I would rather shoot a doe than a small buck, if we can shoot does. At my house, I dont care, I don't have enough land to manage. At camp, I shoot 6 and up. Which is a pretty low bar. Not that I havn't shot smaller. I have been lucky for awhile, so not going without. Previous two years, say 2 bucks. This year a few little and 6 I shot.
I eat them, but I also try to manage a bit. I am against government forcing it. I am certainly not going to look down my noise at someone who shoots a big buck. And I call a little BS on the horn don't matter. Darn near any guy, who would get a big one, would be excited. No one shoots big one, and says, can't eat the horns.
The down staters that spend $$$ on land, are the ones that seem to be bothered by people shooting small ones, that they feel should be their big one someday. They also say it cost $$$ to hunt and no one is saving money. Not saying I am making money on the meat. But I do know people that have the same rifle for years, and spend very little money. Farm country whee you can shoot a few, probably do come out a head.