Do you really hold out for the big ones?

[huntn4bucks]

First of all...here's my disclamer: I am in no way accusing anyone on this site for doing this...I just thought it would be a good topic for discussion.

It seems that I read and hear a lot of stories about deer hunters "managing" and "selectively" taking deer. They make statements like "I only shoot 4 1/2 year old bucks" or "He has to be outside the ears before I'll take him" and so forth. I rarely hear someone say they will take the first buck that comes along but more times than not most of what I see are small bucks being taken. Why is this? I know it all depends on your area and the quality of deer in your area but why do people make statements like that and then kill the first thing that comes along? Can they not resist or is it just a case of saying one thing and doing the other? Let me know what you think.

[Gator]

I'll tell you right now, first thing I see I take. First and foremost, I am a meat hunter, that's why I hunt. I have never seen an edible set of antlers yet. Second thing, most of the areas I hunt are public, and yes, I have that mentality that "if I don't shoot him, someone else will". The private land I do hunt, which happens to be up in your neck of the woods huntn, we have never seen a big racked deer on the place. Biggest deer killed has been 2 6 ptr's. We have even had camera's out before season, no big bucks.

[Tominator]

i don't know. personally, i want my bucks to be right around pope and young quality. i've literally passed up probably 100 bucks in the last 3 years waiting to shoot another buck. the last buck i shot was on november 17th, 2001. it's just a personal preference i guess. plus, the landowner where i do a lot of hunting now only wants mature deer shot so the little guys can grow. last year on his property i passed at least 20 small bucks. i had 2 little bucks actually bed down and fall asleep right in front of me.

to me, does fill the freezer just fine, so if you're a meat hunter, shoot does (which makes good QDM sense too), and if you want trophy bucks, you have to let the little ones walk in hopes that you'll see them again in a few years.

i do miss grabbing rack after a blood trail though.

[RyanH]

I have beensince i was 15! Im now 22! At 1st i was shooting anything! But after about the 3 years i will still shoot a decent deer with my bow! With a rilfe or blackpowder its gonna have to be a really good deer! Or really i wanna shoot one bigger then my biggest! So Im still working my way up the ladder! But i soon will be there!

[thebig1]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll tell you right now, first thing I see I take. First and foremost, I am a meat hunter, that's why I hunt. I have never seen an edible set of antlers yet. Second thing, most of the areas I hunt are public, and yes, I have that mentality that "if I don't shoot him, someone else will".

[/ QUOTE ]

COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER MYSELF!

i also have to add that i'm a trophy hunter. but to me a trophy is anything that i'm fortunate enough to take.

All this doesn't mean that if there were 2 deer in front of me, a 4 pt. and a 12 pt. that i wouldn't hold out on getting a shot on the 12 and probably get screwed and get nothing.

[tedicast]

I hunt mostly public land, and I hunt to put meat in the freezer. That being said I will pretty much take any deer that gives me a shot, especially during gun season.

[AaronS]

I let the little ones grow. If I don't get a nicer buck early on I may decide to shoot something from a`16" wide 8 pt. on up. More often than not I'll pass though....the last buck I tagged was a 10 ptr. in 2000. I fill the freezer with does.

[superguide]

I hunt till last day of our 5 week rifle season and if I don't see a big enough buck to shoot I'll take a doe-I've shot lots of 130ish deer so no reason to shoot another-besides if I shot first chance I got I'd have to quit hunting.

[c_lou]

I will hold out for a nice buck. Now what is nice to me may not be nice to the next guy. I fill the freezer with a nice size doe, then sit and wait for a decent shot at a nice size buck. I will eat a tag before I shoot a small buck just to say I shot a buck.

[buckbuster11]

I like to hold out for something "nice". That doesnt mean it has to be close to P&Y, maybe if I were hunting a different state that would be the case. It's hard for me to explain but when I see a deer I'll know pretty quick whether or not I want to take it. For one thing antler restrictions make let little ones walk anyways. And to be honest, if I took the first legal buck I saw in most years I would be done pretty quick. I like the challenge of holding out for something a little older and a little more rare.

[VTbowman]

Ditto "Gator" to a tee.
For a few reasons.
Meat hunter, thats why I hunt.
I hunt areas with little or no potential for big antlers.
I can not afford the travel or cost for hunting larger bucks.

I like hunting does during bowseason. Very challenging for us up here. Very proud when ya get one too.
I suppose if I were in an area that held large rack bucks, and I saw then all the time, I may be inclined to wait on a larger one, but I'd still want my meat 1st. JMO

[horst]

Here goes LOL.I think alot has to do with where you hunt, I hold out for a bigger buck but according to tv and magazines the state of Iowa has monster bucks running all over the place, its not the case throughout the whole state however.Im in a agricultural area, which most of the state is, but here its all wide open fields, very little cover, and high hunting pressure.A nice buck in my area of the state will carry 100 inches of antler or so, so theres no P&Y or B&C entries at all for my counties and theres no deer from here recorded in the iowa big bucks records.So while I will hold out for a nice buck, someone in the other end of the state may have let him walk.Same thing with private and public ground, if you hunt mainly private ground with little pressure your gonna see bigger, older deer, if you hunt public ground there may be deer like that on it, but theyre heavily pressured and probably not gonna show themselves as regularly during the daylight.

should say that there are P&Y and larger size bucks in my area, but I havent connected with one yet.Last year I let the biggest buck Ive had a shot at walk, he was around a 130 class 10 pointer but there was a much larger one i was hunting, I dont regret not shooting him but he woulda been my biggest to date if I had.Shoot what makes you happy

[need2hunt]

My plan is to try to take a doe or 2 early and then hold out for a good buck (130+)... I know the properties I hunt have the type of deer I'm after... I certainly don't see them everytime out, in fact i don't usually see them until the rut kicks in, but I know there around... so I try to hold out... so far it's been working for me...

[Rhino]

I really do try to let young bucks pass to take older mature bucks. So far this year I've passed up a couple of 2 year old 8 point bucks and an older 7 point buck with about a 16" to 17" spread. Unlike most hunters I do have the luxury of being able to spend a lot more time in the woods than most hunters are able to. I probably spend over 60 days deer hunting each year. I personally try to hunt and kill mature deer because I just prefer to let young bucks walk in hopes that they will grow up to show their potential and I want to go for the older, bigger bucks. It lets me stretch out my season too. If I want some meat I can always kill up to 5 does down here. Killing any legal buck is not important to me at all. I've had a lot of great memorable hunts where I didn't kill anything.

You also have to keep in mind that the upper end mature bucks are different from one area to the next across this country. Where I hunt here in Mississippi a 4 year old buck will gross anywhere from a low in the 120 range up to a high in the 140 range. The biggest buck killed on our property grossed 146 and change. Last year we had a 5x5 that scored in the upper 120's that was aged by the DMAP biologist as a 5 year old buck. The live weight of these Mississippi mature bucks is generally between 175# and 200#. They are light weights compared to most other areas in this country. Where I've hunted in Kansas the upper end bucks are alot bigger than the bucks I generally see in Mississippi. Where I've hunted in Iowa they are even bigger than the deer I've seen in Kansas. Heck the 2 year old bucks I've seen in Iowa are as big as our 4 year old bucks in Mississippi. Just something to think about if you're looking at a mature 4x4 or better that I hope to kill in Mississippi this year not to mention the one I hope to bag in Kansas too.

[Stinger-Hunter]

My goal is to only shoot a bigger buck than I already have, which is going to be a challenge this year.

Now in MN, the ol' adage is "if its brown its down" so I'll take whatever walks in front of me cause I know if I don't the guy sitting 100 yards away will take it and if he doesn't the guy sitting 50 yards away from him will.

All does get shot in MN, too. They work out the tag details afterwards.