Just to shed some light for people who bash others for shooting small bucks. Here is my experience this bow season....

This year I spent about 80 hours in my stand in central Michigan. I hunt an 80 acre private farm. There are 5 other bowhunters who also hunt this 80 acres.

After 80 hours on stand, I saw 10 deer total for the entire season. Two of them were in bow range - for the entire season! One was a doe - I shot her. The other was a 1 1/2 year old six point that came in on the LAST DAY of bow season. I shot him too. I saw more hunters than deer during these 80 hours I hunted. I will NOT apologize to anybody for shooting that 6 point. It was only the second deer of the ENTIRE season that came within bow range. Nearly every deer I did see was on full alert, sniffing the air, stomping,with tails up, and looking into the trees as they walked. And I am a scent control freak who hunts the wind.

I also spent about 40 hours on stand in Adams county Illinois on private land. I saw at least5 deer per every time out. I counted 10 bucks in 5 days of hunting and this wasn't even during the rut. Every day out I passed up a shot at what would have been the biggest buck of my lifetime (but not big by Illinois standards). On the 3rd day I shot a 250 pound tall tined 9 point (the one in my avatar).

People who hunt prime areas like Iowa and Illinois often don't understand what it's like to hunt hard every day of the season and only have 2 or 3 DEER come into bow range for the season. They don't understand why some of us would set up over a pile of corn or carrots. They sometimes ridicule us for shooting 1 1/2 year old bucks and not letting them grow into a 140 or 150 inch deer. How many of them would have the discipline and drive to hunt all season and onlyhave 1or 2bucks come within bow range and NOT shoot them because they were too small?

I've hunted in both Michigan and Illinois so I'll make a comparison. In Illinois, the deer came in to nearlyevery rattle, bleat, and grunt I made. There were deer ALL OVER the place, and they didn't walk around the woods looking up into the trees! You can pick the buck you want, and hunt him. If you don't shoot him, there's a very good chance he'll be around next year because the hunting pressure is so light.

I can honestly say I am MORE PROUD of the small 6 points I shoot in Michigan than the big buck I got in Illinios. Don't get me wrong - I love big racks and I'm going back to Illinois again next year to try to get another one. But I promise you the deer there are MUCH EASIER to hunt than the ones around here. Everybody in my hunting party from Michigan said the same thing on our Illinois trip. I don't think it's all that hard to get big bucks if you hunt in prime areas like Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc. The deer are MUCH more relaxed, the buck-doe ratio is great, and there are fewer hunters.

I'm not knocking guys who are lucky enough to hunt prime buck areas. In fact, I'm jealous of them. But I also get annoyed when they judgeother hunters who aren't so lucky to have access to prime buck areas for shooting smaller deer and not letting them "grow up". If you hunted all season and only had one buck come into bow range, and knew that there were more hunters than deer in the square mile you were in, would you really pass up that 1 1/2 year old buck knowing full well there are5 other hunters on that 80 acres you are hunting? When you can hunt an entire season and onlyhave 2 deer in bow range, you shoot whatever you can.