[ How do you judge the age of a running rabbit or a flying pheasant?

I once chastised someone here who talked about a family member having shot 2 spike bucks in one day. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wrong. I was judging by what I, at this time and date of many years of hunting, would do and not do.

If someone simply wants to take home some venison, there is absolutely nothing unethical about shooting a spike buck, a four-point buck, or a yearling doe. Some of the antler hunters would be opposed to the shooting of young bucks.

In fact, there are studies that have shown that not all " spike" bucks are young deer, and that a " spike" buck is considered to be inferior and will never grow a large or heavy set of antlers and probably should be removed from the gene pool.

Shooting a yearling doe does not hurt anything. That yearling has less of a chance in becoming an adult doe before it is killed or dies from other causes. Best leave some of the older, smarter, and stronger does in the gene pool.