Craig Dougherty – New York

This buck is one of the finest bucks ever taken at our hunting ground, Kindred Spirits. He and a two and a half year old 8pt. were hot on the trail of a very tired and harassed doe. She led them past my stand overlooking an out-of-the-way plot of Extreme and the rest is history. He is one or three or four “shooters” my son, Neil had photographed on food plot cameras he set up in early September. We photographed him on a Chicory PLUS plot in mid September and again on a Winter-Greens plot in mid October. He was “living large” on food plot forages. “Shooter” for us are mature bucks generally aged 3 ½ or older. We believe this buck is 4 ½ years old. He scored 140 with terrific mass but the real excitement came when we hoisted him on the scale. His live weight was 250#; fully fifty pounds heavier than any buck taken on our property to date. With our emphasis on habitat management, weight is really important to us. The key to hunting mature bucks on small properties is “keeping bucks close to home”. This big guy and three or four of his buddies had been enjoying our food plots all spring and summer. With plenty of food and cover, there was no reason to ever leave our 500 acre property. 2006 was our first year we planted Whitetail Institute products on our property. Our weights are up, our racks are bigger and our mature deer are staying home. Our deer aren’t the only ones “living large” at Kindred Spirits.