TheDudeAbides

Something to think about...
"We all gear up for the season, eager to get out in the stand. We've all got the same thing in the back of our mind, we wanna shoot the big one this year! In order for that to become a reality, a lot of things have to change, starting with your ego. You need to get it out of your head right now that you have to shoot a buck every year. Deer hunting for quality bucks takes self control. You can't shoot that year and a half old 4-6 point every year at 8:00am on opening day. Why? Because you just shot a would be trophy two to three years down the road. They can't get any bigger in your freezer folks! Oh you just hunt for the meat? Then why did you pass up the four does you saw before the little buck walked in? Get off your ego high horse! Besides, we all know that does taste better anyway. Ever read up on deer management? You forget the part where they mention shooting does too?

But if you let it keep walking, the next guy will shoot it? Enough with the excuses already. It's a possibility, but hopefully they exercise proper deer management and aren't as full of excuses as you.

Hunting is a lot like fishing, it requires patience, persistence, and preparation. But here is where Hunting is different. Unlike fishing where you can't decide what is gonna bite that hook, in hunting you have to choose to aim at a specific animal and pull the trigger. In hunting, it's entirely up to you on which animals you harvest. You should be able to judge sex, size, and maturity of the deer before you shoot. If you can't, it pry wasn't the best opportunity to take a shot. What gets me more than people shooting small bucks is intentionally shooting yearling bucks, buck fawns, button bucks or whatever you may call them.

This was directed towards veteran hunters, who have harvested many deer in their lives. For people who are new to the sport or have never shot a buck, go ahead and shoot whatever. You will remember your first deer/buck for the rest of your life. My neighbor just got his second buck of his life last week and he's in his early 50's and been hunting for years. It wasn't a monster, but it sure was a trophy for him. He was smiling from ear to ear and I couldn't have been happier for him.

Thanks for letting me rant. Good luck out there."

flags

Not everyone that shoots a small buck is going to have a chance to be picky.There are a lot of places that only allow you to shoot one deer and you need to draw special licenses to take a doe, most western states are this way. Then there are places like CA where you ain't gonna shoot a doe period! When I was stationed in CA, you shot the buck you saw because you might not see another. Right now I'm hunting VA, but this screwy state has designated doe days. So if I'm hunting on a day that isn't a doe day I can't shoot one. Should I let the buck walk if he isn't a monster because I can't legally kill a doe if I am hunting for the freezer? Last year in VA I shot a spike and a 7 pt. I never had a legal shot at a doe. Those 2 deer fed me and the wife for the year and I refuse to accept your premise that I should not have shot either one.

I come from a family of meat hunters. I really don't care how big a set of antlers are. All they are is a few inches of bone. I also believe the current trend of focusing only on big antlers does a serious disservice to hunting. Anti-hunters are always looking for ammo to use against us and hunting for big racks gives them something to use. It is hard to criticize a guy that hunts for meat, public surveys show this to be true. But "trophy hunting" is another story.

Feel free to disagree if you wish. But I'll take the deer that I have a shot at and not worry about the one I may never see.

TheDudeAbides

Flag, I understand where you're coming from. I pondered upon this and wanted to see what others thought about it and thought it would be a good discussion. My family only harvests what we will eat (except coyote). I also agree that the antis don't need any ammo against us. The state I hunt in does not have designated doe days, that does sound screwy. I do relate to this though because I know some guys that complain about shooting small bucks and it baffles me. I just wanna say, then don't shoot it if you're not happy with it!

early in

Good post flags, I agree. If you're hunting YOUR LAND his philosophy might hold true. Letting smaller bucks go so that they can grow will work if you don't have to worry about somebody else shooting them, like on Public Land where it's usually the first legal buck that get's shot. Reality is reality.

I hunt State Land where it's bowhunting only, so I do actually let smaller "legal" bucks walk. In fact, I let this little guy go at 10yrds on Halloween, as he proceeded to walk right in front of my trail cam! I don't have control over what others shoot, but I have control over what I shoot. If it's legal, shoot what makes YOU happy!

7.62NATO

I love venison, first. I like a big rack; a big buck with a great rack gets me super excited and it is amazing to admire such an animal before and after the harvest. But that isn't why I do it. I admire and give thanks for every deer I take for several moments before I dress it out. A bigger set of antlers does not increase the value of the life of an animal to me. Nor does a smaller (or complete lack of a) set of antlers diminish the value of the animal or the hunt. YOU are assigning value to something SUBJECTIVE and making it the BASIS of your little rant.

I like venison to be my primary source of red meat for the entire year. I would rather have plenty of venison on hand than a lack thereof with a nice mount on my wall. Oh, and NOTHING is tastier than a fawn. I take one every season and don't care if it's a buck or doe.

SWThomas

Not sure where you're hunting, but down in Sussex county every day during general gun is either sex. Dinwiddie county has doe days though. I interpreted your post as all of VA is doe days only for does. That is incorrect.

Youth and apprentice is either sex statewide. Early and late archery season is either sex for the entire season except PALS in Dickenson county. Urban archery is does only. Early muzzleloader is either sex for the full season except on National Forrest lands in certain counties and a few other counties. And a lot of counties are either sex for the full firearms season.

MZS

I more or less am with you on this except for the anti-hunter argument - guys that hunt and manage trophies are also the types that would never waste the meat. Even if they don't eat it they will donate it to food shelves or charities. The other type of trophy seeker (I won't use the term hunter) is the poacher, and I think there is a pretty good distinction between them and the QDMA types - night and day. I am not a trophy hunter, but if that is what some want to do, fine by me. And at times I will go for the trophy as well.

Thunderchicken217

My personal opinion at 38yrs of age and someone who has killed well over 100 deer as I live in a very liberal harvest state of MD is this. Do not shoot little deer period wether its private or public land. If you do there is 0 chance it makes it to maturity and this thought process of oh my neighbor may shoot it or someone else who is public ground may shoot it is pure crap. Just some round about way for grown men to justify shooting some small ass deer. If you live in the some remote place where thats your only food for the yr thats a different story but honestly you know thats not the case. I wish every state in the U.S. had antler restrictions on deer for hunters over the age of 16. Killing a deer is a privelage and not a right and if some yrs we had to eat tag soup then so be it. So many people seem to take the approach of I bought a license and I will shoot whatever I want within the law and thats totally legal and totally fine but their the same damn people on here complaining they never see big bucks or asking us to age some 2.5yr old deer for em. I bet well more than 50% of us on here are fisherman and do you believe there should be no size regulations on fish either. Make for some pretty piss poor fishing in about a decade from now if that was the case. If you live in some BS state like CA then need to get people together to change the laws just like we did here in my home state and if you dont like the laws where you are then move or hunt another state. There is alot of truth that most and I say most of hunters mature and go thru a 5 step process and one of them being the trophy stage and understanding that numbers of states have harvest numbers in the 80%'s of yearling bucks and thats just pure disgusting to me. If nothing else they should do a small antler lottery just like some places do for does to eliminate the descimation of yearling bucks by grown ass men. So Dude Im with you on this one and tired myself of hearing all the excuses of why I needed to shoot a small buck. Might be a state here or there with tight doe regs but they are few and far between and as far as Im concerned the trophy hunter and doe hunter is heads and tails above the guy who shoots a four point who is standing with six does. Good post man and with you all the way.

flags

My major problem with the above is that you want to force everyone else to do things the way you want. What about the guy that gets to hunt a single weekend out of the whole year and doesn't care about a big rack? Maybe he will only get one chance to fill his tag. Why should he have to do things your way? The state issues a license and the state says what is and isn't legal within the borders of that state, not you. I'm 50 years old and have taken at least 150 deer of several species, have hunted over 10 states, Canada and Africa and I'm not about to tell someone what animal to take. It is their tag and they can do as they wish as long as it is legal.

My home state of CO allows you to take 1 deer a season. If you want that deer to be a doe, you have to apply for a specific doe license. If you have a doe license, you cannot shoot a buck. If you get a buck license, you cannot shoot a doe. One deer is all you will get. A buck license is easier to get than a doe license so many people hunt bucks. And, you can only hunt a specific season. You cannot hunt archery, muzzleloader and all the rifle seasons. Some of the rifle seasons are as short as 5 days. You pick one during the drawing in April for a specific season and a specific unit and that is it. There are no statewide deer tags in CO, they are all unit specific. Most the western states are this way. Are you really telling me they should have to abide by rules you desire?

For what it is worth, CO tried a 3 pt or better rule for deer for nearly 10 years. They dropped it because it didn't have the desired effect. The deer herd did not increase in that time so it was dropped. When you start talking about nation wide policies, you're not being realistic since different parts of the country have different situations. How many wolves, bear and cougar do you have in MD that are preying on the deer? Winter in the Rockies is a lot different than winter along the East Coast. There is a big difference between MD and WY. Many people out west depend on deer and elk for meat and all the ones I know don't care how big the antlers are. No matter how you cook them, they are still tough. If you tried to tell them that some guy in MD has decided they can't shoot that young tender buck because it is too young, you'll probably get told where to go.

Champlain Islander

I agree 100% with this very thoughtful post. Giving thanks for the privilege of taking an animal is always special to me. I have friends who are strictly trophy hunters and others like me who do it first and foremost to enjoy the fair chase hunt and for the meat. The racks of antlers are nice to look at but really don't mean much to me. The grandkids like to play with them so I keep them around. I don't see much difference between a buck and doe for eating quality. Proper care soon after the kill and a reasonable hang time along with proper butchering always results in a tender tasty deer.