ORIGINAL: MartinJaguarArcher
Yeah, I just don't want to be like the rest of these trigger happy hunters in my area that kill anything that moves. At the same time this deer would be the biggest buck I have ever encountered. After all, I only have the rights to hunt 40 acres that is surrounded by 100+ acres in which, you can hear gun shots going off all year long. I have only killed two does in my entire hunting career and might decide to just take one of the many does in the area. I am more interested in the meat anyhow. It would be nice to see a buck grow to the size of what most of you guys are harvesting.
As someone that has only harvested 2 does in their hunting career, I would never begrudge you for taking that small buck. I did it all the time when I was younger (not sure you actual age, but figure hunting age is limited with only 2 harvested deer). I have shot probably 8 or 9 bucks with basket racks just like his and was proud of them. However, I never got a chance to see many nice deer in the 100+ inch range.
With that being said, we had one year were it was so wet, farmers were unable to get corn out until late December after deer season was over. Very few deer in our county were harvested. All those little basket racks made it through and since then we have a nice staple of 2.5 to 3.5 year old deer taken each year (one buck rule helps too). Seeing those nicer deer on what you could say is a regular basis makes it so much easier to let the little ones walk.