Started out there myself. Anymore I throw rocks at any buck under 150" in order to smarten them up a bit in order to let them get some age on them.

 

started out there myself. Anymore i throw rocks at any buck under 150" in order to smarten them up a bit in order to let them get some age on them.

:roflmao:

 

To each their own.....personally if someone is just hunting meat thats their right, it only aggravates me when the same guy who is shooting 2 and 3 year olds are the same guys that gripe and complain that they never see big deer...........:zip:

 

Exactly, if you are not part of the solution than you are part of the problem!

 

For me its ....... Shoot whatever makes you happy. IF thats a 150" deer then great and Kudos to you for killing him. On the other hand if its a 1 1/2 year old forkie then great and Kudos to you as well.

Its about the enjoyment that it brings each individual hunter and has nothing to do with Antler measurements in my opinion.

 

I'm not picky. I like to fill the freezer with meat not horns. Now during the rut I may hold out for a buck.

 

Exactly, to each their own, but don't shoot peanut bucks and then complain that there are no nice bucks in your section.

 

exactly, you can't shoot a 120 or 150" deer if you shoot all the small ones before they get that big.

I doe hunt mostly and if a nice one steps out, then I shoot him.

 

I have that mentality somewhat!! It really depends on where i hunt!! I have only killed 3 bucks with my bow so personally i think ANY deer i kill with my bow is a trophy!! If i'm hunting in TN i will normally shoot anything that walks unless he's under a 6 pt...we have a 6 pt rule on the farm we hunt...now if i'm in IL anything under 140 WALKS!! I'll shoot does by the truckload!! But i'm waiting on big boy to come in!! :teeth: I know he's there!!

 

Everyone hunts for their own reasons and that's their business not mine.

 

I agree Graybeard, its their license and their choice. To each his own.

 

You want to see "if it is brown it is down" go to Iowa during shotgun season and watch the deer drives and the pile of deer in their trucks or trailers. Not my idea of fun but to each his own. Keep it real

 

It's an experience/hunter evolution thing I think. Some guys get stuck there, which is their perrogotive, but people get tired of hearing their bitterness and excuses/rationalizations on why they keep shooting young deer. i.e. "if I didn't shoot him, the next guy would have", "you can't eat the horns", "there's no big deer here", etc.
Most hunters won't put down another hunter for shooting a young buck, but if they say they're a "meat hunter" and they pass on several does to shoot the first antlered deer they see (usually a young one), they have earned some raised-eyebrows. THOSE guys are "horn hunters", moreso than any trophy-minded guy. They've just got less patience .

 

I agree with you on a hunter growing and evolving..................... also, my mother enlaw always rides me when I come out of the woods and tell her I saw a few does but chose not to shoot. she says 'you spend all this money on hunting equip and you're letting them go?". It's called man't. One of the does that I use to see regularly was a huge old slick head. I tried to arrow her a couple of times early in my hunting days with out any luck. I'm glad I didnt. I found that she had triplets every year and 2 of the three were buttons every time. talk about man't right there

 

not everyone is a horn hunter. my uncles goes for if its brown its down. he does care if its a doe or buck he just want the venison. dont think he shoots fawns though

 

I've never had any problems letting bucks walk.....mainly because I usually get doe tags:mg: I'm cheap and out of state buck tags are expensive:wink:

 

I think it depends upon the state the hunter is in. Would I love to shoot a P&Y buck? Absolutely. But we are not allowed to shoot does (1 buck per year) here and I really love the meat more than the antlers. So...in this case, I shoot the first legal deer that gives me an opportunity. Now if I had the resources and funds to hunt out of state I would absolutely put some does down and hold out for that buck of a lifetime. Until then, meat in the freezer for me.

 

:wink::thumbs_up:teeth:
see....now that seems fair.....
like i said...it depends on the situation!!
if i were in your situation i would totally smoke whatever brown i saw

 

Who's more the hypocrite? The man hunting to meat on the table for a wife and three kids? Or the man killing another part of gods creation off for sport and head gear?

I dunno that would be a tough series of questions to answer, but it seems to me that even a five year old could live another 9 years. 9 - 14 is the life expectancy of a white tail so don't fool yourself in thinking you are taking a mature buck and ending its life as a favor so it does not suffer at 5 and 6 years old. I say let those without sin cast the first stone and let those that refuse to throw the stones regardless be blessed!

 

you make a good point

 

I am a "if it's brown it's down" guy
I do not hunt for antlers I hunt for meat.
some might say well then just shoot a doe, but here in WI when you buy a licence its just a buck licence so I shoot the first thing I see to fill the freezer.

Hate me if you want.

 

Depends on where you hunt. Where I hunt I'm lucky to see more than 2 or three buck a year, so passing on small ones doesn't really give me much of an increased chance at a big one. I've killed the only big one I've ever had a chance at.

 

I belive that a lot of people start there. However, the more experience that we get the more picky we get too.

 

Me personally I shoot does and lots of them. I the county I am hunting we can take 8. I will let small horns walk all day long. If i can shoot a nice buck I will.

 

I shoot anything...

Here in Colorado, I can only get a tag every two or three years in the units I like to hunt both elk and deer. So I have that brown it's down mentality. For elk in that unit, I shoot the first elk that I get a shot at, since many years I'm lucky to even get a shot at one. I especially like to shoot spike bulls, they're dumb, young, and tasty.

For deer, I'm on public land too, and I figure why let a decent 4X4 or 5X5 go because he will be bigger next year? Heck, I won't be able to hunt that buck again for three years, chances are someone else will already get him, so why do them a favor? I guess it's all about me...

 

I love the meat so I'll fill the freezer with DOE's before I take a small buck. The land I hunt now is in the second year of QDM. We aren't suppose to shoot anything with horns not outside the ears. 15inch spread or something like that. So far I think it's begining to pay off. Last year I let a nice six pointer walk so that maybe this year he will be a big 8. But to each their own and any deer taken with a bow in my book is well earned.

 

I really could care less what anyone kills as long as the meat gets utilized AND they don't later say "I shouldn't have shot it" and regret shooting it!:doh:

 

doesnt that piss you off!??? my bro enlaw took a shot at a 160" deer during gun season. missed. 4-5 deer scattered. he saw horns busting out of the thicket towards him at 40 yards. he blasted it and it ended up being a different buck. mature 120" buck. pretty nice animal in my book. he was so mad at himself because it wasnt big enough to win the big buck contest he was in. he already had a 160" deer down as well. sure made me mad!!!

 

I don't feel the need to kill everything I see. If it's a mature doe or buck then it's game. I like watching deer just as much as killing them. But if someone likes shooting the little ones then that's their right and I am ok with it. I know for some familys the majority of their meat comes from venison and I think it's awesome. I would prolly do the same if my family enjoyed it as much. For me, I know there is always another day and my freezer can only hold so much meat. This year I am hunting for a couple of does for friends. They pay the butcher and I'll take care of the rest. So I would like to take a decent doe so they get their moneys worth. Anyways, to each their own.

 

Shoot small ones in the beginning and then as I got better waited for bigger ones even if a tag went unfilled.

I was also of the opinion that if you want meat, shoot the doe. Here's what happened where I hunt in northern WI: guys shot doe like it would never end. We were supposed to see more buck activity (not really more bucks), but instead we saw fewer buck and a lot less doe.

Guys kept shooting doe, and started shooting smaller and smaller bucks because there were fewer bucks around (fewer doe really=fewer bucks ). So guys who were shooting small bucks continued to do so and those bucks never got to grow. Guys who used to hold out for a large buck are shooting small bucks again because they aren't seeing that many bucks of any size anymore because there are fewer doe to have buck fawns.

So, now no one sees any deer buck or doe. I'm not sure how to apply this lesson in IL. But there you go.

 

I started out with shooting a 4 pointer then a 6 pointer and now i wont shoot a buck under a 8 pointer. And for does. Shoot them if you have tags for them.
matt

 

I get VERY few hunting days in each season because of where I live and the distance I have to travel to hunt. I WILL TAKE the first two legal deer that walk out in front of me. I couldnt care less, spike, fork, button, doe doesnt matter. i dont have the luxury of letting anything walk or it very well could mean no vension FOR THE YEAR. After two are on the ground then maybe I wait for a bigger buck but quite honestly, it might not either.

It honestly gets me fired up when anybody even hints at looking down on another hunter taking a legal deer. Sometimes folks forget not everybody gets to hunt very often. I am lucky if I get 5 days a year in the woods despite hunting being lifes biggest passion for me (outside of the wife and kids,,, of course).

 

I am selective in the deer I shoot. I usually fill a couple of tags with doe and/or a decent buck. I try to reserve a tag for a trophy, just in case I get the opportunity to take one. We only get 4 tags here in Ark. Only two buck tags total. I took a decent 8 pointer Saturday, right after I shot a doe. It wasn't a B&C or P&Y, but it is still a nice buck to me. My reasons for hunting are plain and simple: I like deer meat, and I love to bowhunt. If you are only a trophy hunter, then more power to you. I have taken some dandy bucks, but they weren't any harder to kill than any of the doe I've killed either. They are just very few of them in my part of the state. There is an abundance of average 8-10 pointers and lots of doe and young bucks as well. What I shoot is purely my own choice. You have your choice also.