wahoohunter

Reading the shooter bucks thread I've got a question for those of you who say things like "if its brown its down" and "As long as he comes by breathing he's got a good chance of being shot at"

Granted, you may not be an advocate of Quality Deer Management and hunt to fill the freezer, which IMO is a completely honorable reason to be hunting. However, if hunting to fill the freezer or merely for the thrill of the hunt, why not pass on the the younger bucks to take does?

I read once, "Any hunter worth his salt knows its harder to take a mature doe than a young, ignorant buck," thus, if hunting only for the thrill of the hunt, wouldn't it not make one feel more successful if they harvested a sex that is harder to hunt? Also, in hunting to fill the freezer, I'd say there's a general consensus that doe meat is more tender and usually better than that of from a buck.

I guess I just hear a lot of people say they hunt for food, then you drive by there skinning shed and you see numeous young bucks coming there which sort of debunks the theory that they are only hunting for food. I understand some areas have deer numbers that do not allow for selective harvest of any type, however, these type of areas are, I believe, the monority....

Any thoughts?

Steven McBee

i agree completely....i dont mind people shooting all deer but y? killing does is great table fare, is challenging and allows those who are in QDM to be able to harvest more maturebucks and everyone is happy....but i have no problem with those who want to shoot little bucks im just giving my opinion

RockinChair

Jason Crouse (sp?)-- Fine, fine writer.

You covered the basics wahoohunter. You're going to get a lot of heat from the 'meat hunters.' But its like you said, if you are TRULY hunting for the meat why not harvest a doe-they taste better and regardless if you practice QDM or not its going to better your hunting experiences. If you harvest does to fill the freezer then you may take your first monster buck down the road to as a consolation prize for letting the little guy walk in the years before.

Austin/WI

I agree with you on this, I do hunt mostly for enjoyment and meat - if I get a decent buck, great, but that's not my intentions. IHowever, I'll admit, when I hunt public land I don't limit myself to just does (except when I forced by EAB regs) mainly because of the limited length of time I'm able to hunt during bow season amongst other things. The amount of time I get to spend in the woods is severly limited each fall by school, work and family; and because of that I have limited chances to fill my freezer as well. To me that freezer filling is important, I'm a commuter student and live alone most of the year, so any grocery money I can save by harvesting and processing/packaging my own meat is money towards gas, books, etc.

Private land is a different story though.

RockinChair

Very commendable reasons Austin.

Austin/WI

Thank You Sir

Kid

Every young buck i ever killed was tender and tasted just fine!

Edcyclopedia

Good points...
However, most of you guys, if any, are not from NH.
My example is simple, there are not a lot of deer in NH and if you pass on something, you may not get another chance.
That would make you think twice!
A handful of years ago, I gave up shooting "young deer" (6 mos. old) and try to wait for a yearling or older, so I know if it's a Doe or not.
Just remember - if you shoot a young deer there is a 50% chance it could be a buck?
Over the past several years I have been fortunate to have gotten some smaller "basket" bucks and intend to hold off for something 3.5 years or older this year.
This should hopefully mean 120"+ if I'm lucky

wahoohunter

Any chance you could provide responses to the other questions? I'm dfeinitely not meaning to offend anyone, I'm just interested to hear what has to be said.

drenal

every year i said i wont kill anything smaller with horns then what allready got ,so basically med 6 point or better otherwise them does are introuble. 2 a day can be taken for almost 6 months in the zone i hunt ,so i have no problem letting the little ones walk when i got a itchy finger .