GR8atta2d

I like to start a thread each week to get the view-points of my fellow hunters. It's nice to hear everyone talk about their day afield or talk equipment, but i like to make you think a little and pick your brains on ethical and situational items. Besides I got another week and a half before the archery season opens so I got nothing to report from my days afield.

So here goes:
I hunt in both Ohio and Pa. I have harvested 30 some bucks. I am more of a wall-hanger hunter now than in years past. (It comes with age and success, if your not there yet, I hope you will be someday) Anyway, for the past couple of years I have applied for and got my PA doe license. But i am yet to shoot a doe. I guess I was bought up not taking doe, and have a hard time doing so. Sure I've heard the, but it helps the herd, theory. I dunno if I buy into it. My killing one one doe is not significantly going to help the herd. True if everyone had my out-look we would have a serious problem, but most people are taking their doe. SO why do I buy a tag? Well the money helps the game commission and more importantly to me I use the doe tag as an insurance policy. In PA you are allowed 1 buck, and a doe if you get the extra tag. We have a camp in PA and it's been an important family tradition that the men go up to camp for Buck Season. It's the greatest week of the year. We Hunt hard all day, play cards at night all the typical male bounding stuff that helped me evolve into the man I am today, both, in and out of the woods. The doe tag insures that if I score in Archery season or opening day of rifle that I can hunt the rest of the week. If I am lucky enough to connect early, i can still go to the woods, with the others. Only, I tote my bow and doe hunt.
Last year I did not get a buck (I let 6 legal, but not trophy quality)walk opening day. So my doe tag went unfilled. Sure pegging a doe in PA with a rifle is not a real challenge and if you read my last controversial thread you'll know i'm not a meat hunter, so I wasted the doe tag.

So let me hear it, thoughts, comments, any others share my view or hold me in a bad light because I could possibly waste a tag that could put meat on your table?

HaGar43

I think your doe shooting assumptions are illogical. But I understand your reasoning. I ALWAYS hold onto at least 1 doe tag (NYS) with my name on it to keep me in the field until the last day possible.

Rob/PA Bowyer

I don't have a problem with what your doing at all...I'm in a similiar boat myself....last season I had my standard buck tag, I also applied for and got my doe tag and a bonus doe tag....I did not fill any of the 3 tags although I had ample opportunity at more than a dozen legal bucks and countless doe opportunities....every time I had a doe in front of me, I decided....not today, or not tonight....maybe a my buck I'm hunting will be by or is close.....so the season came and went, late season I didn't get out like I planned......

Like myself, it's your right not to fill your tag which you payed for....it's no one else's business as far as I'm concerned.

This year I only applied for one doe tag, which I have not received as of yet but I do know that there were tags left after the first draw....and it will be my discretion if and when I choose to fill that tag.

cardeer

Your license ,do what you want,I know people that always buy doe tags and never use them. There business

adams

If you want to buy the tag just so you can go to PA with family that's cool. At least you're able to. If you buy the tag and have no intension of shooting a doe hat's fine as well. It give you the legal right to be in the woods with a weapon.

If you buy the tag and shoot a doe that you don't want and it goes to waste is where I'd draw the line. If you take a doe and donate it that's fine. IMO If you shoot a deer it should be used either by yourself or someone who needs or will enjoy it. As long as the deer isn't just shot for the sake of shooting it and then wasted I have no problem with your reasoning for purchaseing your doe tag.

tazimna

There's the perfect arguement for each state to have a "earn a buck tag". IMO, all states that need deer management(my state of Minn. included), one should have to pop a doe first, then prove you registered it before a buck tag is given. In my state of Minn, the problem as i see it is that our Dept. of Natural resources manages the deer herd for revenue, instead of quality/quantity. Taz

BobCo19-65

I have a buddy that does the same thing, and I usually fill his for him. I always take the first decent doe that goes by my stand for meat. But I will usually get one for the land owners whose land we hunt on and a lot of times one for the food bank.

t roy

i dont agree with hunting justs for heads, i dont see it as a legitamate reason to harvest an animal. i have two "wall hangers", havent put one on the wall for a few years now. i dont harvest immature bucks and i enjoy hunting for does and bucks alike, and my friends and i process & consume the deer we kill. along with donating to help the hungry programs and giving to the folks who let us hunt their property.

as far as wasting a tag, i dont see a problem with that at all. but if you dont have any intention of shooting a doe why get the tag, so your butt is covered if you run into a consrvation officer?

PMantle

To me, if one claims to be a trophy hunter, it is his/her responsibilty to the herd to take does.

mobow

Hey, everyone hunts for different reasons. Some hunt for meat, some for relaxation and don't even care if they see a deer, still others want the personal challenge of that big buck. Whatever your reasons, as long as you are legal, who cares. Do what you want. We need to understand that we are individuals, and we can do different things, no one is right or wrong. However, I would like to address the shooting one doe not making a difference in the herd. I believe it does make a difference. Think about this, if a doe lives 5 years, and only has one fawn at a time with no twins, that's 5 fawns. Each of those have 5 fawns, and now, within just a few years, we are up to like 25 deer just from the one.