Ok so those of you that are questioning all of the food plot thing, the field thing, or baiting, of those who are upset how many of you are hunting on public land because you do not have any place else to hunt? Or better yet do not put in any time to find private land to hunt on? The thing is here that I do own a small parcel of land only 32 acres, I am for the first time putting in a food plot in the spring, I have some great habitat surrounding the field that is too be planted. I am really excited to see what will come in and what is using the land to survive, and benefit from. Do I intend to hunt it, I am not sure yet, for the past 4 years it has been off limits to everyone including me and my step son and all friends. This past fall I decided to put out one round bail hopefully in a effort to help the deer survive the winter easier than having to forage hard to survive not to mention fighting off predators. Everything that takes place on MY land is for the benefit of the animals and nothing more, including pheasants, deer, or what ever else is using it. Last spring I had 75 pheasants in my back yard eating the corn that was placed there for them. I believe that it made it easier for the hens to survive and raise the chicks. Every year I have people stop and ask to hunt and every time I tell them it is baited and they are not allowed to hunt there, as a result it works way better than posting because now they know the entire area is off limits to hunting. The results are that we started 4 years ago with only 2 mating pairs now everyone in the area is enjoying the birds, and commenting on how well it has worked to feed them, and keep them healthy through out the year.
I hope to have the same results with the deer if it happens, and works out half as well as the pheasants I will consider it to be a huge success. However that will mean that there will have to be SOME selective harvest done in order to manage the heard and control over population. That will be determined by how much the "food plot" is getting browsed down, if there is not enough food in the field to support the heard then some deer will have to be taken. Again it will be determined if bad genetics are playing a roll in it, or if there are too many does too bucks then maybe does will have to be taken or maybe even fawns to control future populations. Like someone else stated it is an ongoing work in progress that once you start it you must work it all the time, and it does and will require a lot of time and energy not to mention money to keep it going. So to those that are helping the deer and growing better deer that have put in thier time and effort, they have EARNED the right to harvest what the want and when(legallyl of course). You see they don't just go buy a liscense, sit in the woods and hope something comes to them they work at all year long, they are any thing but lazy like some people have been hinting at.
Now before you all jump down my throat, I will tell you that the farm I hunt on is 200 acres and not one single food plot any where on the land. All deer are free roaming. Also in the over 15 years I have hunted on the land there has never been a standing crop of any kind as the land is leased out to another farmer and he takes the crop off long before deer season rolls around. So yes I do put in the work there to ensure a good deer season. Of all the years I have hunted there I have only once not shot a deer and that was the season after my dad passed away it just was not in me to harvest an animal that year, and truth be told if I had not had a young deer hunting student that had been waiting for me to take him out hunting I would not have even gone in the field that year, maybe never again. But because I HAD too, it some what renewed my spirit and love for the sport and now 3 other young deer hunting students have had the pleasure of harvesting thier first deer off that land, and again truth be told I think I enjoy that more than me getting my deer.
Just remember like everything else life deer hunting is what YOU make of it, so make your personal experience the best that you can and every season will be a memorable one.
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Topic: deer baiting...deer feeding...out of control deer herd (Read 4553 times)
