Charlie P

Won't have much time to hunt so if a nice doe walks by with a 6 pt I'll shoot the doe. If the 6 pt sticks around I'll drop him too.

I've let em walk in the past and then seen them laying on the side of the road a couple days later.

How about this hunt for your own reasons and keep it legal.

The more that antlers become a priorty the more poaching you will see,followed by high fences and eventually the end of hunting.

rybohunter

While I don't particularly care to buy into VERY strict, grow them for an ultra huge rack, 130 class deer are culls, type of mentality.....I do feel that it is good practice to not shoot every little buck one sees. What sense is it to kill a huge amount of 1st year bucks out of the population? Thier true size has not even begun to show thru yet. Let things sort out to have somewhat of a spread over the age classes of bucks. Its all about moderation, ultra exclusive, super trophy growing is just about as bad as shooting everything with a little bit of bone on its head.

Indiana-Eric

I wont shoot any small bucks at all. Last year, I let at least 10 walk because they were too small. and guess what, Those 10 i let walk, no one close shot any of them, even though there are 9 or 10 other guys that hunt the same woods. so guess what, Im gonna have a few bigger deer this year than i saw last year. And since All I can Get is 1 buck license a year, it is going on something big, and like a lot of other people said, ill shoot a doe if i want meat, simple as that!

Buckslayer1

In ohio I hunt 8 points or bigger. In PA I hunt in a 4 point on a side county. In West virginia I shoot any buck.

skeeter 7MM

If your happy then I am happy for you! Most hunt for the same reason but we all have different dynamics (deer herd, pressure,etc), standards and personal challenges to address each fall. As long as it is legal and your proud of what you accomplished far be it for me to say otherwise.

Hunt long, hunt hard and go home happy!

Cloudwalker

I used to shoot everything that walked when I first started deer hunting 22 years ago. I live and hunt in the heaviest populated county in NC (Halifax). I can remember on 2 different ocassions sitting on the edge of a peanut field and having anywhere from 40 - 60 deer in the field at one time. With numbers like that, I can afford to pick and choose what I shoot. Also I get 10 weeks of regular gun season each year so if you can't fill your 6 tags with a population like that then something is definately wrong. I killed a nice 9 pointer last year and let a good sized 8 pointer walk. I did some scouting this month I have seen 2 nice racks so far and plenty of doe's this year.

Funny thing though, when you shoot a small buck, the antlers quit growing

Rack-attack

How about taking your own advice

TXhighrack

I pass on countless young bucks each year. The other day when I went to one of the ranches, just driving around I counted 16 bucks that would score 120"+, I didnt even bother counting the 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old bucks. I have shot one 1 1/2 year old buck in my life, I was 6. Around here you would get laughed at if you pulled up with a young buck, they would probably even take your gun/bow away .

Personally I wont shoot a buck unless he is mature (5 1/2+) and scores atleast 150", unless I see an old buck that has alot of character. I get 3 buck tags each year and while rifle hunting most years I could probably get 3 bucks that met my requirements but I would rather just take 1 and let the other two pass on there genes for another year. And besides a true "muy grande" buck is one that scores 170"+ but he wont get that big if you kill him when he only scores 150".

Charlie P

Rack, I have no problem with people setting there own standards on what deer they shoot. Did I say to make anything illegal or to ban something? We've talked on PM before you know I started figureing out the deer I want to kill this year and the end of last season.

Poaching: Is it out of line to believe that with the priorty becoming a big rack that people will take short cuts and that leads to poaching. Look at Noel Feather and people of that ilk. Look at what's people will do to win their local big buck contest.

High fence: Texas is a great example of what happens when deer management becomes the norm. High fences to keep the poachers out and "their" deer in.

End of hunting: I honestly believe that the average Joe has a bad out look on tye new "trophy Hunting" craze high fences and game farms. The are 80% of the population and will decide the future of hunting.

That was my point with the qoute that you posted, I have concerns with where hunting is headed in the future. This will be my sons first year of bowhunting, I'll be happy with what deer he decides to shoot, the experience will be the trophy.

It's obvious that the money is what is controlling hunting the wheel is in motion. I just believe that the more people produce their trophy's, the less support we will ahve from the general public. Look at the advertising on all the hunting shows food supplements for antler growth ,grow bigger deer on your property etc etc. It makes it look like we're farming deer not hunting them.

I've said before you used to be able to tell a guy what a pretty good hunter if he had some nice racks on the wall . Now you have to wonder.

My problem is what Pa. did with their AR. What do they do about bicks that are genetically inferior? You can shoot a young 8 pt,but legally you can't shoot a 4.5 yr. old 6 pt that scores 130. Not everyone is a devoted hunter and they might get in the woods a few times a year, if his thrill is shootinng a 6 pt I don't care.

Charlie P

Txhighrack,I presume on the ranches you speak of that hunting pressure is low and supplmenting feeding is used. Why would the larger older deer be as leery of man as a deer on heavily hunted piece of property?

Is the rack more important then the hunt? You hunt with a rifle,not saying it's easy, but what about some guy that hunts with a self bow and arrows, that hunts off the ground and stalks. You guys would laugh at this hunter who managed to get with in 15 yards of a 120 buck on the ground and makes a clean kill. Then another guy walks up with your "muy Grande" and pat him on the back and take picvtures. Even though he was sitting in a heated box blind with a laser range finder shooting a custum made rifle and drops the buck at 250 yards over a feeder on a sondaro?