Our Deer Management Practices

Rubino Films Deer Management Strategies and Suggestions

Here at Rubino Films, our number one priority, besides enjoying the outdoors and making films,  is managing the deer heard on the  farmland which we hunt.  We hunt an uncle's  retired 350 acre farm with permission to hunt some surrounding land and we have a good size deer population to work with.  Over the past several years,  we have begun practicing a quality deer management plan that we tailored for our specific needs.  A few years ago, we implemented the following changes: 

  1. We have been planting and caring for food plots.  Mostly consisting of Mossy Oak Biologic and clovers.

  2. We began taking does out of the over populated deer heard (where for many years, does were not allowed to be taken by the owner of the farm)

  3. We have been regularly passing up smaller bucks.  We created an eight point or better rule, with few exceptions, for example, if we see a very large six pointer, we can take him, but absolutely no button bucks, no spikes, no four pointers and most 6 pointers.

  4. Taking out predators like coyotes and such which have increased in numbers due to a decreasing hunter population.  Thanks to the Department of Conservation, two years ago, pelt sealing and having predators checked by the DEC is not necessary making it much easier to achieve our goals.


One of our Food Plots

Food plots don't have to be difficult like most think.  You don't need large farm equipment or a lot of time to implement.  In fact, you don't even need a giant piece of land.  Food plots can be done in a weekend with a few guys and minimal money and equipment.  We used an old disc that we found on the farm, wooden pallets with rocks on them tied to our ATVs,  hand seeders and we made a roller out of a piece of plastic culvert pipe filled with concrete to embed the seeds in the soil.  We are not farmers nor are we  professionals when it comes to food plots, but we were still able to achieve lush, green food plots and maintain them with simple equipment laying around the house like weed eaters and push mowers.  Cost is inexpensive and with a few guys contributing,  all you really need is seeds, some weed killer, a spare weekend, and 1/4 to 1 acre to work with.  If you want more detailed information on how we do what we do, advice or tips, feel free to Contact us.

The challenges that we face are similar to that of most other New York hunters.  Over crowding of hunters during rifle season, small deer due to poor management, poor nutrition, too many acres of surrounding posted lands and thinning of forests due to new land owners and newly constructed homes.   The NYS DEC has public meetings scheduled throughout NY over the next two months to discuss these problems and get hunters input on proposed changes.  You can also email or write to them with your input if you have missed the meeting in your area or cannot attend.  We encourage you to participate and voice your opinions, give your input, discuss the particular problems in your hunting area and give feedback on proposed future changes.  You can read the full article on the NYS DEC website here:  http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/57795.html

Over the past several years, with the management plan we put into place, we have seen increasingly bigger, healthier bucks and less does which makes for a better deer heard and a more exciting hunting experience.  While we are still not where we want to be with our deer heard, and we are still not consistently taking huge trophy bucks, there is always room for improvement and  we have a great start so far and will continue to better manage our heard in the coming years.  We constantly hear many success stories with pilot programs put in place in other counties and management plans put into place by hunting clubs and we are following in their footsteps.

To view some of our trail camera pictures over the years, and bucks we have taken since 2002 to present, and see the improvement over the years, and the quality of the bucks we get on film today compared to the past, please visit or trail camera galleries and hunting galleries using the links on the right. 


Bigger deer with more mass: 2007

Let's all work together to follow the success of other states, like Texas for example, and do the right thing.  By doing some of the things mentioned above, plus many other management techniques out there today, we can have a better overall deer heard, better hunting, and preservation of whitetails for the youths of today to continue to enjoy, hunt and create a better outdoor experience for everybody.

Joe Rubino
Rubino Films Chief Editor

 

Two concepts that NY should adopt to improve the hunting conditions in the empire state

By Mike Rubino
Rubino Films Pro Staff


(Mike Rubino - on right)

1.     Antler restrictions throughout the state not just a few WMU’s.

    This will promote the sport of hunting by getting more people excited about shooting larger bucks in their home state. In the location where we hunt we have some neighboring farms that take any legal buck they see (one antler that is three inches or longer). It is extremely discouraging to see all the bucks that you passed up thoughout bow season being shot on the opening day of gun season by hunters who probably only hunt one or two weekends a year. If the goal is strictly harvesting a deer for meat, then hunters should do their best to harvest a doe, if they have been lucky enough to draw for a DMP in their area. This will let the little bucks grow to become trophies that hunters would be proud to hang on the wall. If a hunter doesn’t get lucky enough to draw a DMP, then they also have the option to take a doe with their bow or in the muzzleloader season.

2.     Longer seasons

    I believe that the archery season should start earlier like it does in other neighboring states, so that hunters can enjoy being out in the woods while the weather is still bearable. Maybe if the northern season started on Oct 1st like it does on Long Island it would get more people out in the woods which would drive up sporting goods sales which in turn would generate more profit for the DEC to improve on hunting initiative projects. I have always had a dream of harvesting a mature whitetail in velvet and that will simply never happen in the state of NY unless the archery season opens earlier. There certainly is no shortage of dear in NY so I don’t see any reason why we can’t get the season started a little earlier.