Originally Posted by
bald9eagle
Ahhhhh...... I see where the misunderstanding is. I was saying that the chase for big racks was often a cause of poaching, not you specifically. I also had to go back and edit my last post. I said my dad WOULD shoot deer just to shoot deer and that was supposed to be WOULDN'T.
See, I'm not knocking your passion for chasing mature bucks. My point was more that the obsession with big racks is the cause for a lot of the things we do as outdoorsmen and wildlife managers. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that letting a good 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 year old buck live improves your deer herd.
You can't deny though that there are tons of folks out there that would fall to the temptation of seeing a big buck standing just off the road.
BTW, Nice buck.
I don't see how taking a strong healthy buck out of the herd before or just into his prime can be great for a herd.
When I sit out there for hours watching these animals the young bucks that temp me are the strong healthy ones and I get the impression that they are very important to the herd.
I mean sure if you go out and shoot a good healthy 2.5 year old they will be fine. There are probably more around but if you have 5 people out there hunting a piece of property and 3 of you kill off good healthy bucks before their prime that certainly can't help the herd. Start doing that every year and that old big boy dies off then what? Who is doing the breeding then?
BTW I don't look down on the way you are doing it. Its all about you enjoying your experience and things are probably very different where you and I hunt.