Big Bucks and Tags

[Sparkleberry Ridge Runner]

Will the proposed tagging system enable you or your club to produce bigger/older deer?

[SC quacker2]

I'll be your Huckleberry!
As I've said before, we've been doing it pretty much since forever.
The length of time a place is quality managed will not grow bigger antlers, but will grow old deer both buck and doe.
At this point we harvest 7-10 year old deer EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
And more so to answer your question, we harvest 140"+ bucks consistently EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
The oldest ever harvested were 12 years old (1 buck and 1 doe aged at Matson's by CA) and the largest racked buck was approx. 170"
Yes, I agree that genetically SC is limited to what our native deer herd has to offer.
So what, it is what it is because we manage the deer on our place for age, not antlers!
Today, very few 1.5 YO bucks are killed by our neighbors....everybody wins and everyone kills big mature deer EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
That said, since we manage for age I am tickled pink to harvest a 7 YO that barely hits on 100"...

How many acres?

[FBT]

dude. go hunting. have fun with it. do your best. it will all work out in the end. you cant make the call on what is best for everyone. you can attempt to educate them but they are not and will not listen. I commend you for your passion and persistence.

[jwilliams]

Will the proposed tagging system enable you or your club to produce bigger/older deer?

I don't think it would help us, except by adjoining properties. BUt most of them already manage their herd pretty well. ...We already limit ours by more than what is proposed. We are pretty fortunate to have good neighbors except for a few renegades.....

The poachers probably wouldn't be slowed down by it too much...If they don't mind shooting deer with qbeam I am pretty sure they don't care about a limit either.

[BRR]

Tags will not change a thing in my area except how much we pay DNR.

[Calibogue]

How many acres?

since we are talking about statewide limited buck tags the number of acres are irrelevant

[Kioti]

Doesn't matter if they are allowed to get bigger. They will still all be nocturnal due to a four month season.

[Highstrung]

I've killed all of my deer in the daylight.

[led0321]

I'll be your Huckleberry!
As I've said before, we've been doing it pretty much since forever.
The length of time a place is quality managed will not grow bigger antlers, but will grow old deer both buck and doe.
At this point we harvest 7-10 year old deer EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
And more so to answer your question, we harvest 140"+ bucks consistently EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
The oldest ever harvested were 12 years old (1 buck and 1 doe aged at Matson's by CA) and the largest racked buck was approx. 170"
Yes, I agree that genetically SC is limited to what our native deer herd has to offer.
So what, it is what it is because we manage the deer on our place for age, not antlers!
Today, very few 1.5 YO bucks are killed by our neighbors....everybody wins and everyone kills big mature deer EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
That said, since we manage for age I am tickled pink to harvest a 7 YO that barely hits on 100"...

I think we had 5 killed last year that were between 120-130".....As my hunting buddy said...There were 16 heads on the wall at XXXX taxidermy. 7 of them were from our club....

B/c we haven't developed enough food plots yet and have no agriculture, we are held hostage a bit by droughts, etc.

Your move Sparkler

[Catdaddy]

Alabama found that going to three tags changed the mindset alot. The thought of running out of tags weighs heavily on the mindset.

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[led0321]

Alabama found that going to three tags changed the mindset alot. The thought of running out of tags weighs heavily on the mindset.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

So did Virginia. Virginia hunters are discussing amongst themselves to go to two tags instead of three.

[gamecock1974]

Alabama found that going to three tags changed the mindset alot. The thought of running out of tags weighs heavily on the mindset.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

A bunch of "if's" here --- but isn't it just simple math? IF I am a law abiding citizen and "if" I've got 2 or 3 tags in my pocket - wouldn't I be far more selective in what I shoot? Therefore allowing far more deer to get to a mature age and have a chance at being the illusive 140" deer you are referring to? One thing is for certain - you shoot that same deer at 2.5, which a lot of guys happily do (me), then it aint growing to 140"... but also, what is the intent? to grow trophy antlers or to expand what the DNR feels is a depleting deer herd?

[Calibogue]

A bunch of "if's" here --- but isn't it just simple math? IF I am a law abiding citizen and "if" I've got 2 or 3 tags in my pocket - wouldn't I be far more selective in what I shoot? Therefore allowing far more deer to get to a mature age and have a chance at being the illusive 140" deer you are referring to? One thing is for certain - you shoot that same deer at 2.5, which a lot of guys happily do (me), then it aint growing to 140"... but also, what is the intent? to grow trophy antlers or to expand what the DNR feels is a depleting deer herd?

It's elusive.... As in elude!

[pee dee]

Shorter season is the only answer for growing bigger bucks in SC....i didnt read any of this , but DNR cant enforce deer tags or turkey tags. The longer turkey season will just end up in more birds dying IMO

[SC quacker2]

since we are talking about statewide limited buck tags the number of acres are irrelevant

I disagree. If you are pitching this as a way to grow more mature deer, then people need to understand how few mature deer per acre are typically shot on heavily managed properties. 1 per 500 acres? 250?

[Bigtimber2]

So did Virginia. Virginia hunters are discussing amongst themselves to go to two tags instead of three.

Tennessee hunters did push for and received 2.

I have enjoyed hunting Barbour County Alabama since the reduction. The hunters we spoke to love it. The lease I hunted claim they see as many deer as ever and older bucks.

[Silentweapon338]

I'm confused as to why the length of the season has anything to do with killing x amount of deer?

The amount of time allowed to hunt shouldn't have anything to do with the amount of deer that are able to be harvested.

[Calibogue]

But the same couldn't possibly happen in SC of course!

[Calibogue]

I'm confused as to why the length of the season has anything to do with killing x amount of deer?

The amount of time allowed to hunt shouldn't have anything to do with the amount of deer that are able to be harvested.

It doesn't....

[pee dee]

It doesn't....

please enlighten me on this?