This is a very bitter sweet moment. Those of you that know me, know I don't rifle hunt and have no interest in shooting any big game with a rifle. If I can't do it with my Mathews bow, it won't be harvested. Just that simple. I want to be up-close and personal with all the critters I harvest. Being invisible in their setting is what it is all about to me.
The pictures you are viewing are of the "studs" taken from our farm in WI this past weekend during rifle season. Talk about BBD-eh?! Let me ask you-would you wanna huntwithmatt.com?!
The reason behind the "bitter, sweet" comment is because of all the hard work we put in to grow these stud deer and then the rifle hunters come out in groves and reap the benefits. As you can see, the management rules we employ on our farm have grown numerous giants. We are growing them big, but then they leave our farm to chase doe's during the rut and the neighbors shoot everyone that runs by. Being that I am a die hard bow hunter. I struggle to see this many big deer harvested by guys with rifles....just my deal. There is one more reason this was a banner harvest year for big deer. Last year they were not able to get our crops out before rifle season so it left the nice 2.5 year old deer and 3.5's a place to hide on our farm. This year they have all the crops out in the entire area and the big bucks were susceptible to harvest. Especially when you can shoot 200+ yards.
I think we have video or pictures of almost everyone of these giants on our farm. We even have names for them. It comes with the passion of the hunt for giant whitetails.
I am happy for all these successful hunters(the sweet part)....but a bit bummed(bitter part) from a personal stand point. It is part of hunting and will continue to happen for many many years. Hopefully all these guys understand the benefits of management and don't just take these giants for granted. I have passed on 25 bucks in the past 3 years just so they could grow to size like you are seeing here. I don't blame them for putting these Big Bucks Down-they are all studs. When it was all said and done, 6 over 150" were taken in 2 days! This is a very special place and is very special to me. I just want to keep it like that for everyone for years to come.
This is the "stud" Pete shot with his bow the the week before rifle season. As many of you know, Pete and I spent 2 weeks at the farm trying to get him to say BBD on film. Pete shot this deer on a morning when I was not able to join him in stand to film and we were not able to recover it due to a bad hit. We searched for hours for the blood and the deer, but had no luck. This past Friday(day before rifle opener), Pete was pulling out of the farm and saw a ton of crows, when he went in to investigate; to his surprise, there laid his stud 8 pointer we thought got away. Unfortunately, the meat was no longer good and it had been chewed on my coyotes and many crows. To his delight, he now had his hands on the rack of the dandy 4x4. He recovered the horns and will be getting a shoulder mount to display for many years to come.
Now you all understand why we pass on "nice" deer like we do. We let them go so they can grow-just like you see in a few of the video's I took during bow season. If it is not on our "hit list" they get passed on so that there will be giants for many years to come.
Congrats to all the hunters that had have had success this fall in the woods. It was a year to remember....and will not soon be forgotten. 2010 will go down in the history books.
Update on Friday, November 26, 2010 at 8:46AM by
Matt Peters
Another stud on the hit list gets taken down by a neighbor. Pictured below is Jason, good friend, and neighbor to the farm in WI. Jason works as hard as anyone I know to manage and help raise stud deer on and around our farm in WI. Jason harvested this giant on Thanksgiving morning...congrats to him. You may see the horns laying on the deers back. Jason had found his sheds a few years back. Pretty cool. Another 150+" whitetail falls victim to a rifle.
Lake Waconia