Was at the property

[No1_49er]

Perhaps you don't understand that the US manner of showing a date is month / day of month / year. Pretty simple really i.e., March 10th 2023.
Think Twin Towers / 9/11. Nothing to do with 9th Nov.

[wrenchman]

I don't set the date up on my post I am sorry if it bothered you

[Larry]

Perhaps you don't understand that the US manner of showing a date is month / day of month / year. Pretty simple really i.e., March 10th 2023.
Think Twin Towers / 9/11. Nothing to do with 9th Nov.

I did know that as a US citizen. I was just having a joke. Not bothered if the date is correct or not or what format.

[wrenchman]

its ok there was no harm done

[wrenchman]

This past week I was deer hunting on the property was seeing some real nice bucks I had a chance for a deer I have only seen on trail cameras at night.
I just couldn't get on him for a clean shot and I got busted.
I did get this guy he was going through the pines and cedars

[wrenchman]

I have not been able to post much the last year because of internet issues I got this on Nov 15 2025 and I was hunting buy my self so loading it in the truck was rough

[Damo300]

Nice going.

Are you hunting these on your own property every year wrenchman?

[Wapiti]

Awesome outcome, Wrenchman.
I see your tag on the antlers...
Hey my wife and I have been watching the Discovery series on game wardens in Texas, and the way the communities support and back the hunting seasons, the way people hang out all year for it and how they respect the game and manage it is awesome.
Australia could learn a helluva lot from you guys. Yeah I know deer are feral animals here, but when considered as a resource as they should be, and a reason to get people off their arses and screens and get out and walk around a bit, hunting, how great could it be.
Instead of such a restrictive, closed and mismanaged shop that it is here now.

[wrenchman]

Damon i am hunting my own property but public is not far from me I hunted state for many years.
Thank you wapiti yes tagging as soon as it's down and you can put on is mandatory.
I run a good number of trail cameras and I tend to pass on does because I have way more bucks then does 3 to 1 and is not a good balance.
I took a doe this year also this year fist time in 7 years it's not something I want to get into a habit of to I start seeing more

[Wapiti]

Here, with the limited areas and mobs of deer, hunters just can't seem to get their head around managing deer numbers and quality for their future hunting. It's all about NOW, ME ME ME.
Because it's so competitive, this is what happens. Sense and understanding breeding genetics and quality is not even a consideration unfortunately.

[No1_49er]

I don't remember how I stumbled onto this youtube channel, but it's worth a look at how some folk in the US (Brownville, Maine) look after their deer in the non-hunting season, and as of now, a good winter. These are all Whitetail which are very happy with their supply of oats, acorns, apples, and salt licks. Lucky them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYdZPXiQMXs
If you do a bit of sleuthing, you'll find four other cameras on the same property, all of them live-streaming 24/7.

[Fester]

Great thread, I only just stumbled on it now and went like a movie, the leaner smaller does, leading up to the great buck.
He looks like a cracker, although I have no real knowledge of the species, Whitetail, I presume.

I seen a few Fallow deer in a new state forest a few weeks back, a good buck was sighted, and they look to be in great condition, despite the area being very dry and drought-affected.
I had no real shot opportunity but looks like the bucks could be just getting to hard antler stage, not close enough to be sure.

I was lucky enough to shoot a mature croaking buck a few years back and not getting many with increasing hunting pressure making the public land deer so alert in my closer forests, I am happy to shoot a younger doe for that fine eating quality.
We would see 10 does to 1 buck on average, and we are supposed to shoot more does to help control the numbers.
Having bucks outnumber does sounds crazy, but such different populations over there, and managed.

We have a govt with no real idea on anything. The WOKE Greens controlled govts hate guns and know nothing about hunting or the hunting culture that some of us DO have. I suspect that the Queensland pest control shooting culture is why blokes like Steve Renella seem to hate us. He stated on a podcast years ago, that the only reason he would come here is to beach fish for Salmon.
Our govts response to the deer spreading is helicopter culling and leaving the carcasses to rot.
They talk like deer will be the next rabbit type plague, but not saying much at all about the huge wild pig numbers that actually do a huge amount of land damage.
The numbers increased hugely after the wet years we had.

So sad that our poor leaders are following their UN friends down this path when we could have been more like the USA.

Any way happy hunting and get the most from the seasons.
At least we can hunt 365 days of the year while we are still allowed to have guns.
Get out there while you can blokes.

[wrenchman]

having more bucks then does is not normal it just seems to be my general area the rest of the state they are saying kill more does and I only say because I have so many cameras on my property .
a friend of mine hunts a couple miles away and has a more normal number I have a lot of coyotes on my property and its hurting me also the last year I have not seen as many on cameras.
fester leaving a animal to rot when shot could get you put in jail in most locations here in the states when I read about you guys having to leave a animal to rot that could feed some one is very alien to me but I do try to keep in mind the temps you guys hunt in and might not get it all before it goes bad and your laws make you leave it in some cases like the roos

[Fester]

Yeah, our overregulation also means very tough food regulations.
I doubt we would even pass the regs as hunters, but unless you are a back country hunter walking into the high country, blokes must be doing something wrong to get bad venison.
I guess, the good part is we can take what we want, and can just do a guttles take of the legs and straps if necessary.

I have not tried roo meat as we are not allowed to shoot them on public hunting land, and the Eastern Greys are full of worms and ticks, they say. It's the norm for the knee joint to be full of worms and it puts you off a bit, when deer have no real issues, in general.
Some blokes won't even take meat from a rutting buck, but the smell is just on the outside and really just tougher meat with age although it may taste a little stronger. I found no gamey or bad flavour and should have taken more meat from the 5+ YO buck.

I would like to take a young nanny goat as blokes reckon they eat like lamb, but sweater.
Further to travel without private land access, and I don't want an old stinker billy, maybe just his head.

So do the Cyotes kill more young does, causing that imbalance?
With the most common Fallow deer hear, 1 buck can have a herd of does. There will be younger bucks around so hard to really know the numbers. It's funny, as the good bucks seem to just vanish after the rut.

I once found a red deer stag with 2 hinds, but not much of a head, just 2 sticks for antlers.
Much bigger deer and may have been young. They are not as common and move a lot further, so I am lucky to just see that an experience them close up. I kicked them out of bed on a walk, after my first light hunt, but did find fresh as stag poo one other day.

[wrenchman]

the coyotes do take a lot of fawns and young does a normal count should be 3 to 5 does to 1 buck but in a lot of areas we are looking at 15 to 1 or more

[Wapiti]

Red deer stag with sticks for antlers probably was a spiker, in other words, 16 months old or older. At 22 months old they drop those antlers and will grow the next set, depending on genetics and nutrition it will be 3-4 points per side and up to 36" high.

Right now (beginning March) both Fallow, Red and Wapiti are/have rubbed their new antlers hard and sharp in preparation for the "rut" when they breed for the year and hopefully pass their genetics on, impregnating the Does and Cows and hopefully ensuring the next years resource.

Females should outnumber males, I reckon 5-10 does/cows to a male. Too many males (in fact too many animals in general) stresses food nutrition resources and definitely quality of both size and antler production.

For you hunters wishing to ensure best quality animals, and just to assist your hunting futures having deer to hunt, consider this:
The rut is when it is, usually around April. Easter is generally when people get excited. The full moon and the usual change in season will trigger it, as well as the animals inbuilt time clock.
The females come into season then, triggering the males interest.
Then you'll see the males trying to impress the ladies and get a score. Piss*ng on themselves, roaring, croaking, generally running themselves stupid. They will hardly eat during this time, spending all of it chasing skirts. This is why the meat will be not anything like what it would be at say, the end of the year after the spring-summer season's rains give them a great feed and they put on condition again.
"Hunters" get all excited about the rut, and it's parroted by people who know no better online, in magazines, and it starts a frenzy of hunters going bush. The "rut" is when someone who isn't a very good hunter can take advantage of this and stumble around when all the males are distracted by sexual frenzy. This is the reason the rut is said as the best time to hunt. But it's a stupid idea.

After the "rut" in Aus, winter starts, further limiting feed quality to recover body (therefore meat) condition, so taking a rutting animal is STUPID for two very good reasons.
1. Body condition - meat is at the lowest quality, so this is not the best time to harvest a male. Then, it's winter and the male that's not shot by someone then is in poor condition until fresh feed starts hopefully, in spring.
2. If the male is a good one, the "hunter" will shoot him before he has a chance to mate. This is just stupid.
The females cycle once, maybe twice during the rut.
Contrary to the "Deer Masters" out there, the males don't get to decide who they mate with. The one that puts on the biggest display over weeks and weeks might impress some of the ladies he's desperately trying to get to mate with. It will usually be just before they stop cycling that they allow their favourite stag/buck to mate with them.
The stag is NOT in control in who/if he gets to mate.
If unsuccessful in finding a male they like, the females may cycle twice, and give a male they like another chance.
This is the issue.

"Hunters" who have listened to the bullcrap and rubbish from online/in-print floggers will try and kill the best bucks while they are distracted, because it's easy.
These best males will then NOT get to spread the best genes and the quality of the herd, even the impregnation of the next generation is ruined.
Then, good strong meat animals and the trophies some people insist on are marginalised for the future, if not ruined.
That is not QDM, Quality Deer Management, and resource management.

Imagine if a farmer shot or sold his bulls just after his cows have cycled and he has not yet mated with his herd. Run himself into the ground and during that, he is killed.
You wouldn't have a business.
Nor will you have the best, or any, deer for your futures except does. Until there are no more, or very few, offspring and then, few if no opportunities to hunt them. Males or females into the future.

[Fester]

I don't know if this one was young, or just a crap head, he had 2 hinds.
The sticks may have been over a foot long, but not very impressive.
I don't know much about reds, as you are lucky to even see one in my local forests.

Fallow numbers are huge, but hunting pressure means it will never be easy hunting, like on a productive private block.
Even with chopper culling, they will keep spreading until drought sets in. This season could be our last good one the way the weather is going.

We get the dominant buck that rounds up heaps of does and services them all as they come on heat.
Satellite bucks may get a shot, but the main one fights them off.
They reckon shooting the old buck has no real effect, as the next one just steps in.
I will likely not hunt the rut as too many hunters everywhere.
Will try for a meaty and if lucky, see a buck getting ready for the girls.

Sambar are a totally different animal, and even they are spreading and getting closer to us every year.
From what I am hearing, good stags are becoming harder to find as chopper bombing and young hunters with thermals are killing too many young ones.
It's hard to blame the hunters when the govt talk eradication and try to kill and let them all rot.
I feel the Vic chopper shooters have more skill and or less corrupt then ours so it will be interesting how they go.
They have good Fallow numbers as well, so it will always be the best hunting state.
If I can get off my ass and drive down, I can hunt a huge forest near the Vic border to try for a Sambar, or see one at least.
Getting honked is an experience, they reckon.

We have Russa, but they seem to stay local, and not spread, so just a private land thing, big numbers where no one can hunt them.

[mickb]

Im happy to blast deer in NQ on sight, any age etc, I dont give a hoot if they all die tomorrow. No fear of doing so at least where I am, its so hard to get onto land to shoot these days, the animals have ample land to expand.