RE: Button Bucks
 

since i have recieved some heat for shooting the button buck this year, i must make some things clear. first, i am only 15 and usually pass on small bucks, so i do my part. second, we are losing the land to builders and there is only like one piece of land 3 acres in size left to hunting, for 1 more year. why should i let this button buck go if i need the meat and i will not benefit from it growing up next year or the yer after that? since i was 10, i have hunted on this piece of private land. this year i have to find a place to hunt and if i dont't i refuse to deer hunt on public land. so, this may be my last year hunting for a year or two, and those tenderlins are just toooooo good to pass up. so anyone who has got a problem with that, i dont care.

RE: Button Bucks
 

here the rule usto be 1 in above the hair line. It has changed to 5 in above the hair line. there were alot of does being killed with the one in rule. Now to me young deer seam to be tinder than and older deer. And when antlerless days ae in or AL tags . sonme time you cant tell our does and butto bucks are about the same size every onece in awhile the does will be biger. But if the deer is leagle i dont care what it is.

RE: Button Bucks
 

One thing to remember, there's no real need for QDM in the low density areas mentioned. In the vast majority of areas with 10 deer per square mile, there's a good buck to doe ratio. The serious hunter will always find his older bucks, and the one week a year guy may or may not. Anyway, there's no real need to let every bb grow up, the land can only hold so many. Shooting a buck fawn does no real harm, except to the guy who shot it, for next year. And if he's happy, so be it.
Letting buck fawns go is more for areas of high density, were a large number have to be killed, and a large number are. That's when you get the 15:1 buck to doe ratios, because guys shoot the first thing they see, and where the protection of young bucks is needed.
In aeas where there's a lot of deer, maybe 25 or more per mile, shooting a bb is foolish, because you can ge a doe easily enough with a little patieence, and anyone who says they'll take a bb over a 10pt is lying. Why not have the best of both worlds?

RE: Button Bucks
 

I'm a meat hunter and so are my hunting partners. We start the year off looking for a large buck or doe and slowly work our way down in size until the end of the season. If a button buck walks by through November he is pretty safe with us. However if its in the last days of December he will be going into the freezer and the same goes for a small doe. We're able to shoot 3-4 deer each year so we don't have to be as picky about the size.

RE: Button Bucks
 

its hard to see the buttons i shot one this year by mistake.

RE: Button Bucks
 

My family don't care what other hunters shoot, thats their business. What we do is send antlered for first and second choice. If we miss the drawing there is always left over doe tags. We compete for antler size amongst ourselves. Look at my daughters deer pictures and you can see who won. We see up to 10 bucks most days.

RE: Button Bucks
 

I'll usually shoot a spike if I see one. I believe in the genetics arguement in favor of removing them. But spikes are quite rare where I hunt, most 1.5 yr. olds are 6-8 point crown or basket racked. So we can sure spare the rare spike. But I've never yet shot a button buck. I may have been lucky or it may bedue to the fact that I don't shoot small does either. Where I am the chance usually comes along for a adult deer be it buck or doe.

RE: Button Bucks
 

I would let the button bucks walk if I was sure it was a button buck and not a doe. It IS hard to tell sometimes.

RE: Button Bucks
 

I've shot one thinking he was a she during anterless season didn't feel bad at all.We do let spikes walk on our land if we can see them.

RE: Button Bucks
 

The very first deer I shot was a button buck. That was 28 years ago. That was also the last button buck I shot. Lucky? No. Selective? Yes. If I'm not sure, I will not shoot. That's me. Other people have their reasons. If it's someones first deer then I don't have a problem with it. But man, there are so many seasons and days to hunt that you CAN be selective.