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Which best describes what you hunt for?

My hunting goals are:

  • Only Trophy size deer. Target animals.

    Votes: 5 6.9%

  • Decent bucks only. Not gonna let a nice 8 walk. Will take does early or late season.

    Votes: 25 34.7%

  • Brown is down. Tag em all.

    Votes: 5 6.9%

  • Shoot to fill the freezer, than holding out for the BIG one.

    Votes: 8 11.1%

  • Big ones until after the rut. Then brown is down.

    Votes: 2 2.8%

  • Hunt to hunt. Try not to put to much pressure on my self. Take what I can get.

    Votes: 24 33.3%

  • I'm just a gear junky. 14 saddles. Lucky if I kill a deer.

    Votes: 3 4.2%
  • Total voters
    72
These days its seems like I rarely shoot deer lol. Working full time and having a family pretty much only leave Saturdays and Sundays for me and most of the time I go hunting I take my wife and kids and give them the opportunity to take a deer. I let them shoot whatever comes by that makes them happy. I still get to be out in the woods and be with my Family. Most of the time we are hunting out of blinds and they fill the freezer. I still make it out solo but when I get those chances I am hunting for dominate buck in the area.
 
Weekend hunter here. I'm still very new, have not tag a buck yet. My record has been one doe, passing on a few does and spikes, failing to closed the deal on an 8pts because of buck fever. I went into the game thinking I'll tag a 10pts every trip out, but I have been humbled. Learning how to walk again basically. Will now learn to appreciate just being able to go out into the wood, fawns are still safe but I'm no longer waiting for a buck if a doe is achievable.

It was hard at first. I do have a very large young family so I don't have a lot of time for myself. I went to phases of jealous and regret, 'wish I got into this years ago as a bachelor' or 'wish I have as much time as other guys, can't wait for the kids to grow up so I have more time to hunt'.

But I'm at peace with myself, how I hunt in my own way, and not compare myself to others. Because at the end of the day, kids dont stay young forever and being 'here' is always better than being 'away'. Well.....99% of the times, a few days away from one kid being mad at another for LOOKING at them is not bad.
 
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I voted "Only trophy size deer" because that was the closest option. My focus hunting on private ground is mature bucks(4+), age before score. If age and score happen to show up, yippee but I dont pass mature bucks generally speaking. On public, I am still looking for a mature deer but a good 3 y/o might not get a pass. Shoot most of the doe's I take on private because we have management objectives we are always working on and because well I like shooting doe's with my bow. Generally wont shoot more than one doe on public in a year.
 
Almost all the hunts I get to participate in are not in my control with the quota/lottery system. They dictate the location, season, date,sex/antler requirement....and they are so gracious allowing 3 full days to get the job done.....If it's legal, I'm gonna try to kill it. If I lived somewhere else that wasn't so difficult to work around I probably have different opinion
 
Weldabeast said:
Almost all the hunts I get to participate in are not in my control with the quota/lottery system. They dictate the location, season, date,sex/antler requirement....and they are so gracious allowing 3 full days to get the job done.....If it's legal, I'm gonna try to kill it. If I lived somewhere else that wasn't so difficult to work around I probably have different opinion
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Man, that's tough. I didn't realize Florida was so restrictive.
 
Weldabeast said:
Majority of public is like that....some isn't...but a little outta my range for day hunts to get home to help with the kids. If u can afford private it's much better. We are the sportsman's paradise if u rich....
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Have you ever checked out one of those hunting camps you can buy into ?
 
Weldabeast said:
Majority of public is like that....some isn't...but a little outta my range for day hunts to get home to help with the kids. If u can afford private it's much better. We are the sportsman's paradise if u rich....
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gotta learn to hunt underwater! opens up a whole nuther world down there. I didnt even think about deer when there was clear water around. jump in the inlets at high tide and shoot em up. how far are you from saltwater? never had a boat and i shot thousands of lbs of fish and lobsters. i was in SoFlo/Keys 99% of the time but there were spots in NE FL we shot some nice fish. Lots of big Sheepshead
 
PEEJAY said:
gotta learn to hunt underwater! opens up a whole nuther world down there. I didnt even think about deer when there was clear water around. jump in the inlets at high tide and shoot em up. how far are you from saltwater? never had a boat and i shot thousands of lbs of fish and lobsters. i was in SoFlo/Keys 99% of the time but there were spots in NE FL we shot some nice fish. Lots of big Sheepshead
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I bet bowfishing is a blast!
 
Weldabeast said:
Majority of public is like that....some isn't...but a little outta my range for day hunts to get home to help with the kids. If u can afford private it's much better. We are the sportsman's paradise if u rich....
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Just throwing some ideas out there to try and help. If you know people in the area and grew up there try networking with friends and family to try and pick up a few private spots. Also, going by your username I am guessing you weld. You might could trade out some welding work with local farmers/landowners for hunting permissions.
 
To amend my previous comment. I do save my final buck tag for a trophy, so most years I eat one buck tag. I will use that buck tag the last hunt of the year on a small buck though, meat is meat.
 
Yeah...it's all about who u know...seems most peeps don't like me so no help there.... I'm always on the lookout for more opportunities to hunt....once these kids grow up a little more I'll be able to venture further away and for longer periods of time to hunt...limbo at the moment...thanks for the tips

Anybody that regularly takes deer on wma quota hunts is a beast and I got lots of respect.
 
WISCO said:
Have you ever checked out one of those hunting camps you can buy into ?
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They are almost always booked. We’ve been on waiting lists for years and years. Normally if there is an opening it goes to a long time members family member or friend long before it’s known by others
 
PEEJAY said:
gotta learn to hunt underwater! opens up a whole nuther world down there. I didnt even think about deer when there was clear water around. jump in the inlets at high tide and shoot em up. how far are you from saltwater? never had a boat and i shot thousands of lbs of fish and lobsters. i was in SoFlo/Keys 99% of the time but there were spots in NE FL we shot some nice fish. Lots of big Sheepshead
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He’s in saltwater heaven close to the St John’s. Bow fishing is fun but night time gigging or hook and line trout fishing is even better
 
I hunt for the love of hunting. Deer season is rough because of the limited quota opportunities here and the non quota areas are always so packed out that it is tough. The deer are small as well. We take what we can get while deer hunting however the hog are plentiful and so are the turkey. More years than not, I get a couple deer early season but usually shoot way more wild hogs. This past year I missed bow season and the rut because of neck surgery so I ended up striking out all season long. So I put myself in the gear junkie category til September lol
 
NMSbowhunter said:
Man, that's tough. I didn't realize Florida was so restrictive.
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Its a PITA trying to figure out all the quota nonsense.
NMSbowhunter said:
I bet bowfishing is a blast!
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I bowfish a little too but i meant spearfishing. Hawaiian slings are the closest thing to bowhunting underwater but we usually use spearguns in FL. Bahamas you have to use a sling or a polespear. Its a rush and helps a lot with target panic in the woods because you have to keep your heartrate down to conserve oxygen. We do freediving (breath hold diving) only and swim down to anywhere between 15-55 ft. Any deeper than that and you need a boat/kayak to get out that far. Then sit on the reef and wait. After you shoot a fish you swim up and keep the sharks away til you get back out of the water. Marinas at night with an underwater flashlight makes it even more sketchy. Only had one friend dumb enough to do that with me more than once.
 
PEEJAY said:
Its a PITA trying to figure out all the quota nonsense.

I bowfish a little too but i meant spearfishing. Hawaiian slings are the closest thing to bowhunting underwater but we usually use spearguns in FL. Bahamas you have to use a sling or a polespear. Its a rush and helps a lot with target panic in the woods because you have to keep your heartrate down to conserve oxygen. We do freediving (breath hold diving) only and swim down to anywhere between 15-55 ft. Any deeper than that and you need a boat/kayak to get out that far. Then sit on the reef and wait. After you shoot a fish you swim up and keep the sharks away til you get back out of the water. Marinas at night with an underwater flashlight makes it even more sketchy. Only had one friend dumb enough to do that with me more than once.
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Hope you was diving in a hecs outfit.
 
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