I guess circumstances will dictate the answer. In New York where I hunt, the situation is very much the same as Atlasman's. Your're very unlikely to see a mature buck, period. If you do, it's about 10 times more likely to occur during bow season. Combine that with the heavy cover and limited effectiveness of an open sight shotgun, and once again, the weapon isn't that much more effective. Where I hunt, bowhunting is much easier, mature whitetail or not. In fact, I would rate the possiblilty of taking a mature whitetail during gun season to be so remote, that I wouldn't even waste my time trying.