honoring landowners requests

[HawgEnvy]

so you ask permission to hunt a piece of property. the landowner agrees with the stipulation that you take any animal that gives you the opportunity. buck,doe,fawn,woodchucks,coon,and turkey are on his hitlist. he is so adamant about the taking of game that he is so bold to request that you hunt his property "after hours" if need be. this IS NOT a rhetorical question. this is a dilema ive been in since hunting this property.

ill shoot coon,woodchucks,squirrels any chance i get, no problem. im not a turkey hunter...yet. as far as the deer are concerned, i would rather shoot a doe of any age than shoot a young buck or spotted fawn. ive got plenty of smaller bucks under my belt in the early days of my bowhunting. i no longer feel the need or desire to shoot small bucks. my self-imposed restrictions on bucks are nothing less than 8pts and must be wider than its ears(approx.15"). i pass on many deer every season on this property. the landowner called me out on it last season and now im in jeapordy of losing hunting privileges if i dont start harvesting more deer.

how would you handle this dilema?

[MLN1963]

Your standards seem fair. Have you had a chance to explain why you don't like taking young bucks? If he insists and it may cause you to lose your hunting priviledges then you have a moral dilemma, do you lower your standards to meet his? Would he allow you to bring some young hunters to cull some of his animals after you have taken yours? Say towards the end of the season maybe bring a neighbor kid, niece or nephew that might not have an opportunity to hunt?

[Ford]

I would explain your reasoning, and if your really worried about loosing the property then tell him you will take as many doe as you can. Tell him by reducing doe numbers it will reduce how many fawns are born, reducing property damage overall. If he still doesnt like that, tell him your buddy Ford will come up and thin the heard a little.........
Your welcome, I know it inconveniences me to come and shoot all your deer....but hey anything for a friend....

[Destroyer]

Do you need tags for the deer? If not then I would be doing what the land owner wants, but just enough to keep 'em happy. That way it gives you permission to track down a huge buck once you have 'done your job'. I can understand your position though, you want to 'hunt' not 'exterminate'.

Now if I had a property like that, I would be smacking just about every deer I see lol!

[Ehunter]

I'm with Ford on this one. Explain to him that taking small bucks and fawns really does nothing to slow the breeding rate, and the damage the deer are causing if any. Does are the key to controlling a deer population. Maybe as suggested, ask if you can bring along a friend, or relative to help thin the does out. I ran into basically the same thing years ago on the property I hunt now. Farmer was fed up losing nearly 25% of his crops. I took some family in, we thinned out the does pretty well, and donated all the meat to the local food bank. Now, the farmer just tells me where he's seeing deer movement, and if he's seen any big bucks lately. He seems quite content with the deer population now, and hasn't said a word in 6-7 years about "taking them all out". One thing I have noticed as well. Once we thinned the does a bit, it seems like we have more bucks being born each year percentage wise. Used to be you'd see 8-10 bucks a year, now it's better than doubled. The doe numbers don't seem to be increasing at the same rate as the bucks for some reason. No idea why though.

[HawgEnvy]

i went out to the property to hang my stand yesterday late afternoon. i got my sticks strapped to the tree and here comes this guy stompin through the woods. i stopped him and he was actually looking for me. told me i couldnt hunt there anymore and that the landowner turned the responsibility of granting hunting permission over to someone else so he didn't have to deal with it. i told him i'd been hunting there for 10yrs and had written permission from the landowner in my wallet. also told him how i came about getting permission. the landowners son was my neighbor for years and was married to my wife's cousin and my father-in-law worked the prison with the landowner for 30yrs.

after talking details with the guy,the reasoning for not letting anyone hunt is because of the stolen stands last season. HELLO! mine were stolen,too. it was kind of ironic,really. back in '04,3 days after i shot my 11pt,there were 6 stands stolen. 3 of mine and a father and his 2 sons each had stands. it was the first year hunting for these 2 boys and there stands were stolen. not a good first impression. as it turns out,the guy i was talking to was the younger of the 2 boys and memories must have come flooding back. we sat and chat for quite awhile about the deer taken off the property and trespassers etc. they're filming hunts this year on the property to get footage for the Outdoor Channel. they've already filmed a Vanguard commercial that airs on OC. i told him to hook me up if at all possible. we exchanged contact info so we could communicate about what's happening with the property and unwelcomed guests. i told him to give me a call when they are going to be filming so i wouldn't mess anything up for them. he said he wasn't worried about it and i may just end up on camera. WOOO HOOO! not that my hopes are high or anything. but the thought is cool.

so now there are only 3 people allowed to hunt the property,period. myself and the 2 boys. we talked management terms,too. lotsa does and no bucks under 8pt and ear-tip wide(approx. 15"). looks like its going to be a great season. im excited!

[gravedigger]

why does this guy want you to hunt down everything in sight?i can see picking off coons ect... but drop as many deer and as ofter as you can even if its after dark,thats a bit weird.does he have crops to protect.

[HawgEnvy]

yup. lots of corn. if it eats his corn he considers them varmint and wants them gone.it's all about the money he loses from damage to the crops. yes,the guy is VERY weird. i guess 30yrs as a guard in the mental ward of a state prison will do that to ya. those guys have seen WAY more than anyone should.

[gravedigger]

Of note; My wife and I took 5 deer one season off our 31 acres. Never put a dent in the population.

i bet it put a nice dent in your freezer.

[Destroyer]

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