The deer that Wally Jayne of Niles recently took was a very special trophy. Its rack was about 30" outside and the rough score of 180+ - was unusual for our area.
It shows that if you let those yearling bucks grow up at least 3-4 years, the potential in our area is as good as anywhere in the world. I would venture that Cayuga County has even better potential because we have high lime content soils and lots of alfalfa, corn and soybeans.
The Jayne family has been practicing quality deer management for a just a few years too. If this quality of buck does not convince you that QDM is a really exciting and proven practice then you need help.
Real Quality Deer Management takes a good measure of self-control and some neighborly co-operation helps. There is nothing more frustrating than to let a nice six-point buck go by just to hear the neighbors let loose on it.
The quality deer concept is very simple, reduce doe numbers and don't shoot any buck that has a rack width inside of its ears. That small buck is a yearling or 2.5 year old, one more year will likely double the horn size. Not only do those bucks get bigger in a year but a larger percentage make it to 4.5 years and those are the deer, like Wally's, that most of us dream about hunting for.
I have recently seen some research that indicates that spike-horned deer are less likely to become big-racked deer even given more years. It would seem this might be truer in our area where feed quality and quantity are adequate. Please let me know if anyone has seen some better research or whatever on this subject.
Quality Deer Management benefits all of us, as there are generally fewer deer around to hit with your car and eat your shrubs. Also it is better for wild-animal health with more competition for the most vigorous healthy animals for breeding.
From what I hear the number of deer taken in our area are lower than other years. There don't seem to be an exceptional number of hunters out there and the wet weather has not helped much. The regular gun season ends on Tuesday but Muzzleloader continues until the Dec. 21. The cold, snowy weather forecast this week should get the deer moving.
Muzzle loading with a modern weapon is generally more effective than a shotgun; 150-yard shots even in wet conditions are possible. Inexpensive rifled stainless steel guns, shotgun primers, highly-engineered rifled barrels, sabot bullets, pelleted high-tech powders and using scopes are making this work. If you haven't tried muzzle-loader hunting, get Santa to open that present bag early.
I hear the perch fishing on Owasco off Buck's point has been good lately.
While it may be deer season, avid hard-water anglers are hoping our lakes freeze over as soon as possible. Bass Pro has a bunch of ice fishing seminars from Midwestern pro ice anglers such as Dave Genz, Brian "Bro" Brosdahl, Paul Fabian, Dan Fox, Bob Griffith, Mike Kuna and Jeremy Smith today from noon to 5 p.m.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association, is The Citizen's outdoors columnist. He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
The Jayne family has been practicing quality deer management for a just a few years too. If this quality of buck does not convince you that QDM is a really exciting and proven practice then you need help.
Real Quality Deer Management takes a good measure of self-control and some neighborly co-operation helps. There is nothing more frustrating than to let a nice six-point buck go by just to hear the neighbors let loose on it.
The quality deer concept is very simple, reduce doe numbers and don't shoot any buck that has a rack width inside of its ears. That small buck is a yearling or 2.5 year old, one more year will likely double the horn size. Not only do those bucks get bigger in a year but a larger percentage make it to 4.5 years and those are the deer, like Wally's, that most of us dream about hunting for.
I have recently seen some research that indicates that spike-horned deer are less likely to become big-racked deer even given more years. It would seem this might be truer in our area where feed quality and quantity are adequate. Please let me know if anyone has seen some better research or whatever on this subject.
Quality Deer Management benefits all of us, as there are generally fewer deer around to hit with your car and eat your shrubs. Also it is better for wild-animal health with more competition for the most vigorous healthy animals for breeding.
From what I hear the number of deer taken in our area are lower than other years. There don't seem to be an exceptional number of hunters out there and the wet weather has not helped much. The regular gun season ends on Tuesday but Muzzleloader continues until the Dec. 21. The cold, snowy weather forecast this week should get the deer moving.
Muzzle loading with a modern weapon is generally more effective than a shotgun; 150-yard shots even in wet conditions are possible. Inexpensive rifled stainless steel guns, shotgun primers, highly-engineered rifled barrels, sabot bullets, pelleted high-tech powders and using scopes are making this work. If you haven't tried muzzle-loader hunting, get Santa to open that present bag early.
I hear the perch fishing on Owasco off Buck's point has been good lately.
While it may be deer season, avid hard-water anglers are hoping our lakes freeze over as soon as possible. Bass Pro has a bunch of ice fishing seminars from Midwestern pro ice anglers such as Dave Genz, Brian "Bro" Brosdahl, Paul Fabian, Dan Fox, Bob Griffith, Mike Kuna and Jeremy Smith today from noon to 5 p.m.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association, is The Citizen's outdoors columnist. He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
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