Hunting Contest - Mature vs. Immature Bucks

[npaden]

I didn't want to get the signup for the hunting contest sidetracked, but I had a couple thoughts and was curious how others felt.

In one sense it is reasurring to go through last years contest and see that not everyone goes out and shoots a monster buck every time. Out of the 120 entries in the 2006 contest 39 ended up posting their results. That success rate of 32.5% seems low to me, but I'm sure some people signed up andjust forgot about it or moved on to different things. Of those that did post results, there were9 that scored over 130 and only 5 that scored over 150. That put the odds of shooting a 130 class buck at 7.5% of the original entrants and 23% of those who did harvest a buck.

I think sometimes you get the feeling from some of the posts that everyone is killing 130+ bucks everytime they go out but that doesn't seem to be the case with the contest anyway.

At first I thought that was a really positive thing, but then looking through the results again I started realizing that many of these were very young bucks that were not given the chance to mature. I'm sure that some of these were taken on public land where management is impossible, and there were some that seemed like management bucks with one side of the rack way inferior to the other and things like that, and that in different parts of the country the mature deer may score a little more or less, but for the most part they were just immature bucks. The average score for those that posted results was 102.15. Does the fact that 67.5% of the folks who signed up didn't post any results mean that they passed up immature bucks for a mature buck that didn't ever come along?

If people that are enough into the sport to post on a website like this and enter into a contest are shooting immature bucks, then what is the general public doing?

I've been trying to discuss deer management with my neighbors and am starting to think that it is a losing battle. I feel that if we could get everyoneto hold out for a mature buck and not shoot the little ones in a few years we would be covered up in mature bucks.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[lethalconnection]

The thing is that it is a losing battle. Because yah there are lots of us that would rather waste a tag rather then shoot a small buck but then again there are those of us that just want to shoot a buck but then(which i think is the majority of most hunters)there is the meat hunter. If they see a deer its meat in the freezer and they would much rather get a immature buck rather then no buck. Then it also depends on how long they have been waiting for that buck tag. If they have been waiting years, obviously they will pass up smaller ones at first but as they year wears on their standards start to drop more and more. Thats the way i see it and i myself am a bit of them all. I get a whitetail buck tag every year and i dont shoot small ones cause i know ill have a tag next year and that buck will be that much bigger, but if i get my mulie buck tag which takes me at least three years im definitely not gunna shot a small buck at the beginning of the season but now if its coming down to the last few days and i see a lil guy come out, im gunna pop him cause im not gunna be back for another 3 years and i would rather go home with something then nothing.

[AR Bowhunter]

We harvested about 30 deer in our camp last year. I wouldsay that no more than 12 of those were bucks. The 12 bucks that were harvested only 2 of those were mature. The rest were 1 1/2 an 2 1/2's.

[TROPHYHUNTER25]

alot of people don't want to eat a tag. but we manage for quality deer so we go for age structure not rack size.

[bhunter50]

It is a matter of choice, and the individual hunter's need. I didn't start passing deer until about7 years ago and since have only taken 2 bucks, both were P&Y but not over 135. Many hunters in this area follow the concept, if it's brown, it's down! It is up to the hunter, there is no regulationhere on what buck you can/cannot shoot, so it is the hunter's choice, I imagine we were all once at the point where if it's brown it's down, but some folks just do not want to wait to shoot one with some big bone on the head like a lot of us. I think that if you feel there is more to hunting than just the "killing", enjoying nature and the feeling of "getting away", then you shouldn't feel compelled to kill every deer that passes by. When I first decided to pass on young deer and immature bucks, I found it to be a lot of fun to simply watch the deer passing by with no idea of my presence. These are just my feelings, but I know that I wasa brown its down fella at one time too and killed a lot of young deer........they were awefully tasty too!!

[TexasOaks]

I'm all about what you are talking about.

[timbercruiser]

To have a big buck contest based on rack size isn't equal for all hunters on a forum like this. While the occasional 150+" buck is taken in the southeast they are kind of rare. Just like if somebody wanted to have a big largemouth bass contest the area of the country that has larger deer will probably have consistently smaller largemouth bass. A contest on a regional type of basis would be more equal. One man's trophy may be another's camp meat. It would be just as biased to have a contest based on total pounds of deer killled. Some states you have two or so season limit and parts of the south you can legally shoot 200.

[younggun308]

Yeah, like some members in Arizona might hunt Coues deer, which are MUCH smaller that normal deer, I agree with Timbercruiser. We get some big bucks around the TN-AL border, DoctorDeath shot a buck in the same county where I hunt, and dang, that sucker is freakin' huge!!!!!

[TexasOaks]

ORIGINAL: timbercruiser

To have a big buck contest based on rack size isn't equal for all hunters on a forum like this. While the occasional 150+" buck is taken in the southeast they are kind of rare. Just like if somebody wanted to have a big largemouth bass contest the area of the country that has larger deer will probably have consistently smaller largemouth bass. A contest on a regional type of basis would be more equal. One man's trophy may be another's camp meat. It would be just as biased to have a contest based on total pounds of deer killled. Some states you have two or so season limit and parts of the south you can legally shoot 200.

He didnt say BIG BUCK CONTEST it's a mature buck he is talking about.

[npaden]

I did rate the bucks statistically based on the score of their rack which really isn't a great tool for determining the age of the bucks. But looking at the pictures there is no doubt that the majority of the bucks entered in the contest were in fact immature bucks.