Pennsylvania Bucks

Tim e-mailed me about his families deer management success and the two nice Pennsylvania bucks that he and his son shot in 2004. He also included a photo of a rack from a buck that they found dead.

Mr. Cook and Family, First of all I would like to say, it's great to see this is a family venture. Secondly, great site for us who have management sites. We can always learn something new and exciting.

My son Chad, myself and my brother Dale have had a management site for four years now. Best thing we ever did to keep and maintain a healthy deer herd. I've been doing, and will keep doing my research on whitetail deer management. It's always refreshing to see folks who are as excited about this type of program as we are. Every passing year we are experiencing better deer populations and great hunting. We’re growing food plots as well.

For the past three years, Chad and myself (Tim), have harvested bucks from our property. They keep getting bigger. We do try to harvest smart. Deer we have seen from previous years that don't seem to develop anything but small racks, can, and will be harvested. Eight points only. We are in the Pennsylvania woods; we have an eight point rule, or four on one side. This may or may not help with the management practices.

I'm including some photos of recent deer we have harvested. The first day my son and I both missed out on harvesting a nice deer. He caught us off guard. Neither of us had our weapons ready. We did see him broadside at 40 yards, when the deer saw us he homed in and spread his ears. This is when we were able to determine he was a for sure eight point, and then the spread was determined by how far his antlers went beyond his ears. Both being weaponless, gave us ample time to stare in disbelief!! We simultaneously reached for our guns; the big buck decided it was time to wave bye-bye. Those big ones don't get big by waiting around!!!

The rest of the story. The deer my son got (first day at 10:20 a.m.) was a small eight point. Dissatisfied to say the least, after seeing the big one run off. His time hunting was reduced by his job requirements. Mine was taken the first Saturday at 4:45 PM, a 10 pt. with a 21 1/2" spread.

Since finishing the season, we have seen a large racked buck roaming the woods in our area and many doe sightings too. Get the doe there, the bucks will show up. We have to attribute the hunting experiences we've had over the past few years to our deer management practices. We were doing okay on previous years, but since we incorporated our food plots and developed our property the deer sightings have increased dramatically.

You mentioned apple trees. We have apple trees that were on the property for years. The deer love them. We are planting more, and different species in strategic locations. Honey suckle is another plus, along with the grapevines. We do fertilize our plants and trees.

We thank you for taking the time to put together all the interesting, informative pages of your Whitetaildeer-management-and-hunting program. This is a lot of work we appreciate it tremendously. I've got to say, for someone who loves what he does, it's not work, it’s an adventure. Thanks again.

We did see deer equal to the one I harvested, and some even larger. Notice the last picture. The G3's. They are y'ed on both sides. Unique to say the least. It's sad to find deer dead like this. Not a mark on this deer anywhere. Maybe died fighting, or old age. We'll never know.

Regards from Darlington PA, Tim and family

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