision to shoot.

Dang facebook and cell cam's, everyone is a hunter now days...soon as that 125" is on cam in daylight, he's getting hunted the next day...Folks can't let that 120" walk cause the neighbor will kill him if I dont.... And then you throw corn in the mix and that hot doe comes to eat dragging that 3 yr old buck behind her...Boom, he gone....Anyone can shoot a nice deer with the technology thats out there today IMO...Nothing you can do cause the state aint gonna give up that 15 bucks, and cell cams do a lot of hunting and gather intel for folks that normally wouldnt get out of bed and go that day, so those 3yr olds aren't slipping thru the cracks like they used to...Just my opinion...

Cameras…..have definitely made people hunt when they may not of. Hear it all the time (got a good on coming it at 3:?? I’ll be there) (got a target Buck) these deer may of never been seen.
Corn….. Made it easier deer will get in a pattern learn the noise of a spinner. (Feeder goes of at 6:20 deer start showing up 6:30.)
People want to hunt where they can seethe corn pile and the camera.
Scouting for deer is a lost art with the times. Feed-em they will be there.

We had a guy this year in our club that shot a 2 1/2 yr old deer during bow season. Our club is 4 1/2 or better. When he told me about it he said “I would have sworn it was that big one that was coming in with that group and I had one opportunity to get the shot off.” Never saw the horns, just let the arrow fly without being sure what it was.

You can chalk it up to cell cameras, or just bring an idiot. I prefer to go with the latter.

This is a very good and informative thread/discussion. Aldeer.com is great and it is made great by its posters. Here are some early morning thoughts. I apologize if they duplicate what may already posted in this thread.

I likewise have several feeders, box blinds and run a mix of cell and non-cell cameras. I run several cell cameras all year. Here are a few of my observations that maybe will help a young hunter.
1) The most important data that I get is from salt licks in the summer. The bucks hit these often without any hunting or human pressure. Data from these cameras tell me what deer I have on the property and most of our target bucks are based on this data.
2) Mature bucks do not like shooting houses or feeders. We will get some mature buck activity at feeders in the summer, but once the acorns fall - they leave. In the fall and during hunting season, 95% of pics will be does and yearling bucks on the feeders. If you want to get pics of the mature bucks, move your cameras away from the feeder and shooting house and you will find them.
3) Cell cameras allow us to hunt smarter and more efficient. I look at my pre-dawn cell pics before heading to the woods and use this info to steer me towards a hunting area on our property.
4) Feeders located out in the woods with plenty of cover nearby are the feeders most likely to catch a buck. The older bucks (3+ years old) will only drop by a feeder located in a food plot at night - unless he is following a hot doe.
5) If you feed too much, the deer will go nocturnal. Our feeders located in the woods go off at 7:30 AM and 4 PM and only throw out a little corn. Feeders in food plots only go off at 4 PM. AM feeders feed a few deer but mostly turkeys. Coons probably consume 50% of the corn.
6) Older bucks (3+ years) will seldom visit a food plot during the day. If you desire to kill a mature buck - hunt away from the food plot
7) When the rut hits, you will find bucks that were not on your property during the summer. They seldom stay. Likewise you will see bucks that are resident bucks (during spring, summer and fall) that will migrate away from your property. If they do not get harvested, they will typically return in late January or early February.
8) During the rut, you will sometimes catch a good buck on the edges of food plots. Try to make your food plots with soft edges (a little cover). The bucks will follow and scout for does, but they will sometimes hang out in the soft edge where they can be picked off by a sharp shooting hunter.
9) If you establish a successful hunt as seeing deer - hunt a food plot. If you desire to harvest a mature buck - stay in the woods and only hunt a stand when the wind is in your favor.
10) Except during the rut, if the wind is blowing > 10 mph - stay in bed.
11) Ozonics and EverCalm are great tools. I put Evercalm on my boots this weekend and made the cardinal sin of walking right down the middle of a food plot. I watched 6 does and 1 small buck graze all over the area where I walked and not once did they show any signs of detecting my presence.

I don’t see future restrictions on baiting- state likes the money, or the cell cams- the companies that are making money lobby the rule makers to support their money stream.
I think a more localized management plan over the current state wide type plan could help. I would also support a 2 buck limit, required check in with stiff penalties for violations. The three buck limit has brought improvements over what we had before. I think it could be even better. I don’t know if it’s still managed the same but Tennessee seemed to have some good management rules at one time. When a Hunter got his first buck tag and a doe tag or two. After those were filled and checked in , they would be able to get another buck tag. Something like that could have positive effects. The hunter would have to be more selective on his buck choices and would have to participate in and population control objectives in order to have another buck.

We wanted people to shoot older deer, and now that they are, we are worried that can cause a problem? There will still be older bucks survive. Personally, I believe, if there is a problem, it will be in high trading. Studies have shown that will decrease size of racks.