James Vee

thelastboyscout: here is yearling 10 point.





Passed him up two times during season. He made it. I also passed up 7 different eight pointers with a bow, five eight pointers with a gun, and countless spike bucks. Two of those eight points were shot. The rest of the bucks, as far as I know, made it through all of the seasons.

farmcntry

The point is this. I passed up some bucks this year a 6, 7, couple cow horns, etc.

I know for a fact the 6 and 7 were killed on the next tract of land.

Saturday I saw what I was waiting for. A large 8 -10 pointer 18 -20" wide.
I didn't get a shot yet, but that is why I passed on the smaller bucks.

Wheather I get him or not, now that is a different story all together.

WV Hunter

Couldn't have said it better.

It really doesn't matter where you hunt....or how much pressure there is. Some WILL make it. If you shoot him, there's a 100% chance he won't grow into the buck you'd like to see. All you can do is let him walk, and keep hunting for what you want. Also, try and educate the folks around you the best you can. There will always be the people that will shoot anything with a couple inches of horn....so they can have their bragging rights. Nothing you can do about them. You can only control your actions.

I don't live or hunt in big buck central....so the chances of seeing a bruiser are much slimmer than what some of you folks have. Heck some folks on this board regularly pass up bucks that I will probably never see where I hunt. But there are some nice bucks around every year. And I'm hunting for one of them...no less. I guess the bottom line for me is....I'm not gonna shoot a buck that doesn't do something for me. I'd rather shoot a doe or two or three. I think it comes with maturing as a hunter. I can remember when shooting a forkhorn pumped me up higher than a kite. Now, I enjoy watching him walk. And yes I've had nice basket rack bucks walk out of sight after passing them up, and get popped as well. But at least I know I did my part.

I think ultimately it comes down to what YOU as the hunter want and would be proud to harvest.

I wish the states that I hunt would adopt antler restrictions of some sort...or at least cut down on the # of bucks that can be legally harvested per year. That would help alot overall. Until then...I'll keep passing them up.

wimp

They way I look at it is that I'm not passing on small bucks in hopes that they grow, I'm passing on small bucks because I want to shoot something bigger. Focus on the deer that are big enough to shoot rather than hoping the smaller ones will make it. It'll keep your blood pressure much lower.

Carpn

Here in Ohio we are allowed 1 buck a yr....There is no way I'm gonna shoot a little 1.5 old, 6 or 8 point and end my buck hunting for the season. I pass these deer up hoping that they will make it but knowing that alot of them won't. My best advice to people on how to kill good bucks is not to shoot little ones and end your season. This yr. I passed up about 8 small bucks and 2 that were in the 115-120 range. I don't live in a area where you don't see huge numbers of deer. in fact I feel lucky just to see a few each time I go.
As far as meat I am lucky to live in a area that allows extra antlerless tags and shoot 2 or 3 does for meat each yr. I'm also lucky enough to live in Ohio where we do have some nice deer. This is mainly due to the fact that you can only harvest one buck...It keeps guys from going out and shooting every little buck they see.

nmaineron

It really does make a difference as to where you are.Here in Maine we have nice big deer but the chances of seeing one is far leaner than in most of the places you fellas talk about.Passing on a muture eight pointer usually means no meat in the freezer for this year.We get one tag,which has to be a buck,and have to apply for a doe tag and it is either/or, not both if you are successful in getting a doe tag.We shoot way to many young bucks because of this and simply because QDM in Maine is not something many think about.Ron

Bees

That's why when I bow hunt I don't pass on much anymore... If I got a tag for it and its there in bow range, I'm taking it. Why? hunting partener wants the meat and the gunners will get it if I don't..

NY Bowhunter

Guys you have to realize. It does matter where you hunt or what is offered to you. Let me state now that I will not shoot the little bucks either. I let them pass. I had 7 different bucks I could have taken this bowseason. I hold out for the hopes of the biggest mature buck in the area. Never got him this year.
Anyway, in some areas the problem is if you adopt the theory of not shooting the little bucks, you may never in your lifetime take one. You may never see one. The problem is in some places the amount of pressure and hunters around the property you're hunting and the deer herd itself. If everyone on the surrounding areas is shooting any buck that crosses their path, then there is no chance of any kind of QDM. If you're going to sit and wait for a 150" buck forget it. Then you throw in the other factor. If by some mysterious chance a buck makes it 4, 5, or 6 years and becomes a "monster for that area" chances are someone with a pickup truck and a spotlight will be harvesting that one. I'm just speaking from first hand experience. The first 5 years I hunted I was on a piece of land like that. Never saw a decent buck in the 5 years I was there. So I can understand why people might start to second guess themselves. Just simply no opportunity for a trophy buck. It's pretty easy to make an argument when you're seeing 50 bucks a season and can pick and choose at least the one you're after. That doesn't mean you'll get him, but it does mean you have the option.
Fortunately now I have a different piece of land that we can manage and have some Big Boys walking around. The difference is the neighboring hunting partys. They are serious about the deer herd and QDM. We actually get together before the season and talk to eachother about it. There are 2 other hunting parties on the surrounding lands. All together between the 3 parties we encompass over 2,000 acres. We don't hunt their land and they dont' hunt ours, but we all play by the same rules and we finally have a good thing going there.

Antler Eater

I think we would all love to be in "a plot of woods loaded with 150"+ bucks". Simply put, that doesn't exist where I am at. However, I do agree that because of the region of the country I currently live in, I have a better chance than a lot of my fellow hunters to harvest a 150" class buck. But again the point is if I don't let the little guys walk they have no chance to reach maturity.

If a 6 or an 8 pointer is as good as you can realistically hope to harvest in the area you hunt, then by all means take him with pride.

Atlas my young friend, you assume to much. I have indeed spent much more than "a couple" of years hunting "under conditions like those". For twelve years I lived in Michigan, hunting public land competing with approximately 700,000 hunters annually (Some years more hunters took to the field than any other state in the country). It was tough no doubt. Opportunities were few and far between. When I started my mind set was to kill the first thing that came by and for the most part that is what I did. As time went by killing a spike or a forkhorn no longer satisfied my desires so I let them walk regardless of whether I killed anything that year or not. I don't expect everyone to feel the same way I do. I do understand that and especially in regions like Michigan and apparently NY, where conditions are less than ideal it becomes difficult to excercise self imposed discipline. Nevertheless if we don't start somewhere nothing will ever change. It is perfectly legal to kill younger bucks so if that gives you a thrill, each to his own.

...Heh heh, Your first statement in the above quote couldn't be farther from the truth. I have been lucky enough to have hunted a number of places in this great country so I have a pretty good idea of what expect in the different regions. That is why you should never judge a hunters skill by the size of his buck. No illusions here, believe me I know what the facts are.

I am a fortunate person. They don't call Iowa "heaven" for nothing . However few things of any value come our way without discipline, effort, wisdom, and a little luck.

I am lucky that I don't have to compete with 699,999 hunters every year now. But I am also smart enough to know that most bucks can't grow great horns until they are at least 3 1/2. Being that is what excites me, I have to demonstrate the discipline to let the imature bucks walk. Because of the effort and the time I put into this addiction that isn't hard to do.

Getting back to the original question of passing on bucks.

The last twenty minutes of the last day of gun season I had doe and a fawn out in front of me and a two and half year old eight point buck walked out at 25 yards. I could legally shoot either deer. It wasn't even a contest. I enjoyed watching the buck make his way through the woods and then shot the doe (if memory serves me correctly it is only the second deer I have shot with a gun in nearly a twenty year period). I may never see that buck again. Usually I don't. But you know what? I just might ...It could be that in the next year or two I will get a chance at him with my bow...and just the thought of that makes it all worth while.

IL-Cornfed

AE, GREAT POST