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Passing bucks and success rate

Very rarely do I recognize the same buck in subsequent years, so passing on them, or just seeing them out of range, I'd say I'll recognize a shooter buck again maybe 1 out 25.

With that said, if it's a mature shooter and gets me excited, I usually take the shot.

More power to those of you who give bucks a pass year after year. I'm just not there.
 
Obsessed said:
Very rarely do I recognize the same buck in subsequent years, so passing on them, or just seeing them out of range, I'd say I'll recognize a shooter buck again maybe 1 out 25.

With that said, if it's a mature shooter and gets me excited, I usually take the shot.

More power to those of you who give bucks a pass year after year. I'm just not there.
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Exactly!!! I thought I was chasing my "target" buck before I got trail cameras. I had seen him many times the year before and he was so slippery, never gave me a shot. He was a dandy 4 yr old 4x5. Then I got trail cams and realized there were 3 of him. :rolleyes:
 
It would surprise you how many "make it". I would guess around 60-80% of the bucks I pass/don't target make it the next year. That first card pull in late july/early august is like Christmas morning to me seeing who is still around and what they look like. I passed a 160 in 3 year old last year thinking he would explode into an 80's type deer, but he put on maybe ten inches. still exciting though. All depends on genetics, I've seem too many 4 year old's at 130" too count. those get passed I guess. Those are the one's the tv hunters bring their buddies in to shoot and thin out. I don't have that luxury.
 
Not sure how many I have passed them got a crack at. 2 that I know of for sure.

Bigger thing for me is just building the will to pass the 130” to start killing 150s, then passing the 140-150” to have the shot at a potential 160 or 180. I will never have the will to pass a 160 or 170 I don’t think unless I am staring at a bigger one!!!

I have eaten a few more tags recently but I am ok with that as I have also killed some studs that I wouldn’t have held out for in the past
 
This question is obviously area dependant with many factors impacting success rates. I don't control any of the ground I hunt so passing a buck will likely mean I will never see them again. The past 2 years I have tried to up my standards to 150 class deer as I've had success up to this point. 2 years ago I passed a buck that probably was close to if not into the 150s because it was October and my brother had convinced me I'll never shoot a 160 if I shoot the first 140 I see. I wasn't sure of the deer's score but he was definitely mature. He walked past me at 15 yds and I passed him. Brought my Dad in that night who said I was crazy for passing and he almost got an opportunity at him that night. My Dad is confined to ground hunting with very limited mobility and some brush saved the deer's life. Although I got pics of him after that day I never saw that deer again. I ate my tag that year. The following year I passed a 140" 8pt while I was chasing a bigger deer. Never laid eyes on my target deer and again ate my tag. To my knowledge both the deer I passed and the deer I was hunting have been no shows this season so they could both be gone. A lot of deer I get on camera don't show up again the following year so I'd say my success rate has been darn near 0% but again it's tough when you have no control over the area or neighbors.
 
Well said. It comes down to large posted, controlled blocks; with habitat improvement done to hopefully hold deer in the center of it. Put up a cell camera, monitor, and kill when mature, preferably before the rut and the chance of wandering. There are outliers but passing is mostly successful under the above scenario.
 
We "hunters" have grown up watching way too many (hunting) shows.
30 years ago, most "experts" were ticketed pink to shoot a 130" buck on camera.
Now it all changed. Gotta be a 5+ year old 170".
Gotta really sick actually.
We gotta remember, this forum and other that the vast majority of people hunting just wanna have fun and kill what THEY want without ridicule/score/age.
I ry to hunt for older bucks for the challenge.
I have great properties to do so, the time to do it.
95% don't have that luxury.
And I still strike out most every year.
I'll say it till the day I die. Killing a 6 year old doe is every bit as tough as killing the same age buck!
 
Nightvision said:
So, funny I replied then we got this picture. Here is a buck I passed 2 years ago as a 6. At that time, I think he was a 3yo. No pics of him last year but he just showed back up. He will not score well at at but he’s now 5.5 and I will gladly shoot him. No interest in the score.
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How do you know that is the 6pt you passed 2 yrs ago? I have a whole porch full of deer euros that are nearly identical to each other, I'd have a real hard time telling what deer is what yr after yr unless they had something very recognizable going on..

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Besides the 8pt they have nearly identical genetics
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meyeri said:
When you guys pass deer with the intention of letting them get another year bigger does this generally work out for you? I'm just curious how often a buck is passed and actually harvested?

By passing I mean either choosing to not hunt a specific buck or passing a shot opportunity, so basically any deer that has potential to be a shooter so you let him go with hopes he makes it another year.

I know there are a ton of variables and some of you guys with big tracts probably have better success because you can control a lot of the variables.
Me on the other hand, my areas are pretty high pressure, so of the deer I have passed I have killed one out of 12 or so in the last 4 years. Quite frankly that sucks. Three of those bucks were killed by other hunters, but most deer just disappeared at some point, so I have no idea what happened to them.

A couple of the bucks I have passed have been mature deer that I would have been happy to wrap my tag around, but I risked it and gambled on them making it another year because they had crazy upside. I'm starting to question a couple of those passes, you know the whole bird in hand is better than two in the bush situation. At what point does passing a mature buck in a high pressure area become foolish? What do you guys experience?


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From your posting history I think both of us kinda hunt the same as far as property’s go.
I’ve 36 years there might have been one in 1995 and killed one in 2010 that I passed a couple weeks earlier. My biggest regret from years past was passing mature bucks for reasons or wanting something bigger.
Now if it’s mature and a rack that I can live with the arrow will be on its way
 
@Bucksnbears and @Ishi I'm in both of your camps. I have more regrets over deer that I've passed and never seen again than deer that I've harvested. (One 150 class that I took was YOUNG, and I did kind of feel bad about that one for a second.) The way some people on here are able to deer hunt, compared to how I am able to deer hunt is like comparing an NFL game to the pick-up game I play from time to time. They're both football, but completely different in all other aspects. When I stop enjoying and getting a rush out of harvesting sub 170 mature bucks, I'll probably stop hunting all together.
 
Absolutely. I just love the thrill of hearing leaves crunch and not knowing what it is until he strolls through, gets the heart pumping. I will say I am more excited to shoot older deer, even if it is in the 130's, The thrill of chasing a mature buck and outsmarting him (or getting lucky) is very rewarding. I try to target a deer at 4 years old regardless of score. The big 3 year old's are definitely tough to pass though. I've seen a fair amount of 3 year old's go boone. I tell others shoot what makes you happy. Hunting is a great pastime and hobby, I can't wait to have kids some day and bring them up similar to how I grew up hunting with my father.
 
wapsi-bottom-BP said:
How do you know that is the 6pt you passed 2 yrs ago? I have a whole porch full of deer euros that are nearly identical to each other, I'd have a real hard time telling what deer is what yr after yr unless they had something very recognizable going on..

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I don’t but we’ve only had one deer like him so I think the odds are good. Either way, I’ll shoot him.

As far as other deer, I don’t keep close enough tabs on them to know. I have no interest in keeping up with them that close. I did pass up a nice 3.5 yo ten pointer a couple of years ago that had some white on his right hind quarter. Figured he’d be easy to keep up with but like most of the others he bugged out.
 
About this topic, I wanna stress this..., if you have good land and have a buck YOU wanna kill by all means, do it. But also allow a couple kids/women/newbies to hunt.
Even if on the fringes.
Let's think back (us older fellas) and remember how totally exciting it was to even SEE a doe. I do.
Put stipulations on what they can do/shoot iffn you want but please, let a few people hunt.

It's super gratifying seeing some newbie kill a deer.
 
Bucksnbears said:
About this topic, I wanna stress this..., if you have good land and have a buck YOU wanna kill by all means, do it. But also allow a couple kids/women/newbies to hunt.
Even if on the fringes.
Let's think back (us older fellas) and remember how totally exciting it was to even SEE a doe. I do.
Put stipulations on what they can do/shoot iffn you want but please, let a few people hunt.

It's super gratifying seeing some newbie kill a deer.
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I like your comment and agree. Where I'm torn is what happens when you give someone a fringe spot and they struggle to kill one or see enough to be happy. Then they give you the sob story and ask for a spot that's "just a little bit further in"? Or if they get a deer or 2 on your fringe spot and are no longer a newbie, and they don't want to lose their (your) spot, but you'd like to give a different newbie a chance. That never sits well with hunters from my experience, actually having to share a spot. At this point I'm still convinced the best decision for us has been to now say no to everyone. Fyi, I have 200 acres, 4 young kids, a dad, a brother, bro in law and 2 nephews. Not that we all hunt, but there's the potential.
 
I own 20. Really too small to control much of anything. Neighborhood gets hunted pretty hard. I have/do see the same deer in consecutive years, but to count on that is almost impossible. I just shoot what makes me smile, but have set some limits for myself. 3.5 year or older and I try to shoot my personal best each year, but that kind of depends on what all I'm seeing. Nothing wrong with anyone else's goals. I just have some for me which keep hunting fun and exciting.
 
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