Trophy Vs. Young buck
 

So my question is... other than looking for a rack to hang on a wall, why would a hunter go after an older buck rather than a young one?

The way I see it, hanging on to the older, mature bucks would tend to strengthen the herd. If hunting regulations required three point and below (Washington State), the survivors, the bucks smart enough to evade hunters, would tend to be the best of the young. They would therefore be competing with the mature bucks for dominance within the herd. Wouldn't that produce better animals?

PLUS, a spike is a whole better eating!

:s201:Someone please tell me why that doesn't make sense.

I like to shoot one better than the one I shot last.

...............but you always know when you see a shooter !

Just because a buck has a good rack doesn't mean he is old.
I have a self imposed limit of 8 points eastern count. This one was only 1 1/2 years old when the DNR people aged it.





The next one I got was just a spike but had been wounded. it checked out as 2 1/2 years old. different crops in the area that year than in the year before.



:D Al

Because a crafty old buck is a challenge and tests my skills.

The bit about saving the old bucks to strengthen the herd is baloney. The younger bucks carry the genes of the older bucks and will pass them along just as well as an older buck.
Who do you think the daddys of the young bucks are?
Bingo..... The old mossy horns that are so fun to hunt.

Thanks for the feedback.
Bullcamp, your daddy's point is a good one.

I hunt for the meat,antlers come in second.

Where I hunt I am lucky that the limits are extemely liberal. And the property I hunt has a high density of deer. So it is relatively easy for me to take several does each year. And this is what I generally do to replinish my venison supply. I pass the young bucks because choose to and as already mentioned, it is a challenge to hunt a mature buck. I will add the it is my experience that the hardest deer to bag is an old savvy nanny. She has reared several year's of fawns and knows how to sense danger ... and she never goes off guard as sometimes a mature buck might when the estrus is in full swing.

Mojo is right. If you want to shoot a couple or three does out of a group identify the matriarch and shoot her first. The rest of the group will often react with confusion and mill around, giving you targets. If you shoot some other doe first and the matriarch takes off the whole group goes with her.

What if you shoot up young generation and the old generation just dies?

I'm focused on "management bucks" or mature trophy bucks.

ie... I'd rather take a 2.5yo 6pt 8pt than a 2.5yp 10pt/12pt

I want more of the 10's and 12's breeding vs. shooting nice 10pints when they're 2.5yo and letting inferior 6-8pt type bucks breeding.