I have been thinking about this thread for more than a day now. In fact, I have sat down several times to post a reply, but just could not come up with the words that best described what I thought.

First let me say, on my farm and on the other properties I hunt, we practice I guess what some call QDM. We believe in shooting a bunch of does, because we have a bunch of does. We also TRY to take only older bucks and let younger bucks walk. We can do this 1. because we have a bunch of does that we use for freezer meat and 2. because we enjoy taking better than average bucks.

With that being said, I understand hunters who have less than quality land to hunt or have limited time to hunt and because of either of those two reasons take younger (small) bucks. In fact, I use to be that hunter for a very long time.

I believe that we all hunt for different reasons and have very different goals for our hunt. I have been lucky and have taken a P&Y buck each of the last three seasons and four out of the last five seasons. However, that is not my main goal when I go hunting. My main goal is to enjoy myself by relaxing and not worring about the every day stresses. My second goal each year is to take at least four deer. This is how many deer I know my family needs to have deer in the freezer until the next season opens (we don't buy beef). My third goal is to take a nice buck.

I was watching Mossy Oak's Obession Revealed tonight and Cuz said something at the end of the show that made me think about this thread again. He was talking about different hunting techinques and how one was not better than the other. He said something along this line; as long as it is legal and as long as it results in a big smile at the end, then he is all for it. I think this pretty much sums up how I feel about this topic, as long as at the end of the hunt there is a smile and the hunter enjoyed the hunt, then it was done just how it was suppose to be done.

I think the hunting community spends way too much time fighting with ourselfs. We get wrapped up fighting about should crossbows be allowed, should baiting be allowed, is bowhunting better/harder than rifle hunting or if all should have to or want to pass on small bucks. Hell, why does PETA have to do anything, we do enough damage to ourselfs.

I hope everyone enjoyed their season so far this year, I hope there were a bunch of smiles in the field and memories made. I don't care if those smiles came from a doe, a 75" buck, a 175" buck, or a miss. Just as long as it was done legally and smile resulted at the end of it.