im 30yrs old and have been hunting mature bucks only for last 5yrs. if you shoot a small buck or even a doe you may be missing out on the mature buck that may have passed 10 min later. my father shoots almost any deer that walks past. he wonders how i always get the big deer. ive shot 5 mature deer after passing on smaller bucks on the same day. there are times you could shot a smaller deer and still get lucky to have the big one walk by but your odds drop for sure because of all the rukus. so, i always keep in the back of my mind when a tempting buck walks by that a big boy could be minutes away!!