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Question about shotgun hunting

Tomo

Tomo

Member
A buddy sent me this pic of the deer they shot last weekend in south central Iowa during shotgun season. I haven't talked with him yet but I'm sure they filled most of their doe tags as well they just didn't put them in the picture. Since I have never experienced a shotgun season deer drive how does it work as far as what bucks to shoot? I see some bucks in this pic that I know these guys would pass up during archery season. Why shoot them now? I've seen other pictures like this on iowawhitetail.com and thought the same thing. I don't have a problem with it just curious as to why the bar lowers during shotgun season as far as bucks go.

Tomo

click here for picture
 
All depends on who you are hunting with and what they are after. Usually during shotgun season you can shoot more buck - party hunting than just one with the bow so people lower their standards to fill tags and because season is so much shorter.
 
Usually during shotgun season most deer seen are running full bore to avoid being killed.A hunter must make a split second decision whether to shoot or not quickly through timber and other obstructions.They always look bigger running than when you walk up on them after they are shot.Most of the guys in my party are meat hunters.Being the 1st shotgun season is 5 days most guys shoot the first deer that is decent size.Bow hunting the deer are standing still or moving slow enough for a hunter to view them and analyze whether they want to harvest the animal or not.Most shotgun hunters are out for the sport and like to eat venison.Just my 2 cents worth.Remember to shoot some does!
 
Most gun hunting falls into the "if its brown, its down phylosophy. Question TOMO, will these guys have any bucks left to hunt next season? Seems like they killed a whole farms future potential in one season?
 
Party hunting is why blaze orange is a must. Lots of people shooting at brown things in the woods & split second decisions being made by folks that ought to take their time.
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It all depends on the hunter's in your group. We have several in our group and most would rather shot a doe. The rule in our group is if it's not a wall hanger let it go. We shot over 20 deer in our group and 5 where bucks all where over 135 in. and the rest were doe's and button bucks. We would rather not shoot the buttons but like you said its a split second decision and if it doesn't have horns they assume it's a doe. Group hunting is something that takes years to find the right members and train them to only shoot wall hangers or does. After 30yrs in our group we finally have the right group of guys that follow the rules of the group.
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I'm visiting my bro in Iowa and it seems most of the gun hunters are after just bucks, big or small they shoot them all. One land owner said they shot 15 bucks and 0 does. He did'nt believe in shooting does and thought that if you shoot the little bucks it gives the big ones a chance to breed all the does. How dumb is that? I would hate to live next to him.
Hunt on All4s
 
I believe a lot of hunters and landowners are misinformed about how to manage deer. They use the same mentality on deer as they use on pheasants which is don't shoot the females because we need them to produce next year’s brood. I can tell you the group that shot the bucks in this picture couldn't care less about deer management. Most of them are college buddies that get together once a year for a deer drive shooting anything that moves but that doesn't make them bad people.

Iowawhitetail.com members are an elite group and are only a small percentage of the actual Iowa deer hunters out there. We know how a herd should be managed because of what we read in these posts. We are passionate about deer hunting which is why we visit this site everyday. Most "hunters" are not like that. They know that in December they can go out and shotgun hunt with family and friends and hope they get a buck. When it's over they go on with their lives.

Just my 2 cents.

Tomo
 
During bow and late muzzle I set my standards usually 150+ at the begginning but gradually goes down as the season gets later and later. shotgun however, my bar drops dramatically, its a time where I take youngsters and buddies that never have hunted before and hunt a farm that I dont bow or late muzzle hunt. Its a great time for me to just relax from school and introduce people to hunting. over the years ive introduced three or four of my buddies to hunting and taken my little cousins and other family friends that are 12-14 years old, and when i hunt with them and they shoot a little buck thats great, and if im sitting next to them and a little buck is out of their effective range but in mine, and they want me to shoot it i will, and the experience is just as good or better when you got a first timer or a youngster next to you to shoot a lesser buck, or a big doe!! but late muzzle and bow i take it seriously where its just me, one on one with the big boys
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I certainly don't see how this group of bucks falls into the "if it's brown it's down" philosophy. Sure, there are a couple in the back row that probably should've walked, but if we're honsest, I doubt many of us would let any of the front row bucks go by...and I know there are a couple in the back row that I wouldn't hesitate on either: bow or gun. I say congratulations on one hell of a great bunch of bucks!

NWBuck
 
A better question is why not shoot them? I don't follow the shoot anything with four legs mentality, but why raise questions about another's kill? Dwindling wall hanger numbers propaganda aside. Why question it? I'm fine with poking fun, but passively calling integrity into question through size standards accomplishes nothing.
I agree with deadeye, a shorter season tends to push standards lower. You also have to get the whole story. It might be the last day of the season and the buck in question showed up at the last minute giving the hunter the only real opportunity to shoot cleanly.
 
Where I work employs alot of hunters. Many times during bow season I'm asked "have you got one yet"? To which I usually must answer "no, I have not seen the right one" or "no, I could'nt get a clean shot".
There is a certain amount of frustration knowing the night before I was watching two 130class bucks fighting at the base of my tree. Not frustrating to see, just frustrating trying to explain to a non-believer of deer management as to why I watched instead of shooting.
My opinion, but far too many hunters are embarassed to not get a buck of any size than to practice herd management for the years to follow.
 
I would also have to agree that aside from 3 or 4 bucks in the picture, I would have shot any of the rest , gun or bow, and I'm pretty picky about only shooting big ones. As far as my shotgun group goes, we recommend only shooting wallhangers or does, but the decision is ultimately each persons to make and unless it's my land were hunting on I guess anyone can shoot whatever they want. "Trophy" or "wallhanger" are pretty subjective terms when it comes to whitetails, and I'm not going to sit there and tell someone his "small" buck isn't a trophy.
 
I have a question. I've never hunted with a group, and I've always wondered about this: If x number of hunters with x number of tags are positioned in x amount of places, and you can kill deer for other hunters...how do you know if you've shot over the limit of your deer to tag ratio...?

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Too much math...no wonder I hunt alone.
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Kat its easy around where i hunt, for every 50 shots you divide that by ten guys and you get roughly five deer
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unless the unmistakable sound of the muzzleloader barks then that equals one deer
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even though thats probably not right lol but sure seems like it sometimes, when i here ten guys unload five shots and come out with five deer or less. Thats why i like to hunt alone too
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There are only 2 deer in that picture that I wouldn't have pulled the trigger on during bow season. Only 1 during shotgun.

QDM is a great thing for hunters, but it's also becoming a social phenomenon to the point where we try and one up other hunters by not shooting. Trophy hunting to such extremes is a gluttonous act. I quit looking in the "Harvest Report" because I get tired of every guy posting his beautiful buck and throwing out comments about how much it shrunk and how disappointed they are because they want a bigger animal.

We have too many deer, shoot them and eat them.
 
It's hard to figure some hunters out. They pass up 10-30 bucks during bow season waiting for a monster and then the last day of gun season they smack a 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 year old
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. It seems like these hunters can't bare the thought of going through the year without a pic of a buck to show buddies. Shoot a doe or two or three and call it a season (this is what I am in the process of doing
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) and cherish the good meat and scout and hunt harder and smarter the following year.
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I got a question to some of these responses. Or more to the thought that shotgun party hunting is a sport, as Chessieman pointed out..Are you kidding me? More like a slaughter, and that picture proves it. Every year there are post like this one, and ones similar to the post (Double Droptine), and they are examples of why party hunting should be illeagal. I got tore up pretty bad on this sight for my opinions on this subject, so I'm not trying to open old wounds. But if party hunting is so legal and great, why is it that you can only do it during shotgun season? I personally would never agree to let someone else shoot my deer. I don't care what the time limits was, 5 days, or a 100. The DNR says that party hunting is legal because of the time limits, but what do you think tag sales would be if they changed the law? My personal opinion would be that shotgun hunting has to abide by the same hunting laws of harvesting deer as every other method has to...I would love to be able to shoot 20 deer, and only have an antlerless tag in my pocket. And better yet, get to dictate which one of the racks I'm taking home with me. That makes this and most post like this laughable. Do it right, put in the stand hours, then shoot your deer. The disadvantage of a short season is clearly made up for in the advantage of shooting distance. As one post said, shooting into and around obsticles! Like to see an arrow do that! Don't get me wrong, shotgun hunting is a necessity for herd management in our state. I just think there could be a better way than party hunting to do it..... Just my 2 cents....
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