NY Bowhunter

Guys you have to realize. It does matter where you hunt or what is offered to you. Let me state now that I will not shoot the little bucks either. I let them pass. I had 7 different bucks I could have taken this bowseason. I hold out for the hopes of the biggest mature buck in the area. Never got him this year.
Anyway, in some areas the problem is if you adopt the theory of not shooting the little bucks, you may never in your lifetime take one. You may never see one. The problem is in some places the amount of pressure and hunters around the property you're hunting and the deer herd itself. If everyone on the surrounding areas is shooting any buck that crosses their path, then there is no chance of any kind of QDM. If you're going to sit and wait for a 150" buck forget it. Then you throw in the other factor. If by some mysterious chance a buck makes it 4, 5, or 6 years and becomes a "monster for that area" chances are someone with a pickup truck and a spotlight will be harvesting that one. I'm just speaking from first hand experience. The first 5 years I hunted I was on a piece of land like that. Never saw a decent buck in the 5 years I was there. So I can understand why people might start to second guess themselves. Just simply no opportunity for a trophy buck. It's pretty easy to make an argument when you're seeing 50 bucks a season and can pick and choose at least the one you're after. That doesn't mean you'll get him, but it does mean you have the option.
Fortunately now I have a different piece of land that we can manage and have some Big Boys walking around. The difference is the neighboring hunting partys. They are serious about the deer herd and QDM. We actually get together before the season and talk to eachother about it. There are 2 other hunting parties on the surrounding lands. All together between the 3 parties we encompass over 2,000 acres. We don't hunt their land and they dont' hunt ours, but we all play by the same rules and we finally have a good thing going there.