Michael, I find myself sitting here debating on whether to answer you question publicly or not do to I by no means want to sound like a trophy hunter. Let me start by saying I've shot many small bucks in my time. I believe every ones hunting spot and personal standards are different. I was raised hunting a farm that a 110" buck was a sure trophy do to the low numbers of deer and the pressure from surrounding farms. I now however am blessed to hunt some of the greatest hunting land in the state and it is strictly managed for big bucks. So with that in mind here is my take on our Fish & Wildlife Departments efforts.
Our state has done an excellent job with our whitetail herd. When I started bow hunting in 1985 just to see a buck was an amazing event. They stocked northern strain deer from Michigan and Minnesota I believe as well as from other states which is the reason our mature deer have tremendous body sizes compared to other southern deer.
Our season is long Sept. - mid Jan. in my zone but we only get one buck tag, which I like. As I say they split the state up into different hunting zones depending on the herd sizes. I'm in a zone where the numbers are high and we can shoot as many does as we want as long as we keep buying bonus tags. In comparison the eastern mountainous part of the state has very few deer compared to our area and the take is regulated for much less. There are fewer deer there not due to the department not doing a good job but due to the land is mountainous and therefore they have very few crops and the land simply can't support many animals.
My wish would be to change some things though so more of our bucks could reach their full potential. I don't know anyone that given the opportunity to shoot a 150" deer over a 110" deer would pick the 110". An important issue there would be to move our three week long rifle season out of the rut. I really believe that's the next step in making some real jaw droppers in our state. Every season we lose many bucks that have great potential but are only 2.5-3.5 year old's due to them getting lead poisoning simply because they are in the rut. We also have another muzzleloader weekend in October as well as another week in December.
I would just like to see them take it to the next level of quality of deer over trying simply to control the numbers in my zone.
Topic: Kentucky TJ's '09 season (Read 10594 times)
