Possible longer gun season

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RidgeHunter

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It is certainly easier to kill a 1.5 year old buck on my lease than a doe I'll give you that. You don't see the does (we don't feed). They are there obviously, but they just don't move like yearling bucks move in the fall. If I tallied deer seen from stand 1.5 year old bucks take the lead by FAR over does. Not even close.

The adult does seem to be too smart for that in a heavily hunted county. Yearling bucks are also about a thousand times easier to actually kill. They will bust you and then stay there. Or bust you and come in anyways. Does don't ignore your bs. I got busted trying to draw by 4 does the other day. I have literally had a forky bed down 15yds away and stood up and loudly peed on dry leaves from 20' without him moving. They are too stupid for their own good.
 

retrieverman

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Not answering for Mr.T by any means but I've had this discussion with several guys over the years. All have answered about the same with
-limited time to hunt
-limited places to hunt
-a ding dong goofy 1.5yo or 2.5yo buck is almost always the first one at the corn pile no matter the time of the season, the least wary, and the most likly to be up traveling during gun season, even when there's heavy hunting pressure.
Cry me a river about having limited time to hunt.:rollingla From a guy that lives over 500 miles from his place, is generally in the stand less than 6 days a year and still manage to kill at least one deer a year, I can’t accept that as a valid argument.
Oklahoma has so much public land that I have trouble with the limited places to hunt argument too.
And, the fact that a young buck is the first to the corn pile still doesn’t mean you’ve got to shoot him. Even when my kids were young, I made them exercise a little patience in the deer stand and wait and see what might come in next.:rolleyes2
 

RidgeHunter

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I'm not a "trophy hunter". I just like more bucks to make it through their first year. I have been hunting the same property 20 years and a basket 8 2.5 year old used to be the talk of the lease. Some years none of us would even see a racked buck hunting all 3 seasons. Now we pass 2.5s all the time and 3.5s and older are becoming more common. If they get past 1.5 that's the key.

I think "hunters in the know" helped with that a bit at least. We still had designated doe days when I started hunting. Almost everyone shot the first buck they saw. Big changes in the last 2 decades.

It's just better seeing more than forkys. It's a better herd and a better hunting experience. "F U trophy hunters" is a bad argument. You're not a trophy hunter because you like a few racked bucks to...exist.
 

Okie4570

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Cry me a river about having limited time to hunt.:rollingla From a guy that lives over 500 miles from his place, is generally in the stand less than 6 days a year and still manage to kill at least one deer a year, I can’t accept that as a valid argument.
Oklahoma has so much public land that I have trouble with the limited places to hunt argument too.
And, the fact that a young buck is the first to the corn pile still doesn’t mean you’ve got to shoot him. Even when my kids were young, I made them exercise a little patience in the deer stand and wait and see what might come in next.:rolleyes2

Oh I agree with all that, just relaying what I'd been told many times over.
 

MR.T.

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I always try to get 2 deer every year. I get the doe (or antlerless) first, usually in the first day or two. Then spend the rest of the season working on filling the antler tag. There have been several years that I didn't get it filled cause I would pass on the small bucks waiting for something bigger.
What I'm saying is if there were antler restrictions, it's taking away my right to shoot that small buck that shows up on the last hour of light on the last day of the season, & with the restrictions in place, then I am not supposed to shoot that small buck that shows up & I waste the money & time I have on that antler tag.
& if I do, I am in violation & can be fined.
I don't agree with that.


Also, there is no way I'm going to the public hunting are that is near me during rifle season. I'm not going to put my life in that kinda danger on purpose.
 
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dlbleak

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Could implement an earn-a-buck program like Wisconsin. But with our online check station, who's to say that a hunter "checked" in a doe just so that they can get their buck tag?
Is that a ‘doe first’ program? I could get behind an idea like that. If I already have some meat in the freezer,I’m not going to take the first dink buck that comes by. I do agree that it would be easy to cheat though. What if they coupled that with a one buck limit?
 

dennishoddy

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Is that a ‘doe first’ program? I could get behind an idea like that. If I already have some meat in the freezer,I’m not going to take the first dink buck that comes by. I do agree that it would be easy to cheat though. What if they coupled that with a one buck limit?

I’m in on the shoot a doe first and I don’t see a need for a one buck season. I’ve gone for years without shooting any bucks, only does because I was looking for the right buck to come back that I had seen on a game cam or in person, passing on lots of quality bucks. It’s a personal decision that I don’t want taken away from me.
The ODW program of let em grow is working by educating young and new hunters into the culture of not shooting anything that isn’t mature.
Our deer herd is at record levels with giant bucks taken on a regular basis across the state.
It appears the biologists at the ODW that study deer results annually don’t think we need a one buck season either or it would have already happened.
Education is the key, not more restrictions IMHO.
 

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