I am happy w the deer I hav - the number 3 deer from last year got pretty big - not sure what happened to top 2 10s - would not surprise me either way on those 2. I hav not seen any huge ones in my Wilcox county property and it my first year to hunt there - hav few young buck w potential and one old big body 7 that will never be nothing that is the herd bull - thought I had killed him - but it was a 6 I never seen that look similar to the 7

The problem is most 3yo have enough bone on their head to tickle someones pickle, and just enough for them to say " He was 3yo, he was mature and he was as big as he was ever gonna be" or not enough bone and they say " he was 3yo, he was mature and he was as big as he was ever gonna be." They wanted to kill something and justify it either way. Which is fine if that's what they want to do.

If people want to shoot every 3yo, that's fine, but I don't understand those same people saying they never see 130"-140"+ deer. You can have all the habitat, food and low pressure that you want-but if you kill every young buck- you won't see high numbers of high scoring deer.

I may have got down a rabbit hole and this isn't directed at anyone specific on this thread. I'm on night shift in this Google building and have ALOT of time on my hands tonight. So I figured I would join into an intriguing conversation lol

You got the place to do it for sure.

I killed 5 bucks in 10 plus years - 3 of them this year and 2 of those needed to die and my sons deer sure needed to dye - straight trash
I no I ain’t hurting them to bad that not even a buck a year

Now you’re gonna piss in folks Cheerios by saying that Jeremy 😁

Maybe if people fed their deer cheerios instead of corn, their 3yo deer would be 130"

Hevishot13. Master baiter

T-Dog, we are working harder now than ever and intentionally studying with more fervor even after thirty plus years of "lust" for these fantastic animals. I think it's Matt Duff whose motto is, "Never stop learning". Within this long and informative discussion, I am reminded not only that it is very difficult to grow a buck to 130" in Alabama, but also the devition it takes to hunt and kill him. Whatever may be thought of David Blanton, I remember well an interview he gave years ago. The interviewer asked him who was the one hunter on earth who he respected most. Without hesitation, he said, "Any man who consistently kills large, mature bucks in the deep South; Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi... is my hero." Nowwww!!! There's your Alabama perspective! Hats off to all who reach that loftiness.

Jbatey, I hear it all the time. Folks saying they just don’t have big deer and wonder why. Yet they shoot nearly everything that has forked antlers. You can’t have both

You’re so sweet to me Matt 😉

For a guy that can't kill any bucks, you sure like to bitch about how others do it 😂

You caught me 🤭

Here’s a couple examples of what I’m talking about with "culling the lower potential bucks"…..This is a good example of a 4 year old with little potential that would be taken out…..




This is a good example a 4 year old with a lot of potential that would be given a couple more years…..You take out the bucks like the 6 points so the better potential ones like the 13 point don’t have to compete with them…..I own 25 acres and I let this deer walk as a 130 inch 3 year old…..I almost regret shooting him as a 4 year old just because it sure would be cool to see what he would have been at 6…..

I have a high 130s 3 year old on the wall, all i had was 70 leased at the time (probably 45 was huntable) and i would've loved to seen what he could've been a 5, but there was no way i was letting him walk on that particular piece of property! The place still has super potential, but the clubs in the area shoot everything that walks......

If you plant it ................they will come.. Come 130 come, come 130 come....Kudzu fellers...Its Kudzu.....

Big Harry That’s awesome - this will be my first year to try protein - if i can keep my properties and keep the poachers off - I excited about the future - I got my share of trash bucks that I want to reduce - but I got a young 8 w Ton of potential at both properties and my 3rd best from last year I think will make 130s next year if he lives on my bigger spot- now not sure we see him - he hard as heck to even get on camera - I got a lot of sanctuary and u get better at hunting the longer u are there - I was better this year - it will improve more

Dang good buck cnc.... what he score reckon.....

Yall have almost talked me into passing on the next 3yr old....keep on 😀

Thanks! .......Rough scored him around 154......

The reason I like the idea of going to a system that was more bow hunting based with less gun days is so that more of these bucks could get age on them and the choice really be taken out of our hands…..We wouldn’t be bound by rules of “you cant shoot this” or y”ou can only shoot so many” etc……Instead we would simply be bound by what you could kill with a bow and that alone would allow for many more bucks to get some age on them and fill out their potential…..It would actually manage our herd for better age structure in a simpler manner than all of the rules we have now. Also, I think bow hunting would much better balance opportunities with harvests……Meaning that if a guy kills seven bucks with his bow then its most likely because he was hunting high density land that gave him lots of shot opportunities…..Folks would not be able to over harvest so easily in low populated areas.