beadlescomb.....the point went right over your head. and yes there is something special about killing a big buck with a modern compound bow. you have to get drawn when the deer is in your wheelhouse so you have to beat his eyes he's close so the chances getting winded is high and then you have to hold it still while executing a strong shot. everything about killing a big mature buck with a bow is waaaaay harder than it is with a rifle. even kids can kill deer with a rifle. can 8 yr olds kill a deer with a compound bow?
one again I had 3 bucks this year in illinois inside 100 yds but not on bow range. one was a high 160 or maybe 170 class 12 point a mid 160 class 13 point and a mid 150 class 10 point. could have easily killed all 3 with a rifle. i guarantee you if I could've got an arrow in one of those it would have been way more rewarding than blasting them with a gun.
why do so many folks down here go to the Midwest?
could it be that with the very limited gun hunting that they have more and bigger bucks?
I say it’s 3x as hard to kill a Mature buck on public ground in Alabama. I’m more impressed with a wall full of 120-140 deer off public in Alabama than a wall full of 140-170 from the Midwest. Totally different animal. I’m not knocking bow hunting the Midwest but killing grown deer in Alabama isn’t easy and the same goes for turkey.
Youre absolutely correct. Now let's discuss why that is. Maybe because in Alabama, there are 90% less mature bucks, as a percentage of total buck population for the state, as there are in many of those midwest states. The more mature bucks you have in a population, the easier it is to run into one. And why is that? Because Alabama kills most of them before they get past 3 yrs old and has been doing it forever. Age structure, and the regulations and trigger restraint that are all necessary to achieve and maintain that age structure, are real factors. You cant kill what is not there and the fact is that in most of Alabama, most bucks are shot long before their 4th birthday. There are small areas in Alabama where you would not believe the number and quality of bucks youre able to see, but they are few and far between and most possess unicorn factors like large land holdings, surrounded by great neighbors with additional large land holdings all around them, and most importantly, they have very low pressure and are ultra selective about what bucks get taken each year. They dont attempt to kill every mature buck they have and they damn sure dont shoot every 6 and 8 point that walks out. They might have 5000 acres and only take 5-7 bucks a year off of it. There are 500 acre clubs all over Alabama that kill 15-20 bucks a year. Basically, every rack deer that is seen from the stand or on ride in, gets shot at or killed. It's not rocket science why the buck hunting and buck quality in Alabama is the way it is.
