Since I have been a member of ALDeer you guys have made a Tennessee boy feel quite welcome. It's good to watch good ribbin, chastising, and even some good debate. What I would like to say, I may get some feedback, but knowing you guys, most of you will agree. Let's remember that a trophy buck, good buck, that's means big medium or small, the hunter that pulled the trigger, he or she, thought that it met their standards. I am going to make an honest effort to congratulate them on their harvest, no matter the size of the deer. I am one who holds out, I like to shoot that mature, heavy horned, older deer. That's me. I have seen a hunter bring a deer to show his buddies, even to show me, his harvest, and their is always an Idiot standing in the group that will have something to say that is either negative or insulting, and I have seen the look of pride, happiness or whatever you call it just leave the hunters face. IMO , just keep your mouth shut. Smile, congratulate them. We are deer hunters, one and all. My trophy may not be theirs.
Thanks guys for allowing me to vent. Good luck to ALL of you. !!!!

Agree with your comments, but I have a question. are you a member of Tndeer as well ? If not why ???

Good post, good attitude to remember!

Agree!

I am a member of TN Deer as well but, I'm gonna say this, you guys seem to know everybody and a tight group. Quick to help someone in need and give good advice when asked. Had one of you guys pm me about a barrel for a Remington standard 20 ga that I was looking for, called him, put me in touch with a guy in Huntsville, he didn't have the barrel, but that's what I'm talking about. I do know some of the guys at TNDeer, not knocking them, but I have more fun watching ALDeer...

Good post I couldn't agree more!

Agreed!!!

I agree with you somewhat. I am that guy also. I hunt mature deer. Our rule book has a minimum standard by which everyone in the club as agreed to. We still have a couple of guys that basically kill anything they want and claim they needed meat when we are overrun with does. At that point I turn in the guy who ridicules them. Call me an a$$hole if you will, but we all agreed upon a set of rules and the vast majority of our guys pass on 2.5, 3.5, and even 4.5 year old deer. That select few, though, feel as if they are immune to our rules and kill a perfect 2.5 year old 120 lb 8 point with more promise than 85% of the bucks on our property. That takes the a$$hole award away from me and lands it in their back pocket.

On public land, or a club with lesser standards, I would be the first to congratulate anyone on any deer they consider a trophy. On our club, however, that is a different story. Call me a curmudgeon or a call me an a$$hole and I could care less. When you break a rule you should bear that burden. A kid is a different story. We will lessen our standards for kids and praise anything that hangs on the singletree.

x2!

I agree with the OP 100%. However I also agree with tsmith. If a club has a set of rules and a standard to go by then everybody should respect that otherwise shoot what makes you have a good hunt.

x100

I grew up in a brown-its-down club as a kid & honestly it was the best club I have ever been a part of thinking back.
It wasnt ever about the deer. It was the people that count.
Nothing but smiles & sincere handshakes all around for every deer brought up to the club house. It was FUN!

I got older, other places to hunt, and away from that style of hunting. I got the big buck fever and almost lost my way. My father stayed a member of that club and has been for 20+ years. It was never about the deer to him, and it took me awhile to understand that. I think we all evolve as sportsmen.

tsmith,
I understand you viewpoint completely. My club as point & spread restrictions. We also have a rule that flagrant violations or repeated violations will get you brought before the board to see if you need to remain in the club. For a minor violation, a deer that was close, maybe barely undersized, I am not going to chastise a man. I still will tell them its a beautiful deer and he will eat good. I have been there before and you know as soon as you ground check it you phucked up & its no fun having to carry that deer back to the clubhouse to what you know it coming... as it should be, peer pressure should be the biggest motivator, the $fine secondary.

Anyway, I think most of us are on the same page and thats GREAT to see.

So does your club not have and enforce penalties for breaking the rules? If not, why not? That seems like the easy way to solve that problem.

Club I am in, you get two bucks per membership. If the first one killed by you, a family member, or guest doesn't meet the standards you pay a fine and are done deer hunting until next year. If your first buck meets the standards and the second one doesn't you find a new club to hunt in next year. We don't have serial offenders.

WOW, wmd

Even if its close?

I couldnt have fun in that setting. Too tight for me.

We do have penalties and I would be the one to enforce them. We are a close knit group of guys. We love to hunt, we love to BS, most of all we love to be around each other in that setting. That, to me, is equally rewarding as taking a mature buck. Those who broke the rules have been warned, as it states in our rules. The next violation will be monetary. Subsequent violations will be expulsion from the club with no prorated compensation owed. I don't want to fine people and I have had this conversation with nearly every member. It would only cause tension between us. I left it to the discretion of our members, which is also in our rules, and the majority agreed not to fine. That being said, if it happens repeatedly, the offender is simply showing a lack of respect for those of us who abide by the rules, hunt hard, and pay just as much as they do. In that case, it will be time to cut ties.

One of the offenders is a members son. The first year he killed a cowhorn and claimed it was a cull buck and last year he killed a 2.5 year old 6 point. His father paid the fine and I let him know what our expectations were from that point forward. We have some nice deer and ,after 8 years, we have them coming into our food plots regularly. Why kill a baby when that mature 8-10 point is waiting in the woodline? I understand we all get buck fever from time to time. Hell, my heart still pounds when I draw back on a doe. I just try to teach trigger restraint because I know whats out there and we have all agreed to the same rules/goals.

I don't want to lose good friends over a deer. On the same hand, I want our members to respect each other enough to play by the same rules. I constantly ask for input from our members on what they would like to see changed in our rules. We revise them yearly but not one of them has ever asked to reduce our minimum size requirement for bucks. It is a fine line to dance on. I have some members that complain about what others kill and others that are complacent with the issue as they don't want to stir the pot. The best thing I can do, and I already do this, is to take a good inventory and show them what we have on the property. That should be incentive enough for them to let the immature deer walk. Sometimes that happy trigger finger, though, has a mind of its own.

I may have not been as specific as I should have been. You see I wasn't talking about the clubs, didn't mean to confuse that. I believe someone in a club knows what he or she is signing up for and what the rules are. You see I am still fortunate to own family land and have sole permission on others. The way it used to be. I'm only referring to those that hunt family, public or land they have permission to hunt, outside of rules. Didn't mean to mislead. Sorry

That's the ticket. When they see what these deer turn into at 5 and 6 years old, they are MUCH more likely to let the 3 year old 115" deer walk.