DuhartClub_Hunter

I titled it hunter ethics but i guess you could call it conservation or management but anyway. Got home from work and hopped on the computer and got to looking at some harvested deer from this year and past seasons. A button buck (which is easily mistaken for a doe), spike or a four point, any buck below a 8 point IMO you should let walk. Now for someone shooting their first buck that's fine, but it annoys me when small/young bucks get harvested like hotcakes. If ya let that nice six walk he could come back the next year and be REALLY nice. Agree or Disagree, does it bother you when you see young bucks hunted and not allowed to get some size on em. Not counting first deer harvest (like a kid).

elmoughler

Its each persons opinion. The bucks I have killed were a 4pt (both myself and my camera man thought he was a doe when I took the shot) and a spike. I'm a meat hunter first so for me I'll shoot what gives me the chance.

edgecam

I'm also a meat hunter. I prefer to shoot 100-130 LB doe during bow season and leave rifle for the trophy hunters. If I get skunked during bow season I will shoot the first leagal buck I see during rifle season.

bmgillum

I am now a trophy hunter only but there was a time, long, long ago, when I would shoot anything that was legal...

Cheers/bg

WV Hunter

LOL.

I choose to not shoot small bucks, but I would never tell someone else not to. Shoot what you want, that makes you happy. No one has to cater to what others want them to do. This elitist type attitude does more harm than good for this sport.

7.62NATO

Ethics? Hilarious. Why don't you go try to explain your ethics to the deer?

"Yes, you there. I see you only have six points on your rack. I would not dare kill you because you are not worthy of my projectile or my time, so relax. It would also be wrong for me to kill you, because you don't have eight, or even TEN points. But you deer, yes you. If I see you again with eight points, well then, you understand that I will have to kill you. Because then it will be ok. So off with you now! And pray your genetics do not make you worthy of my projectile!!"

ROFLMAO!

And, let's not confuse words that don't remotely mean the same thing: ethics, conservation and management. I could hand you a dictionary, but you probably already have one.

Woodsman88

I think it depends on how and where you are hunting. Here in central Florida on public land any deer harvested is a trophy. Percentage wise I would say 75% of bucks taken are less than 6pt. I have no preference on size of horns because I love te sport and meat. On the other hand I am also a member of a lease that practices deer heard management. On public land if it is a legal buck I will take him.

Terasec

Only ethical if someone practices same principles as you?
Population management is more effective by harvesting does, so I guess your an unethical hunter.

Night Crawler

Trophy hunting is not ethical hunting. Horns do not matter.

I really can't stand a hunter that only sits in the stand to pull the trigger on a mature buck.

salukipv1

You can't go on points alone... ie... if you have a 4.5yo 8pointer, take him as a management buck!

essentially I support letting bucks age.... 3.5yo+ in my area is a nice buck...

I believe they say the average buck in general is 1.5yo when shot...

some hunters just want to kill/be successful, so the first deer they can shoot they'll shoot, and that's fine for them, not me.

some guys just want a buck to say I killed a buck... whether a dink or monster...

I live in an area with plenty of does and would take a doe before a dink if I just wanted meat.

Trophy hunting is 100x tougher than Meat hunting, and much more frustrating! lol.