The Problem with Kids and Trophy Management
12 Comments Published by David Blanton on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 8:00 AM.
Unless you’ve been hung up on a gobblin’ turkey for, say, four or five years, you know how big of a deal managing for trophy whitetails has become all across the country. No longer is it just the big ranches in Texas that intensely manage their herds, even the small 300-acre hunting clubs are implementing stricter guidelines for their members as to what can be shot and what can’t be shot. I think all these moves are awesome for improving the quality of the buck population and I’ll be the first to admit that it is much more inviting for me to go out and hunt here in Georgia when I may have a chance at a 140” buck compared to a shot at a 120” buck.
In addition, I believe QDMA (Quality Deer Management Association) is doing an incredible job working with states, counties, landowners and hunting clubs to educate them on how to go about increasing the overall quality of a deer herd.
Now, here is the problem: When counties, like some here in Georgia, pass laws requiring that a buck meet minimum requirements before he is legal to harvest, the first-time youth hunters are the ones that suffer the most.
The county I live in requires that a buck have at least four points on one side of his antlers to be considered “legal.” What about the father who has his 9-year-old son/daughter with him and they’re sitting on the edge of a food plot and a 2½-year-old 6-pointer steps out within easy gun range? This would be the young hunter’s first buck! How do you explain to the child that they can’t shoot because the buck isn’t big enough? What if the buck is a spike? Same deal.
Are there some first-time hunters who would completely understand the reasoning behind the trophy management rules and gladly let the buck walk with hopes of shooting a bigger one? Absolutely!
I’ve argued this point with friends of mine who stand behind the philosophy that, by letting the young bucks walk “we are going to make it more possible for kids to shoot bigger bucks when they get older.”
I agree.
What I don’t agree with is taking the chance of dampening a youngster’s enthusiasm for the sport of hunting by not allowing them to shoot a buck they want because it’s not big enough.
And believe me, in this day and age, we hunters don’t need to miss out on any opportunity to recruit and nurture new hunters into the sport we love, even if it means allowing “first timers” an exception to the rule.
Tell me what your thoughts on this are by commenting.
A special thanks goes to Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo for the use of the photo.
I could not agree more. First time hunters, no matter the age, need to be allowed to experiance the thrill of a sucessfull hunt. Just this year I got my wife to go deer hunting with me. We hunt on my fathers farm in central Kentucky, only 117 acres but full of deer. I had pictures of a eight pointer that would score maybee 120, this was "her deer". on the morning of the first muzzel loader hunt we sat in the stand watching and waiting when a little six pointer walked into the field. All of a sudden we both forgott about "her deer". I try my best to manage what I can, when and whear I hunt, but this was her first deer. In all honesty I have three deer on my wall over 140" and this hunt had me more excited than any of my own. Thankfully she made a tremendous shot and he didn't go twenty yards. I got some vidio and will be able to watch it with our son in the future. I know that harvesting that young buck took one more future monster off the land but it also put another hunter in the woods for the rest of her life. And that can't be a bad thing. In my opinion good quality managment can and should be self controlled, laws and regulations are not the way to go.
not only young hunters, but any first time hunter.,
i have been taking my younger whom is nine years younger than me hunting for a three years now. if he werent able to shoot anything that walks he would honestly be bored and uninterested. there ought to be an exception fro those first time hunters or at least an age restriction so as to not run them off. i personally have been practicing better trophy management for a few years and when my brother gets old enough to understand that concept he to can help with correctly managing our local deer herd.
I agree 100%. It is hard this day and age to wait for the right buck to come out. It took me 2 years to kill my 1st deer and it was an 8 pointer. But I was letting a lot of deer walk. It is hard to wait for a trophy buck to come out where we hunt, so if we let them pass we will not shot anything all year because people that hunt all around kill every deer they see.
Kristle--Georgia
This is such a hard subject for everyone to agree on, but one worth the debate. Here in Texas in most of the eastern counties the bag limit has been 1 buck per county no matter the size for the past few years but last year Texs Parks and Wildlife wanted to put us under antler restrictions(13 inches wide). We were ok with it but kept presuring them to make it worth taking new people and kids with us hunting so they included a second buck that had to have at least 1 unbranched antler. This was a good compromise. There is still management but more of a chance for the beginners and youngsters.
I also agree. My son killed his first deer two years ago, when he was seven. It came into a food plot and stopped at 120 yards, which was a little farther than he ahd ever shot. He looked it over for several minutes, turned to me and said "I know I can make this shot" so I told him to go ahead, just take his time. He made a perfect shot, and when he got to the deer (before me of course) he noticed the little spikes that had broken through the hair. I will never forget what he started yelling: "Its a buck, daddy I killed a buck!!!"
He didn't care how big it was, it was a buck and he was excited.
thats why i like pennsylvania laws they let juniors(12-17) shoot anything and that helps to get rid of the scrubby bucks and helps to get bigger bucks and makes kids love hunting because its true that there aren't as many hunters any more
While I am all for personal or landowner antler restrictions on what can or cannot be shot, I am against government regulating a "legal" deer by it's antler size. While I agree that a youth hunter should be able to take whatever deer he chooses I also think that should apply to all hunters.
I totally agree!!! ALL FIRST TIMERS, meaning never have placed a tag on deer, should be allowed to shoot any single deer regardless of size or sex. Once a tag has been used in that hunters name they need to meet the rules and regs the rest of us have to meet.
I couldn't agree more. In Indiana we just started a youth season in '06. ANTLERLESS ONLY!!! My 12 year old had a beautiful 8 pointer 20 feet from the stand broadside. All she could do was look at it. I'm lucky enough she enjoys the hunt for the outdoors, but c'mon what's the point of not allowing a kid to harvest a buck.
Hi my names Eric, and everybody who has posted a comment is right, like when i shot my first buck, which was a 6 point, but i live in quebec so the laws don't apply, 3 years ago at 12 years old with my bow everything worked out perfect he came right in to 15 yards, now if the situation would have been that i cou;n't shoot that buck because it wasn't big enough. It's the first deer of a lifetime, you got your heart in throat, you've scouted all year set up your stands and practiced hours with your bow or rifle, you've paid for your tag, and when it comes time to lay the smackdown you aren't aloud to do because "THE LAW" that buck's to small, it could make a kid cry, and then they might go all season without shooting a buck because they're just not big enough, but the question is how many bucks are harvested by young hunters, no as many as adults, so they take a few spikes, and some six points, but there's other bucks out there that someone goning to pass up and all of them will grow. Really though if a state wants the population to grow, but the parents don't want they're kids hearts broken, well put a pause on hunting for a few years, because if a kid doesn't see that buck that he or she will have to pass up, then they're hearts can't be broken am i right or am right. Now i'm only 15 but i know alot about hunting, i've lived in the woods all my life the closest house to me is a mile away, and i've done my work on this idea, and yes it would be hard, but after those few years when back up into your stand and a monster walk 50 yards in from of your 12 year old son whos parcticed with his rifle all summer, it's worth it!!!
if you want to comment on this idea e-mail me at
back-woods-boys@hotmail.com
As the editor of the Outdoor Kids Club Magazine, I totally agree with David. If we limit the chances kids have to get "hooked" on hunting, we run the risk of losing them to this wonderful sport all together. We all must do what we can to get kids interested in the outdoors and the activities shared there. Because our mission is to excite, educate and engage kids ion the outdoors, we are trying to talk to state agencies and advocate for regulations that encourage participation and success for young hunters. If a kid has to wait until he is 12 or 16 to hunt and then cannot have the opportunity to harvest an animal because of some management restriction,we run the risk of losing that child to the many other interests they have.