GMMAT

When you have an opportunity to take a deer.....what goes through your head? What are some of your "reasons" for taking a deer?

Do you need the meat?
Do you want him for his "trophy" value?
QDM/ Doe pop. management?

What are some reasons you might NOT take a deer?

Fawn?
Doe WITH a fawn?
Young buck?

I never go into the woods thinking about this, really. I just know when I see a particular deer whether or not I'm going to take it. I guess we internally make these decisions all the time.

Have you ever regretted one of your decisions???

No wrong answers, here.....and this shoud make for good discussion.

9th tine

First and formost I will harvest The Deer for supplimental food for the freezer.
I will takea Doe over a younger buck.
I am not a trophy hunter,I will wait for a more mature Buck.
As far as antler measurement,I don't give a tinker's toot about it.
A good buck is a good Buck.
I have no problem with young hunter's-or-those young to hunting with harvesting a spike or young buck,After a few years they will hopefully graduate up to older buck,s.

That's My two cent's anyway

djschuett

When a deer comes into range, my first thought is "Do I/will I have a clear shooting lane with a safe backdrop (i.e. no orange behind it)?"

Then I determine if it's a deer worth taking.
Since I hunt on public land and don't get to see a lot of deer, pretty much any deer that's not a yearling is up for strong consideration. If there is a mixed group of does and bucks, I'd pick out the largest one regardless of headware. At this point in life, I don't have the $ to get a mount, so the rule is fill the freezer first.


I won't even think about shooting a fawn, however a doe with fawns is fair game. By this point in life (I hunt in December in Iowa), they can survive on their own. The doe I shot this year had 2 fawns with her, I dropped her as soon as she came into a clearing and very few reservations about doing so.

The one thing that does make me a little leary about taking a doe with fawns is what happened to my dad a few years back out in Ohio. He shot a doe who had a fawn with her, spine shot and she dropped on impact. He let her lay for a half hour to make sure she was dead, the whole time the fawn was walking around her and licking her face. When he walked up to his doe, the fawn moved about 5 yards away and watched him clean the doe. Then the fawn followed him almost the whole 1/2 mile drag back to his house. Said it was the most guilty he's ever felt about taking an animal in 30 years of hunting.

jnrbronc

The last 4 years I have been concentrating on the harvest of does. We have had quitea bit of crop damage and the buck to doe ratio is not what I'd like to see.I haverecruited friends to help harvest does, too.

In regards to the meat, I usually butcher two young does for our freezer. I gave 4 deer (I butchered/boned them out) to coworkers last fall. There is a local meat locker that participates in the HUSH (Hunters United to Stop Hunger) program. I donated a couple of deer to them this past fall. I gave another one away to a friend, he came and picked it up out of the field.

As to what I plan to harvest when I go afield, I try to give a pass to immature bucks (1.5-2.5). I say try as some 2.5 year olds can be carrying some decent head gear. If I have an antlerless tag in my pocket (which I can buy a pocket full), I'll usually try for a mature doe. Shooting yearlings opens the door for the harvest of an occasional button buck, so unless they are so close that I can get a positive ID, I'll usually pass on yearlings. If a doe with fawns come by, I might take the doe. The hunting season is late enough in the fall that fawns can be weaned.

Last fall I did not buy as many tags as I normally do and regretted it later in the season. I had many easy opportunities to fill tags when I was out of them (isn't that the way it goes!) There are county quotas for antlerless tags and they tend to sell out as the season goes along. I won't make the same mistake next year.

RDHunter

GMMAT ... please don't take this the wrong way but didn't we have this disscusion before quiet some time ago ?
It seems like about six or seven months ago , you asked pretty much the same question in here , are you trying to justify your own reasons for hunting ?
Like I said I don't mean no offense but I was wondering , as for myself I hunt for the meat , will I take a doe even if she has a young one tagging along.
Yes ... if the young one is big enough to servive on it's own , I'm not into hunting for trophys ... you can't eat the antlers anyway.
Will I take a young buck .... No I beleve in " let'em go to let'em grow " give them a chance to get a nice rack.
Again I don't mean to make you angry or upset ... so please don't take this the wrong way.

pigiron

My reasons for taking a deer are unknown. When I see a particular buck or doe somthing goes off in my mind that says......You must kill. Weather it be the size of the antlers, a large body size, uniqueness of the animal, or meat in the freezer. It comes down to that particular moment, and the circumstances of that hunt.

RWK

Guys this is not the place to answer these, type of ???. the anti's can get to many screwed up ideas.

djschuett

They already have too many screwed up ideas.

Washington Hunter

Then where are we supposed to answer them? We can't be so afraid of the anti's that we can't discuss a simple matter like this.

Jeff, I take deer for a couple different reasons.

When I started out it was all about bringing meat home to fill the freezer. I love venison, always have and always will. If it comes down to the wire I'm more than willing to use my only tag on a fat doe.

These days I like the challenge of hunting bucks. I'd much rather hunt a trophy animal than take a young deer.

I guess what I take depends heavily on what time of the season it is.

MN/Kyle

I agree with most of what everyone is saying. RWK, i think this is one of, if NOT THE BEST place to answer questions like these. Do you think orginizations such as PETA, or others affiliated with PETAfilter what is said on their website and forums because they are scared what hunters and sportsman will think of their opinions, no. We believe what WE believe what WE believe and THEY believe what THEY believe. with the said...

I believe in quality management, so if the opportunity comes, i won't pass on the chance to take a mature doe. But like Washington Hunter said, i also like like challenges of hunting bucks, patterning and putting myself in the right position to take a nice deer. Sorry this got long.

KP