I'm sure alot of you older hunters remember what it was like years ago when you had to win a lottery to get a doe tag? Back when we were trying to grow our deer herds.
Lets say your deer herd goes full circle. You have an abundance of doe kills along with winter kills or whatever reason and your back to square one leaving doe tags few and far between.

Your only issued one buck tag , if you fail to get a crack at a mature (trophy) buck is your freezer staying empty for the year? Or will you settle for a 1.5 year old buck to fill your freezer?

Please answer honestly!

id settle and eat good. But if I had already bagged a few earlier in the yr. I would let him walk.

My freezer would go empty.

A yearling buck or no deer meat??? I guess I wouldn't lose any sleep if I didn't have venison for a year.

my opinion is .you guys should consider yourselves lucky to be able to take a buck
here in the lovely state of New Jersey the stae makes us take a doe first every season.....
fall bow, extended bow and winter bow and oh yea muzzel loader season.
the only time w can shoot a buck is during the 6 day fiream season.
oh and one more thing.we are only allowed to harvest 1 buck per season again unless its the 6 day fire arm then we can get 2.
now for the lousy part....for 4 years in a row now i had a beautifull buck w/in bow range and i could not take him becaus i did not have my doe yet for that season........i think,i;'m not 100% sure, Nj is the only state that makes hunters take a does first be allowing us o take a buck.....well i really shouldnt say doe .there terminology is "anterless" a doe or a spike under 3 inches of antler.
so to answer you question if it came to meat on the table......i'd shoot whatever came along if my freezer was empty........if i had a deer in there like i do right now(a doe)....i would pass em up

otto

Nope, because with all the other tags that I get annually, I will have meat in the freezer, it might not be whitetail, but there will be meat. This year, so happens that my freezer is full of moose, so it would have taken a heck of a whitetail to get me to pull the trigger.

If I had NO doe tags and only a buck tag, sorry to say but he's getting drilled regardless of size. I don't ever see myself in that position where i hunt though.

For the majority of the season he would prolly be safe. But if the season is winding down to the last couple days and i get a good shot at a 1.5yr old buck, he is done for.

I would have to agree with PA Trophy Man. If it was the last week of season I would probably be tempted to take a shot.

Filling the freezer is #1 with me, Don't know how I would do it if we went full circle but I'd find a way.