Had one of our hunters make a mistake last week. It is in our lease rules that culls/management bucks have to be approved by the owner. The sequence of getting one approved, is to have a picture of the deer from a TC or take it in the field. The hunter sends it to me and/or my co-lease manager. We then send the pic to the owner, and he says yes or no. We then provide the hunters with as many pictures as possible and put the deer on our hitlist board. I know that it might sound like a pain, but it is better than what was originally proposed to us before we took over the lease. The land owner originally wanted each hunter to just be able to shoot 1 trophy, 1 spike and TBD does. I convinced him to not dismiss the idea of us shooting management bucks because we are long term minded and understand the importance of harvesting management bucks. He agreed that we can shoot management bucks as long as he approves it and it will count as our spike. If we shoot two management bucks, one would count as our trophy......Pretty simple. I completely understand why he wants to approve the culls because a lot of hunters will try to stretch bucks into management category when the really are not, just to shoot an additional good buck.
When we made the lease rules, they were about as clear as it gets. We even sent numerous group emails talking about the approved culls and encouraged all hunters to send us anything that they might think needs to be culled so we could get them approved before the season. Our overall deer herd looks really good. There were only two bucks, of the 5, I sent to the owner that he gave the green light on. One of the bucks is a wide 4 pt with no brow tines. We guesstimate him to be 3.5 years old. The other one was a tall 7pt that should have been an 8 if he had both brow tines. Shed hunting this spring, I found several sheds without a GROWN brow tine....Keep in mind I'm not talking about broke. Talking to the landowner I expressed a strong emphasis on bucks like that being a big focal point of getting approved for culls. This past Monday the 7pt came out on me, and I got him.....So now we are down to just the 4pt (other than spikes) for our management deer. Granted we can get culls approved during season as well. The lease member that messed up helped me load the 7pt in the back of my truck. I remember even telling him "We are now down to one approved cull, the slick horned 4".
On Tuesday, the member decided to take it upon himself and shoot what he thought was a buck missing a brow tine. He was right, it was missing a brow tine.... But it was broke. I can't remember the last time I was so upset. I asked him why in the world he shot? he said "I thought he didn't have a brow tine, and that's why I shot him. I didn't realize it was broke". I then began to tell him that he was not approved and that he had absolutely no right to make that decision.
As it sits now, the lease member shot a 2.5 year old 8pt with a broke brow tine as his TROPHY. What chaps me the most is it's almost like he didn't even read the rules.
I know I'm not the only lease manager that has had stressful situations. Let's hear them!
When we made the lease rules, they were about as clear as it gets. We even sent numerous group emails talking about the approved culls and encouraged all hunters to send us anything that they might think needs to be culled so we could get them approved before the season. Our overall deer herd looks really good. There were only two bucks, of the 5, I sent to the owner that he gave the green light on. One of the bucks is a wide 4 pt with no brow tines. We guesstimate him to be 3.5 years old. The other one was a tall 7pt that should have been an 8 if he had both brow tines. Shed hunting this spring, I found several sheds without a GROWN brow tine....Keep in mind I'm not talking about broke. Talking to the landowner I expressed a strong emphasis on bucks like that being a big focal point of getting approved for culls. This past Monday the 7pt came out on me, and I got him.....So now we are down to just the 4pt (other than spikes) for our management deer. Granted we can get culls approved during season as well. The lease member that messed up helped me load the 7pt in the back of my truck. I remember even telling him "We are now down to one approved cull, the slick horned 4".
On Tuesday, the member decided to take it upon himself and shoot what he thought was a buck missing a brow tine. He was right, it was missing a brow tine.... But it was broke. I can't remember the last time I was so upset. I asked him why in the world he shot? he said "I thought he didn't have a brow tine, and that's why I shot him. I didn't realize it was broke". I then began to tell him that he was not approved and that he had absolutely no right to make that decision.
As it sits now, the lease member shot a 2.5 year old 8pt with a broke brow tine as his TROPHY. What chaps me the most is it's almost like he didn't even read the rules.
I know I'm not the only lease manager that has had stressful situations. Let's hear them!
. Good luck to you
Comment