I'm plain curious, there's no wrong answer as far as I'm concerned. It's your choice.
I love hunting mature bucks. They're rare and don't grow on trees. You usually have to work your butt off just to see one much less get one in bow range. I consider it an honor to see a true monarch, if I get one, even better. It's like hunting a different species. Very satisfying. A side benefit is that I spend an extra amount of time hunting them so I get to see a lot of neat things.
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So there I was, Nov 12th 1996, flying down the highway, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, windows down for scent control.
I'm a "wannabe" mature buck hunter but I have to be realistic.......the area I live in sucks and if I only hunted truly mature deer 3.5yrs or older I'd fill a tag about once every 10yrs. Here in PA anyway. The first nice 2.5yr old buck will get it everytime here in PA, I just hunt areas that are pressured beyond anything many of you guys could even comprehend.
The standards do rise to a mature buck or nothing when I hunt the midwest but that's really working well for me too.
I hunt an area with quite a bit of pressure and not the highest amount of deer. Simply put, I just don't see the deer that some guys do. Because of that, if its not too small.....then goodnight.
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Mature deer, period. Shooting young things for me in not fair. I believe that shooting young things is completely wrong. People dont shoot kids. Fisherman dont eat little fish. Thats just the way I see it. Good post!
I'm pretty much like Matt/Pa. I'd like to consider myself a mature buck hunter, but the aarea I hunt is pretty pressured and not everyone is of the idea to let them grow older. I personally will only shoot a buck if its bigger than what I have on the wall(next one will have to be at least 130"+), everything else gets a pass. I do shoot as many does as I can for management(My attempt at it anyway), and donate most of the meat to charity.
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A small buck that's dead will never be a big buck that's dead.
I'm a "wannabe" mature buck hunter but I have to be realistic.......the area I live in sucks and if I only hunted truly mature deer 3.5yrs or older I'd fill a tag about once every 10yrs. Here in PA anyway. The first nice 2.5yr old buck will get it everytime here in PA, I just hunt areas that are pressured beyond anything many of you guys could even comprehend.
The standards do rise to a mature buck or nothing when I hunt the midwest but that's really working well for me too.
You kinda seemed like an opportunist to me anyway![8D]
Besides, if you keep hunting for those big bucks you'll probly end up killing yourself!
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So there I was, Nov 12th 1996, flying down the highway, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, windows down for scent control.
Now that I've gotten a mature buck this year...nothing else is going to due in the future. I'll shoot all the does I can for the meat, but a buck is going to have to be mature, be injured and need taken out of the pool or a very unique deer in some other way.
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Being in my treestand puts me 15 feet closer to God
What kind of deer hunter are you?
