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Shooter buck question

Shredder

Shredder

Life Member
Scenario: it is the first week of the season and you have a nice buck somewhat pattered on a food source. You get setup in the right spot on the season opener, yet when the buck comes past you, you feel he is a little smaller than you want so you elect to pass him up to grow another year. First week of november, the same buck chases a doe close to your stand and stops in one of your shooting lanes...yet you elect to pass again. No other bucks come past you for a shot until the last day of season and low and behold, here is the same deer you have passed on twice........would you shoot him on the last day and if so, why?
 
That is a lot of variables!

Last year I passed on a lot of bucks during bow season for 2 major reasons:
1)I'd like to see them get bigger
2)I didn't want to quit hunting yet

During shotgun season I saw a lot of those same deer get killed. I've kind of made myself a promise that I'd only kill one that was bigger than one I had already shot. That's fine thus far as I've shot a lot of does and a nice 6 point my first year. I can't tell you that promise will still be there if I happen to kill a 150" deer this year and get the chance a 140" next year.

But, as long as I'm butchering the animal and not shooting just because I want to hang a rack on the wall it's right in my mind. That's why I don't fuss when I see guys in my party shooting 2 year old forkies. We eat everything. The Outdoor Channel has turned too many people into "trophy hunters" that only want to shoot big racked deer. I know a guy that passed on an injured 125" deer last year because it didn't measure up in the headgear department. That animal ended up dying over the winter. I am sure I'd have shot that animal just to end the suffering.

By the last day of the season I'd shoot just to put meat in the freezer.
 
We are allowed to harvest 3 bucks a year here in TN. Wished they would change it to one so I guess the buck would be in the back of my truck the first week of the season.
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But if I were in Iowa hunting it would be a tough decision for me.
 
I would absolutely not shoot him! Because he made it though the season and odds are he will be there next year. If I were to pass on a buck he has a pass go and collect 20 more inches ticket for the rest of the year. Here in Maryland is also a little different, because Maryland is divided up into 4 regions. We can kill 4 deer with a bow, 4 deer with black powder, four deer with rifle/shotgun, in each region, and some regions are unlimited does. In order to harvest two bucks with the same weapon you must have harvested two does. My point is we are not so stressed to hold out for that perfect buck, hence the reason our bucks are younger, but deer management is improving. I say stick to you guns and accept nothing less, just put a doe in the freezer.
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The only way I would shoot a buck early in the season was if he were huge. I have so much fun out there I don’t want it to be over so soon.
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Since I eat only game meat at home (unless I run out and am forced to buy expensive organic meat) it would depend on several factors by the end of November:

1. How many antlerless deer I had in the freezer by then.

2. How I thought the first shotgun season will go, like if the herd was still acting somewhat predictably – after two months of bow hunting, many know they are being hunted and act accordingly – therefore possibly making shotgun hunting more difficult.

3. If I had the feeling that I was meant to shoot that buck. Have you ever felt that way about certain deer? They keep trying to commit suicide around you. Like it was their destiny to have their lives ended by you? And if you didn’t shoot them you might set off a chain of events that would alter the world and all life as we know it? Don’t want to mess around with that space-time continuum thingy, ya know.
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Wouldn't shoot. The reason you didn't shoot the first day was because you know he would be bigger next year. If he's lucky enough to make it through the entire season without strolling off your property and getting wacked, why would you then want to take him out in the last days? If you want a steak, go to the grocery store.
 
Quackmaster & shedhuntermd pretty much said it all. We call it tag sandwich...eat your tag don't just fill it to fill it. Shoot a doe and fill the freezer with him next year or maybe the following.
 
I would shoot him without a doubt, it wouldnt even cross my mind not too, thats why we are there. If I've been hunting for 3 months hard, and its jan 10th and ive been freezing myself for endless hours a day with no results, i would shoot him. even if a little six pointer walked by in that final hours and there were no does around I would shoot him. Most people would think that is ridiculous, but my reasons are. For every buck dead there is a bigger buck out there somewhere, and you got a good 5 months or so to find him. another reason is i cant stand hunting the same area over and over, the chances are i wouldnt even be hunting that area much the next year. another reason is, too much can happen in the nine months that the deer has to live before next season. theres really too many reasons to list but mainly, I feel that, if i didnt shoot that buck in the first place then he is not the top buck in the woods, odds are ive seen 10 or so bucks that blow that caliber of buck out of the water, so they are gonna be bigger than he is gonna grow, so therefore shoot him and find the others, they arent going anywhere either. I guess in my young age i Just like shooting them, Ive put too much time into it not too, when it comes down to the wire if the broadhead isn't flying, nothings dying
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A few years back I'd have been clearly in the "don't shoot him" camp. Now, having hunted for a bunch of years, I feel like I've come full circle. As many things as I've seen that are positive from QDM and deer management in general, I've seen at least as many that are negative. Not the least of these is the infusion of big $$ into hunting due to tropy bucks being so plentiful. This part of hunting today just plain sucks.

So, now in my "older" age...I'd shoot him on the first weekend and spend the rest of the season trying to fill antlerless tags with my kids and family. Trophy hunters will disagree with me, and I respect that. However, I now feel like a trophy for the wall is just a bonus...it's the time spent in the field (especially with family and friends) that makes it most enjoyable. To each his own!!

NWBuck
 
No way. I've eaten the tags before and I'm sure I will again. He made it this far and it sounds like you have one that survived the season and will be there in the same spot next year, and more than likely, bigger and better!
 
Just a scenario BT, I have had a thought in my mind for several year "don't pass on a buck opening day that you would be happy with the last day of season"

We have such a diverse group of outdoorsmen on the site and just thought this would be a way for them to express the values they carry into the field with them. No right or wrong answer.....
 
If a hunter sees the same "possible shooter" buck three times by the end of bow season (for me that is usually the first week in December) I'm not thinkin he (the deer) is very bright and won't make it past shot gun or Chevy season. Tonight I'd say shoot him, tomorrow I might feel different. I think there are alot of variables in hunting that have to do with a hunters mood/outlook on life at the time he, or she, sees the deer. If a person is a little angry at the world for what ever reason, he, or she, might react differetly to this senario than if his, or her, life is a bowl of cherrys. So I also say it depends on the day.

The 'Bonker
 
I would have to pass. If I have passed him up before, obviously I wasnt impressed than, so I know I wont be now. Im not going to shoot just for the sake of saying I killed one. When I see a buck I know the moment I see him if I want to shoot him. For me there has to be something about him that I like, regardless of score. I personally dont even really enjoy shooting does anymore, so if Im gonna shoot a buck, its gonna be one Im damn proud of. If I dont kill him than thats one more set of sheds I might be able to find.
Good question Shredder, it would be nice to put everyone in the same situation and see what the outcome is then.
 
Some of me says to pass since he made it the whole season and I already passed him twice before. The other part of me agrees with Liv and says to take him. I agree that too many things can happen between one season to the next, but if you pass him twice then he must not be a trophy to you - else he would be on the wall. I have shot does when I don't get a chance at the buck I want, but all you have with does is a pic. Something about horns on the wall bring back the memories.

I guess my answer is I don't know until I am sitting there in the stand. That is about the only way I know if I will shoot or not anyway.
 
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