bigcountryok

It all depends on the hunter and the area he/she is hunting. I hunt 160 acres where I know that there is no way I can control the herd, and the neighbors shoot what they can so if I find a smaller buck I typically let him go and hope he's there when I bring my son back to get him.

Bowhunting out there is a different story though. I'm allowed two bucks. 1st is any legal deer for the freezer and 2nd is for quality.

I use to have access to 10,000 acres and out there we did manage the herd and always let the inmature deer walk. Worked great and we were rewarded for what we did out there with a quality herd and multiple trophies for most of us.

USNRETHunter

Since I only get one 'any-deer' tag for the season and virtually unlimited antlerless, the way I work it (and have taught my son), is that if it is not bigger than the one you currently have on the wall, let it pass and take the doe. As a result, my any-deer tag has gone unfilled for the past several years because by late in the season, I have filled the freezer with plenty of doe meat. To cover both Late Shotgun and Late ML seasons (which gives us 4 full weeks of hunting), I get an any-deer tag for me for one season and my son for the other, then two antlerless for each season. That gives us full coverage and plenty of venison. Last year two does were donated to the Iowa HUSH program. (Help Us Stamput Hunger).

bryant1

I have no excuses- I like to eat venison and hunt legal bucks. I am a deer hunter and I will kill every legal buck i see. As long as it has two points on one side(club rules) I will take it.

Jimmy S

Just maybe the hunter wanted to shoot any buck but makes that statement as an excuse.

Personally, if you want any deer, even a small, young buck, then by all means take him.
Just don't tell me you didn't want another hunter shooting him.
Because if you do, you're not hunting for what you want, you're hunting so another hunter won't tag.

To me, that's not why I hunt.

sauer06

I have hunted for over deer for over 20 years in central Minnesota, And in the areas that I have hunted in there is alot of hunting pressure and there are not alot of deer where we hunt. It has been my experence that if you hunt hard you MAY get one shot at a deer and if you miss or pass you will probably not get another chance, so we shoot whatever we can. If I hunted in a place where where deer were more plentyful I would probably have a different opinion