I am not going to post direct quotes, and then respond to them, rather just touch on a couple and the authors will know which ones are being addressed.
I don`t live in, nor have I ever hunted in Maine. Been there many times, beautiful state! I don`t know what your game laws concerning deer are in maine, but I think that deer populations in maine are not real high. Anyway, nothing wrong with being a meat hunter, I have a deepfreeze full of freshly killed deer meat myself. Mature does, to be exact. 80 hours on stand, that does not even sniff the hours I have on stand this year without dropping the string on a buck. Does`nt bother me a bit. I am not done yet, though. My standards will not go down during the last few days of my hunts this season.
That being said, if you want to shoot small, young bucks, you won`t hear any tirades from me. I won`t buy into any of your theories that it is OK(unless you are a new hunter)but you won`t be verbally attacked.
The arguement put forth by some that it is legal to shot little bucks is lame, it is legal to pierce your nose too, so go ahead and do that while you are at it!

Taking cheap shots at Gary Alt is lame, try living in Pennsylvania and see firsthand the mindset of the majority of our hunters for over 40 years. Alt is our chance for a healthy herd. I will agree that his plan needs some refinement, but many parts of the state are absolutely overrun with deer!

BOWFANATIC, you caught me! Good for you. I was trying to be polite and civil with bodacious regarding his regressing back to shooting small bucks again. I feel 100% safe in saying that it will not happen to me. Other than that, I don`t see where the question was answered intelligently!

Somewhere in this debate it was pointed out that what do you trophy hunters do if you shoot an absolute monster? You cannot go backwards right!
WRONG! If I am fortunate enough to shoot a 180" buck with my bow, I would have no problem shooting a 150" later on if the opportunity presented itself.

I may have misrepresented my stance when I stated that I would only shoot a 140" or bigger buck. That is when I hunt the midwest.
If a 125-130" buck comes past me in PA, or W.Va, I WILL let the air out of him! That is still a pretty respectable buck.

So, what is the reason that a veteran bowhunter would continue to shoot immature bucks? Is it an ego thing? I think it is, because I have been there before. And even the staunchest of supporters of the shoot whatever you want crowd cannot deny with a straight face that it is bad herd management.

NRA,UBP,BASS Member
New Stanton,PA