Bocajnala

I typically shoot 3 or 4 every year. This year only two so far. But I love shooting does. I pass small back throughout bow season. Once gun season comes I usually will shoot the first legal buck I see. Where I gun hunt at if I don't shoot it someone else probably will. So I've only passed a few bucks during gun season. But in the early bow season Im looking for a doe or an 8 point or better.
-Jake

kswild

I am! Just last week I was hunting for my bowling trophies but my golf trophies were in he way of my tennis trophies behind my stock car trophies right next to all my daughter's gymnastics trophies on top of my son's basketball trophies....so it seems like lately all I do is trophy hunt.
Live it up! Doug

Scottdnramember

I do both, food and trophy hunting. I’m in VA. Yes, we have tags and it’s 2 / Day, Most tags are antlerless because we have too many deer! I choose to only kill larger bucks on my property and I will get the does for meat and control purposes.

I don’t buy the “If I don’t kill it someone else will” argument. That’s just silly. If that were the case, you would never, ever see a bigger buck. If I choose to pass up that young one, I know he lived that time and he has a chance. If I shoot him, he certainly does not. Yeah, someone might take it, but it won’t be me. I passed on about 6+ small bucks this year. Surely some of them made it. Also, if I shoot a buck, I typically raise the bar for myself for the season. For instance, this year I got a nice 8 with the box. For myself I set the next buck minimum to be bigger. I knew at least one was because I had seen him chasing does. I have no idea if he made it through the season yet, but I never got a shot. We will let the does walk early in bow season to keep more big bucks interested in hanging around but once gun season opens we’ll take the does for meat in a minute. This is just how I choose to do it on my land and for my freezer.

Only 3 of us hunt my land and this season we shot 6 deer, 2 each. The freezers are full and it was a great season. We saw loads of deer and use and share all the meat we get every year. You can’t eat horns and I think the does make better meat anyway. However, if you keep shooting little bucks, you will not get as many big bucks. That’s just a fact.

That said, all areas are different and are under different hunting pressure. I encourage hunters to let the smaller bucks go, but if they don’t that’s their business. (Unless we get a local law stating otherwise) I do think it is downright stupid to shoot past a bunch of does to kill a spike or a 4 pointer so you can say you shot a buck. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

turkey harvester

Myself if a big one walks by me I'll shoot it, I hunt for the meat and not the horns. Yes they are nice but I'm not going to sit all season and wait for that 1 special deer. The people that do thats fine and dandy, but not everyone has that same thought. I don't like the AR in Missouri, I don't want the MDC telling me what I can and can't shoot. JMO

OntElk

Bingo. Why is everyone so curious on this topic all the time? Who cares what the other guys wants or chooses to shoot.

Terasec

when planning a management strategy,
choosing does or bucks is important,
dont think average hunter has a management strategy planned out when choosing buck/doe
state takes all matters into consideration when issuing tags,
but when it comes to filling the freezer, that rack doesnt matter.

NY Bowhunter

You can still eat the meat of a trophy buck..... best of both worlds. Just sayin...

7.62NATO

+1 here. Though, I am not aware of the antler restriction. Do tell. Do you have a link? I am totally against an antler restriction being mandated by the State. If you want to mandate an antler restriction on private property, more power to ya. The State has no business doing so as it has nothing to do with herd management.

Blur: VA issues 6 deer tags (3 either sex, 3 antlerless), but only 5 can be used west of the Blue Ridge (2 either sex, 3 antlerless). It should be noted that the regular firearms season west of the Blue Ridge is only 2 weeks. VA does not issue physical tags that you can tie onto an antler or punch into a doe's ear. What they issue instead is a card with your tags on them. If you kill a deer, you are instructed to notch out one of the tags at the time you recover the deer (before field dressing, etc). You are then required to "check" your deer via the internet or telephone within 24 hours, at which point you'll obtain a tag # that you are required to write on the tag.

turkey harvester

In Mo the antler restrictions aren't state wide yet. They have to have 4 points on one side before they can be shot. Myself I don't like it, but some do. I don't like the MDC telling me what kind of buck I can shoot. If I buy the tag and spend my money doing so then I should be able to hunt and shoot what ever I like. People who trophy hunt like it because they have bigger bucks. I don't see where we need an AR if people hunt on their own property. Mostly people who sell hunts really like it, go figure. Just my 2 cents

RIbadazzz

I hunt for trophies, and I eat what I kill.

I also try to manage our deer herd by taking does, again I eat/make use of what I kill.