David....

I just went back and read your post I missed, earlier. I agree that the pops in some areas make it easier to make a decision as to which animal to take (or...HARDER to take the doe in the doe vs. buck choice).

I can only relate to NC.....it's all I have "any" experience with. We have a GREAT deer population. It's really good. We can legally take 6 deer, here....and on one side of our state.....that includes FOUR bucks.

One thing that will wake some hunters up.....is the new proposal in our state that will allow UNLIMITED doe tags to hunters on private lands. It's going to help ME....I know that. They're opening up the already liberal limits on does for a reason. We've got too many of them. It's time to re-educate some......educate others.

all i do is bowhunt. the day i stop getting buck and doe fever while im at full draw is the day i stop bowhunting. i only have 1 pin on my bow and i only shoot at 25 yards weather its a buck or doe. i dont kill button bucks or fawns.

every buck i take his antlers go on my wall. where i hunt theres alot of deer and im happy with either a buck or doe. i hunt for meat not for sport. antlers are just a bonus. im all for harvesting doe and culling small bucks. some people say bucks are harder to kill than doe. i dont agree. if you spend as much time as i do in a treestand bowhunting then you will know that there is not a differnce. deer are always weary weather it a buck or doe.

to answer your question what is it about a buck? its not that they are smarter, but they grow antlers and thats where the bragin rights in some people are. i on the other hand dont care on how many points all i care about is making a vital hit. all the deer i killed with a bow died in less that 30 seconds and i never had to do a track job.

There have been a lot of great responses to this question. Many I agre with. I grew up hunting in WV. Many of the counties did not allow does to be killed andif you killed a doe, you were probably doing something illegal.There are still quite a few counties that do not allow deas to be killed during gun season, and you are limited to 1 or 2 per year depending on the county with a bow. So, you learned at a young age to shoot a "legal" buck over a doe. Antler size did not matter as long as it was legal. I remember hearing stories of people saying they glassed and glassed hoping to see4 ears so they could shoot it. That is a hard habit to break!

As I grew older and bow hunted more and more, I have gained a better understanding of what is best for the herd I hunt. I needto kill more does. Period. It helps hunting the rut and it makes the herd healthier imo. It will still be considered "ho-hum.....big deal!.........it's just a doe!" to a lot of people, but if you are hunting to please others, you are hunting for the wrong reason imo.

Good thread GMMAT!

For myself, its just plain old fasination with antlers, I love em. I sit in the game room and just stare at em sometimes.
As for shooting does with archery gear!! I still get goosebumps, andlove trying to match wits with a smart doe.

In ILL. we are lucky and can shoot unlimited does and 2 bucks, so we are choosie with our buck tags and we have tons of does, so we shoot does from Oct.1 til Oct 20. Then only buck hunt from then till December, dont want to shoot a doe thats in heat with a big ole buck trailing here 100 yards back.. Then in Dec we go after does again till close of season.
We took 38 does last year off 400 acres and couldnt really tell we touched them, thats 6 people hunting, and since we started taking does, our bucks have improved greatly..
I think alot of hunters are after big head gear, so let the little ones walk works for us..They cant grow up if they are hangingin a tree..
I always liked talking to the old timers who would be screaming that there are no big bucks and you look in there garage and there are 50 4 & 6 point racks hanging from the wall

I don't see any real difference between shooting a doe and buck, meaning - I'm not going to pick one over the other for the reason of one has antlers and one doesn't, with only a few exceptions. If I'm huting a specific buck, then I'll pass on a doe, but thats about it. I hunt for the enjoyment of being in the woods and for the meat, I can't eat bone - even if there is 160 inches of it! I'll just as readily take a doe as I will a buck.

I mentioned it but no one else has, the thing about the year and half old buck or 2 and half, he's carrying a lot more meat if you have limited tags. Most does never get to the weight those deer are. There are the exceptions, but they're rare. Who was it on the boards here that shot that whopper of a doe in Western NYa couple years ago, Hillard or someone like that. It dressed at 184. Now that's some meat worth shooting.

What's wrong with wanting to shoot the biggest "buck" possible?

When you go fishing, don't you want to catch the biggest fish possible? Do you cut your line once you realize you have a little yearling on?

Keep in mind that not only is there is a sport to hunting deer there is also management aspect of it too.

What would happen to our deer population if people always shot the first animal that walked by? How quickly would people tag out early in the season?

Personally, I big mature doe is just as good of a trophy to me with my bow.

Nothing wrong with shooting the biggest buck possible. I've let dozens of bucks walk by waiting for bigger. I've also shot the first decent buck that showed up because I wanted to. Like with my NY tags from last year. I'll whack the first nice doe that shows up. With meat in the freezer I'll have no problem passing up a little buck in the 4 days season. Having the one in the freezer will also make me more picky during the regular season. If I don't find what I want I always know I'll have those same 4 days in early season next year to fill one of them. It also gets me in the woods 4 days before anyone else. This year I shot a nice 8 point the second day of the early season. The first day of the regular season I didn't go hunting, had house stuff to see too. There were guys all over that woods. I had my deer and was gone before they knew I was there.

I've never really considered bucks to be more savvy or harder to kill than does. What I do believe is as the deer ages, regardless of sex, they do become more aware and cautious, thus harder to kill. I kill a whole lot more does than bucks because I see a whole lot more does. And while I'd rather have a buck for more meat, (and the antlers are cool), I'll take a big doe as opposed to a small buck.