ORIGINAL: quiksilver
So am I the only person in this entire thread to openly admit that I would shoot a runt scrubracked buck on the last day, just for the sake of not eating my tag - and the sheer joy of shooting a buck?
I have a good buddy who swears that "every fat girl that you don't sleep with is just another missed opportunity." Well, I never put much stock into that line of thinking from a dating standpoint - but when it comes to deer hunting - there's something to be said about it.
Seriously, I hear people say "I'd rather shoot a doe than a small buck." Not me. Not even close. If I'm getting out the dragging harness, you'd better believe thatI'm pulling a buck or nothing. Dif'rent strokes for Dif'rent folks, but shooting does is too much like work (to me), and I don't like sweating/stinking up my hunting areas with all that calamity. Maybe it's b/c my B
ratios are already perfect, or I'm just a greedy jerk, but I don't even entertain the thought of doe hunting until every buck tag is signed and sealed. And if a busted-up yearling is the best buck I can find to fill my tags - he's getting it.
Maybe we have a bunch of people here who are the exceptions to the rule... Or maybe it's all bull ****... But I know where
I live - practically
every hunter in the woods is angling to shoot the first legal deer that steps out in front of him. No exceptions. No "management." No free passes.
Its ok, plenty of people here need to shoot any old buck to feel compitent.
Much easier than finding the more mature deer and only scoring every few years.[8D]
(all in fun man) I would have shot either of the bucks you took last year.
In my woods though, you go out for lets say three days....and you HAVE to kill a deer.....well those 1.5 yo bucks would be dropped 9 out of 10 times....they seem like they are braindead compared to all other deer lol. my first two deer were 4 and 5 pointers, never again. I got my first bucks out of the way, since then its been bigger deer or bust.
May sound like a crock of bull to you guys, but I would rather take a squirrel than a 1.5 yo buck these days. I never have meat hunted, starting this year though, so for the past two years I have passed every deer within range of me...Had a few close calls with shooter bucks, but always some piece missing....itll all fall together one of these days. I dont need to shoot 1.5s until it does though, all that does is hurt my chances the following years.