This post is a very good read...........Where is Atlasman.....
......I know he could add a few coments.........
Here is my take......When I first started bowhunting, I shot every deer that I could, buck, doe, I didn't care. Sure, I had already taken several nice bucks with gun, but I didn't care, I wanted kills. It was an ego thing, I admit it. I wanted to kill all I could with my bow. After a few years of that, I started getting selective. I went several years without shots on good bucks. I must have let >50 nice 2 1/2 year old 8pts walk. At the end of the season I would eat tag soup. Mississippi gets hunted hard, and there are not a ton of older bucks running around. BUT, by passing on the these bucks and trying to harvest only mature animals, I grew tremendously as a hunter. I learned alot about deer and their behaviour. The last few years I have really started practicing QDM, taking my does and only shooting mature bucks, regardless of antler size. And it has really paid off. I hunt close to 60 days a year and I will usually get 1-2 opportunities at a mature buck each year within bow range. And another half a dozen out of range. I will get up to 12 opportunities on nice 2 1/2 year old bucks. It's tough, to hunt all year and only have a chance or two to make it happen. BUT, it is worth it to me, that is what it is all about, FOR ME.
All this said to inform public land hunters that for us private land guys who practice QDM, there is not a P&Y around every corner, at least not in my state.
I have tons of respect for guys who kill mature bucks on public land, that is an accomplishment. BUT, I do not respect immature bucks from experienced hunters. Immature bucks are easy to kill, no matter where you hunt.