I personaly will not shoot a button buck, and I won't shoot small does either this lessons the chance of accidently shooting a button buck. However I do feel if a youth hunter just starting out has the opportunity to shoot one they should.

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If I have an any deer permit I'll shoot the first deer I see. Meat is Meat to me. Who know if I'll even see another deer throughout the season. Can't be to greedy sometimes

THE SECOND DEER I EVER SHOT WAS A LITTLE BUTTON BUCK.

Maybe deer are different in ND, an alert doe has her tail high in the air a buck has his tucked in tight, even most button bucks. Next time you see a bunch of doe looking deer on the run look at their tails, you will learn to look every time.

I hunted in a club this year that had "doe fests" that is where you have a big doe contest. Each guy puts in $10.00 and the winner gets the pot. The reason they do that is there are way too many does. Several times hunters have mistaken button bucks for does. If you are thinning out the does this is going to happen. I guess it is better to shoot a couple button bucks by mistake than to let the does and bucks in-breed from overpopulation of does.

How about this? Dont shoot any young deer. Be selective even with doe harvests if you can.

I gotta agree with janc because in Maine and most of northen New England we just don't have the deer numbers that other states have. It seems those who say they are selective about the deer they shoot have the luxury of hunting in states where the deer population is high. I doubt many would have those values if you hunted your entire season in areas that has less than 10 deer per square mile, and the success rate is about 10%. Think about it, on the average, if you hunted 10 YEARS you would only have ONE deer. I don't think any of you could ever conceive shooting only 4 deer in you lifetime if you hunted every year for 40 years. ....Just my thoughts.

I shoot any deer that walks in front of me, as long as I have a valid permit. The only exception is if I'm hunting with someone who has rules about what they want shot on their land. I passed up a nice yearling male this year because of that.

Does he have the chance to be a big one? Yes. Would I have shot him on my own land. Yes. I don't really care about growing big deer. There are plenty of deer, big and small, here in S. IL.

To reply to Pablo:
#1 I don't care about "depriving" myself of a potential big deer- they are aplenty. If I get one, fine, if not, fine, I'm not here to farm them.

#2 Less meat-so what? I'm not hunting to survive. I like venison and want all I can get, but I'll take any I can get.
I know a lot of you here don't agree with that, but that's my opinion.

BTW, the button I took on opening day, tasted GOOD!

<font color=maroon>There have been interesting comments made. Hope I didn't offend anyone. I realize that it's hard to pass up one if you don't have the deer numbers and there is a lot of hunting pressure. Jimmy S, that's 1 deer per 64 acres. That sounds like West Texas except you have a lot of wooded country. That's tough hunting. We're fortunate down here to be able to be selective and I feel bad if a young deer is harvested.

If you can be selective, my recommendation is this: Make sure of your target. If you can't decide, don't shoot. You'll get another chance.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Pablo
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IMO...unless it's your first deer, just shoot a doe...QMD is a good thing to practice if you're after mature bucks and big racks.
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