On the wings of Doves

     Dove season is the official beginning of hunting season for me.    Really it has already began with trail cameras , bush hogging, as preseason scouting for deer.   Dove season however is the official beginning of a long season of hunting.  As our family was blessed with a boy around four years ago, that opening day of season some how involves my boy ready for season.
     I have read several posts of how and how not to introduce your youngster to the outdoors.  Dove hunting for me has been a great opportunity to do just that.   I try to keep those hunts relatively short.   I try not to go too early as its real hard for my little man to sit too long.  The weather is real hot here as well, so later in the evening is just a good bet.
     What dove season offers is allot of fast pace action.  My little boy gets to help find birds.  We are on the go.  There is allot of shooting and yes the occasional hit by myself  (haha).  We usually bring one of labs along which also is good for entertainment.   We end up killing a few birds, shooting allot of shells, having a picnic, and spending some quality time together.    The hardest part for me  is to go ahead and end the day when my little man gets tired.  You know its about the time the shooting gets good , but that is hunting with a youngster.
     This preseason for dove and deer has been fun with my son.  He enjoys doing pre-scouting and loves to talk of birds and deer.  He is thrilled to look for turkey and deer in the fields in the evenings and gets a kick out of seeing them first.  Jamie has enjoyed planting for the birds and loves to keep watch for Dove in our yard.
     The journey of raising an outdoorsman and good citizen continues but I take an opportunity to sit and enjoy the anticipation of another season for me and yes for my boy.   Good luck with your upcoming hunts and don't forget our next generation in your hunting plans.

     

Cull bucks

Do you shoot him or not?
   
     For those attempting to practice Quality Deer Management or Big Buck Management,  the topic of cull bucks have been a heated discussion over the years.   There has been allot of  misconceptions spread around with hunters and clubs, but times have changed.  I have personally fell into the trap of attempting to cull bucks from the herd.  As hunters attempting to be trophy hunters and deer managers,  you occasionally go a few seasons without shooting bucks.   Its nice to feel that you are improving your herd and be able to kill a crazy rack for your wall.  But is that right?
     I will quote a QDMA article entitled "Mis-Management of Bucks" by Lindsay Thomas Jr.
"1. Shooting management or cull bucks has not been shown to improve antler genetics unless you hunt inside a high fence. It is all but impossible to improve antler quality through selective removal of “inferior antler genetics” in free-roaming deer populations. Thus, I believe the justification that the majority of culling hunters are using is baseless.
2. Under the genuine application of culling, only a small fraction of deer managers are at the level of achievement with their deer program where culling is likely to have a benefit, or at least not cause harm to a potentially successful QDM program." 
    From this same article, it referenced the King Ranch and their 8 year attempt to research and cull bucks.  They came up with this statement.  “Over eight years of very intensive culling, we weren’t able to show any benefits in terms of improvement in antler quality.”
     From research,   many of the antler abnormalities we see are not genetic.  Sure---some bucks will just not grow huge racks and yes some genetics problems may be spread.   I have seen the occasional 4 year old spike but they are rare.  Many of the antler abnormalities are actually a result of injury.   I am told that the injury at times can be on the opposite side of the body.    So if you are attempting to improve your herd's genetics (which is difficult if impossible to do) then shooting many of the booger bucks isn't actually improving your genetics.  
     From personal experience,  most of the cull bucks I shot were later on found to be injured.  I can also tell you that I now make a decision to a bucks if its what I want to do.  If a buck has a cool rack, then I shoot it.  We all know that you have to let a buck grow to at least 4.5 to see what it will be and I get a thrill out of shooting mature bucks.  

Attached is cull buck that I shot a trip a few years ago.    I was sitting in a shooting house during a rut, during a rain storm, and I managed to see 6 racked bucks in a 3 hour sit.  Oh--it was also 70 plus degrees.   I shot this buck thinking I was helping my buddy out.  Did I help his herd----Probably not.   I did managed to catch this boy coming across a shooting lane and had a fun time taking a funky racked buck.