Since the questions was ask of "Mature" deer hunters about half rack here is one for you.

Ok:

You have a nice 150 lb 1.5 fork buck 15 yds and broadside. You are about to be enjoying some back straps, but you hear a twig snap and you look down th trail and see 150'' 10 making his way down the trail just as the small buck did.

Do you shoot the little buck?
Or
Do you wait for a chance at Mr. Big, because its not about the antlers to you

BTW I really don't care and this questions is as loaded and silly as the other one.

QDM is not about shooting a mature deer, it's about learning what not to shoot Some may follow some may not. Right now I have a half rack I shot mounted on the wall. I also have a mature deer that does not break 100'' on my wall, but broke the 290 lb mark on the hoof. These days it is 140'' and above, because that is where I am as a hunter. I also have a plan for 3 does this year.

Just because I or anyone else says we are "mature" buck hunters does not mean we shoot the first mature deer we see.

Just roll back the clock to 1955 when a group hunters said "We should shoot some more does for the health of the herd" They were called every name in the book. Told they were going to destroy hunting as they knew it.

Now GR8 that makes me go hmmmmmm

I know.

I say pass on the little buck and wait on Mr. 150" I cant get it in my head hearing of anyone not wanting a chance at Mr. 150" That kind of head gear mentally destroys any prior plans to said hunter in my opinion [8D][8D]

10-4 Germ

I've killed enough deer where I would take a chance on the big one. And I remember them doe arguments very well, especially in the mountains of Western Md.

LOL! Surely some will say, "Shoot the yearling since you can't eat the antlers!".

Im waiting for the 150" 10...

I want my cake and I want to eat it too... I'm waitin' to enjoy some backstraps from the big boy. They'll tenderize as I drag him out of the woods

Gary:

I'm learning that one of things I love about deer hunting is.......how "personal" it is. My goals are surely not like yours.......but yours may be mine, one day. My "goals" will also change with my herd dynamocs.

With the deer population, here, I don't think I'm going to be able to sit back and hunt the way I'd love to for a few more years.

What a lot of people refer to as QDM.....just seems like the "right thing to do" by the herd, here.

In your scenario.....I'm not shooting the little guy.....deer or no deer behind him.

Somebody get my waders. It be gettin' deep! [8D]

It's easy to learn what not to shoot. One rule. You don't shoot at anything that's further away than you are reasonably certain you can't miss.

Beyond that, it's all aesthetics and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you insist on telling me what deer I can shoot, let me pick out your next wife for you. How's that?

Just to respond to that... They WOULD have destroyed hunting if they'd been taking does in the mid-50's. We only have the deer numbers we do now because does were NOT hunted for many years. Deer were nearly extinct after the end of the Great Depression and it took a long, long time for them to make a comeback. Now there are more deer than ever before, they are running out of habitat and it is desireable to take does.

Once again, as I've tried to point out many, many times before, you cannot judge the actions of hunters in past by the standards of today. Different times, different circumstances, different standards.