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Owning your own farm pressures

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
Well I own a small farm like many do here in this great state. Some things I have noticed that might help guys out, and make guys enjoy hunting a bit more are:

1. Be realistic, if you own less then 640 acres your not going to hold every deer you see.

2. Use low pressure hunting, but at the same time enjoy your farm!

3. Have cams, move them around, and dont get discouraged if your not getting a big buck cause your probably just missing them, they are around.

4. ENJOY THE OFFSEASON, this is key to my place, I LOVE PLANTING PLOTS! try different things, try row plots, try scouting in the snow,

5. SHED HUNT

6. Be strict with your guests, I dont let anyone hunt my farm except close family. We have killed 2 bucks in 3 years, and only 1 doe. We are trying to increase the density even tho we cant do much about it.

PS. Reason for writing this is that my Uncle killed about a 120 inch great potential buck last night, over a food plot at my farm. He actually texted me and wrote "I hope you aint, pissed" I immediatly realized I had been way to strict, and took deer hunting a bit to much about the rack. I wrote to him, and told him I was not upset, it was a nice buck, and he had hunted very hard the past two years and not killed one.

It made me so happy to know that we kept the pressure off the deer enough that they were still coming in to feed during the daylight the 2 DAY OF GUNSEASON! He saw 3 does, and a the buck he killed, buck came in grunting like hell and my uncle made the shot count!

Overall I hope you all have a great season, and enjoy hunting for what it is, a hobby! (atleast for most)
 

motorbreaker

*Supporting Member I*
1,542
63
North of Toledo
We had a 125" rule. Some guys we hunt with shot bucks that were barley 100" deer. But it was there biggest buck ever.
Sometimes its hard for some people to judge the size of a bucks rack, They get excited and shoot. Personaly i dont care what size buck they shoot. If they shoot a buck they are not allowed to hunt anymore till gun season. And this reduces the hunting preasure on our hunting property.
IMO. If someone shoots a buck and there happy with it. Then im happy with it.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I don't own a farm, just lucky enough to have one at my disposal along with a few others. It is easy to get wrapped up in becoming the next Drury brother and it can ruin a season, or three. Having control of a good piece of ground adds a lot to your hunting experience, both good and bad. As long as you maintain a level headed perspective on things, I think it is mostly a good thing. It is when expectations and self induced pressure begin to rise that things take a turn for the worse. I'm very thankful that my dad was able to purchase 80 acres as it gives me so much more to do than if I was hunting public or a piece of private I couldn't manage. Things can always be worse regardless of how bad it can seem at times...
 
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at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
I don't own a farm, just lucky enough to have one at my disposal along with a few others. It is easy to get wrapped up in becoming the next Drury brother and it can ruin a season, or three. Having control of a good piece of ground adds a lot to your hunting experience, both good and bad. As long as you maintain a level headed perspective on things, I think it is mostly a good thing. It is when expectations and self induce pressure begin to rise that things take a turn for the worse. I'm very thankful that my dad was able to purchase 80 acres as it gives me so much more to do than if I was hunting public or a piece of private I couldn't manage. Things can always be worse regardless of how bad it can seem at times...

TOTALLY AGREE, that is why I thought about writing this post, I thought it had some good insight on what too look for in a piece of property, and what you can do with it.

I could add, I plant trees, clear small areas for little plots or trees, do small areas of hinge cutting to create natural browse, I have only owned for 3 years but I am honestly seeing huge changes in numbers of deer, and size of deer.

Planting foodplots, and getting cam pics or watching deer eat in them has to be one of the best feelings for me, I just get so much satisfaction out of knowing that my hard hard work is paying off.

Hope my post gave some good insight, and happy/safe hunting!
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
Great post!! It's my dream to one day own a nice chunk of land for family & friend to hunt on. Who knows if I'll ever be able to make that dream come true, that reminds me, I need to go buy a loto ticket.
 

Dannmann801

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,640
191
Springboro
We had a 125" rule. Some guys we hunt with shot bucks that were barley 100" deer. But it was there biggest buck ever.
Sometimes its hard for some people to judge the size of a bucks rack, They get excited and shoot. Personaly i dont care what size buck they shoot. If they shoot a buck they are not allowed to hunt anymore till gun season. And this reduces the hunting preasure on our hunting property.
IMO. If someone shoots a buck and there happy with it. Then im happy with it.

Just an idea....an owner could have a skull cap with a rack to show any hunter and say "If it's smaller than this, don't shoot it!"
Give them a visual representation of what to look for.
Just a thought.

As a guest, I think it's important to clearly understand owner expectations. I ask a lot of questions.
If I were an owner, I would clearly state exactly what was expected of guests. Saves a lot of hurt feelings and misunderstandings.

Good thread
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
Just an idea....an owner could have a skull cap with a rack to show any hunter and say "If it's smaller than this, don't shoot it!"
Give them a visual representation of what to look for.
Just a thought.

As a guest, I think it's important to clearly understand owner expectations. I ask a lot of questions.
If I were an owner, I would clearly state exactly what was expected of guests. Saves a lot of hurt feelings and misunderstandings.

Good thread

Very good points, I honestly sit my family down and we go through trail cam pics. I show them bucks that I would not expect them to kill and ones I would expect them to kill. It still does not work all the time, buck starts grunting, and running does, guys blood pressure rises, and they are ready to kill at times.

I think I just think it is more important to be a good friend, nephew, dad, etc. then worrying about "growing" big deer. I am the biggest advocate of letting small bucks walk, and low pressure hunting, but at the same time we all need to be realistic!

I hope you all can learn from me a bit, I used to have anxiety about them killing small bucks/this/that and it is not worth it. Just be happy your able to own/hunt land in the greatest country in the world!
 

Dannmann801

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,640
191
Springboro
I think you've got a great attitude, that's for sure. Some things are way more important than deer :smiley_coolpeace:
 

Hedgelj

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,144
178
Mohicanish
When i hunt with my in-laws we try to keep it simple. The comment is made every year to not shoot any buck you arent interested in putting up on the wall. We give the guys crap ifthey shoot a little one but nothing major.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
My property isn't big enough to worry about it. That said, I feel the same satisfaction you are talking about in making small improvements and seeing how they might help my property.
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
Yea for me I am only 22 years of age. I have grown so much in the past three years I think Im a different person.

I have learned that big bucks arent for everyone, but you do need to be firm with your expectations of people hunting your land. This is not redneck camp, you can do the redneck shit in the summer. When it comes to deer it is season business, smoke up, wind, safety harness, shot placement, maturity, etc.

My point being at times I have probably put so much pressure on people they did not want to kill a deer cause they thought I would damn near choke them out, not that I am a mean guy, I am just very serious when it comes to hunting.

Last night when my uncle was happy he killed a buck it woke me up a bit when he wrote to me I killed one, but I hope your not mad at me man. I almost was like what kinda of DICK am I! Although he thought the buck was a little bigger it was a great hunt, and we aint going to starve this winter.

I hope you all can really take some of my points in, I honestly have picked up many of these from you all over the past few months on this site. A guy could post a pic on this site of a fork horn that 99 percent wouldnt shoot, but everyone still congrats him and that means alot.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
I think your feelings are natural AT. I have properties I do not own that I put a lot of time and effort into. On my property, I just want to see one of my friends or relatives kill something. I would be thrilled if my wife's 15yr old cousin killed a button buck this weekend. He is a first year hunter. If my son kills a fork horn, it will be as big a trophy to him as a B&C deer would be to just about anyone. I would love to implement some restrictions but it is unrealistic on my ground. For this reason, I just want to see some brown down. As these young hunters or new hunters mature, it will be up to them to determine what they want to shoot. All I can hope is my example to my son or friends or other relatives is witnessed. If I pass, then hopefully they will too. If not, then I guess whatever they shot must have made them happy.
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
good points by all, I thought this would be a good topic to discuss.

Can be kind of eye opening.
 

ImpalaSSpeed96

Junior Member
561
60
NJ
120 inch deer is a super deer for a lot of us. Mine was 120 this year, and had I not gotten pics of a similiar deer and had my buddy tell me I HAD to shoot that deer, I probably wouldn't have shot him. In hindsight, it probably would have been a bad decision, on public. Sure I could have shot one bigger, but a 120 is a really nice deer, esp for someone who has never killed one that big. I think you handled it great. It's not what you want to see, but for him to be happy with it is all that matters. Firing back, WTG MAN! is the only way to do it. Because you know he was thinking "oh shit" afterwards, and that ruins it. Hopefully he was able to flip the switch after he realized you weren't mad.

Owning your own land is the only way to go, but it can definitely be frustrating, you don't even have to tell me.... Esp as an out of state owner.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I would venture to say managing for age is harder and more frustrating than managing for score. At least in my area. My main concern is age and with age, usually comes score. I've been lucky enough to kill two 6.5 year old bucks and am awaiting the age on the latest. Those buck are flukes and freaks of nature for the most part. Getting them to 4 or 5 purposefully seems nearly impossible at times!
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
I would venture to say managing for age is harder and more frustrating than managing for score. At least in my area. My main concern is age and with age, usually comes score. I've been lucky enough to kill two 6.5 year old bucks and am awaiting the age on the latest. Those buck are flukes and freaks of nature for the most part. Getting them to 4 or 5 purposefully seems nearly impossible at times!

if you ask me its all about available cover, and letting those deer make it through gun season. If those big bucks get in areas where guys can drive hunt chance of them surviving drives year after year is rare.

At my place, my farm is now butting up to a 800 acre clear cut thats 1 year old. I know for a fact within the next 3 to 5 years this clear cut will hold deer. I will probably have much better chance at killing a SUPER HOG because the deer will have a place to hide and if anyone wants to try to drive deer on the ridges of SE Ohio clear cut, go give it a try! haha.