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Post by swilk on Sept 29, 2016 9:43:45 GMT -5
I will also add: No excuses should ever be needed for what you harvest, NONE. Either take what makes you happy or don't...if there is a "well or but or you see..." in your story you really should rethink your view of yourself. How about an "I thought it was something else/better"? We all make mistakes .... I know I have. I know my hunting partner has. I know many of my friends have. I know my father has.
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Post by medic22 on Sept 29, 2016 9:49:07 GMT -5
My preference is at least 3.5 years.
A 4.5 is better, but those suckers are hard to kill on public land.
As a bowhunter, I'm a little more strict on what I shoot, due to the long season. Passed a couple 1.5 year olds last year during the rut, one at 5 yards.
If i have two decent sized does in the freezer, im perfectly ok with not getting a buck. Sometimes, late in the season, I wont pass a 2.5 if the freezer is empty. Or, if I have a big buck that I hadnt seen before and no time to age him, ill shoot.
It varies year to year, but I always start with a hit list of 3.5 and up This year the top two spots are 3.5 year olds. Last year it was a 5.5 and a 4.5.
ETA: this is my second year bow hunting, I cant say I wont shoot a 2.5 year old early on just to get a bow kill out of the way.
When I take my wife this year for firearms, if it has antlers its fair game, since it is her first time hunting. Again, not my preferred approach, but I dont want to bore her chasing an older buck.
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Post by tynimiller on Sept 29, 2016 9:49:57 GMT -5
I will also add: No excuses should ever be needed for what you harvest, NONE. Either take what makes you happy or don't...if there is a "well or but or you see..." in your story you really should rethink your view of yourself. How about an "I thought it was something else/better"? We all make mistakes .... I know I have. I know my hunting partner has. I know many of my friends have. I know my father has. Oh sure, honest mistakes occur...but I'm talking fellas or gals that purely make excuses. Cannot stand it, be happy with what you take or don't take, I could care less so long as it was done legally and ethically you have my support!
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Post by swilk on Sept 29, 2016 9:53:31 GMT -5
okay ... just making sure. You did use the words "ever" and "none".
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Post by steiny on Sept 29, 2016 9:59:36 GMT -5
I don't have much interest in killing a small buck anymore. Plenty of does around for meat.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2016 10:13:22 GMT -5
My brother, friends, neighbor property hunters, and I have the same general rule. We go by personal best buck with bow and gun. We have been doing this since 1987, before qdma. Back in 1987 I took a 10pt buck on the last weekend of gun season and it was -8 below (-3 at 10am when I shot), I was not going to pass it up. There was one little problem, it was only a 1.5 year old. When I checked it in the game warner confirmed it was 1.5 year old. He said at the time it was a record for a 1.5 year old. No idea now. I had it mounted, but no pictures. I will take one tonight and post. Since then we go by age/size. We have a great little hunting group going back decades. We started with 7 in 1983 and 5 of us still hunt. I was the youngest. The group is now around 45 or so and 4 generations. One farm now to five farms all within 6 miles. We all gather the 1st Sunday of gun season for a big feast.
I love the site. It pulls back a lot a great hunting memories.
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Post by tynimiller on Sept 29, 2016 10:22:18 GMT -5
okay ... just making sure. You did use the words "ever" and "none". True, difference though being between an "excuse" and an "accident"...however a true accident is rare, because most of the time analysis of what you are shooting at typically occurs
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2016 10:27:03 GMT -5
While I assume your response was somewhat "tongue in cheek", whenever these threads inevitably come up before every season I always want to add this, and this year I'm going to. Normally, I'm the first guy who says "take what is legal if that's what you want to do", but on this subject, I can't say that. Indiana hunters kill on average approximately 13,000 button bucks every year. That's 13,000 bucks every year that will never grow a set of antlers. 13,000 per year. And while I know that QDMA finds those numbers acceptable, I frankly can't understand why. It's pretty easy to tell which deer is the fawn. It's the small one, sometimes with buttons on their heads, and if the goal is to improve the age structure of the herd and hope to have more mature bucks to hunt, it would seem to me that with fawns having such a tough time surviving that first year anyway, it would behoove hunters to try and ease up on killing them. I agree somewhat, although I've killed a couple of button bucks through the years. Another way of looking at it, though, is harvesting a button buck removes only 1 set of antlers, while removing a breeding age doe likely removes several future sets of antlers. I don't really have a strong opinion, I'm just not sure which is really better for increasing buck numbers. I have taken two button bucks over the years. One time thinking it was a doe and the 2nd in 2012 EHD. I only saw a few deer and no does, so finally in gun season I took the button buck. I saw no living does that year from bow to gun season. So the objective can change from season to season.
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Post by kevin1 on Sept 29, 2016 14:22:20 GMT -5
Big enough to take up a respectable amount of freezer space, old enough to kill.
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Post by jjas on Sept 29, 2016 14:32:37 GMT -5
While I assume your response was somewhat "tongue in cheek", whenever these threads inevitably come up before every season I always want to add this, and this year I'm going to. Normally, I'm the first guy who says "take what is legal if that's what you want to do", but on this subject, I can't say that. Indiana hunters kill on average approximately 13,000 button bucks every year. That's 13,000 bucks every year that will never grow a set of antlers. 13,000 per year. And while I know that QDMA finds those numbers acceptable, I frankly can't understand why. It's pretty easy to tell which deer is the fawn. It's the small one, sometimes with buttons on their heads, and if the goal is to improve the age structure of the herd and hope to have more mature bucks to hunt, it would seem to me that with fawns having such a tough time surviving that first year anyway, it would behoove hunters to try and ease up on killing them. I agree somewhat, although I've killed a couple of button bucks through the years. Another way of looking at it, though, is harvesting a button buck removes only 1 set of antlers, while removing a breeding age doe likely removes several future sets of antlers. I don't really have a strong opinion, I'm just not sure which is really better for increasing buck numbers. I know there are people that will disagree with me and say that fawns taste great, etc, etc...but you'd have to kill what two to three fawns or buttons to equal the amount of meat from a mature doe or a 1 1/2 year old buck? In the end, if someone wants to kill a button or a doe fawn, it's legal and it's certainly their choice. My point was, is and always will be, that if you kill a button (or doe fawn) you are killing a 4-6 month old animal that represents zero challenge to kill, will provide very little meat for the table and has a hard enough time surviving as it is.
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Post by bill9068 on Sept 29, 2016 14:53:36 GMT -5
When I was younger the answer was: when the bucks in front of me.
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Post by mkfrench on Sept 29, 2016 15:22:56 GMT -5
I haven't killed any with spots on them. While I assume your response was somewhat "tongue in cheek", whenever these threads inevitably come up before every season I always want to add this, and this year I'm going to. Normally, I'm the first guy who says "take what is legal if that's what you want to do", but on this subject, I can't say that. Indiana hunters kill on average approximately 13,000 button bucks every year. That's 13,000 bucks every year that will never grow a set of antlers. 13,000 per year. And while I know that QDMA finds those numbers acceptable, I frankly can't understand why. It's pretty easy to tell which deer is the fawn. It's the small one, sometimes with buttons on their heads, and if the goal is to improve the age structure of the herd and hope to have more mature bucks to hunt, it would seem to me that with fawns having such a tough time surviving that first year anyway, it would behoove hunters to try and ease up on killing them. Button bucks are quite possibly the dumbest of all deer. Just because you let you one walk, doesn't mean he won't walk in front of a car, drown, choke on a corn cob, or walk up to and try to lick the next hunter he encounters. I suspect many a person's 1st deer kills were button bucks.
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Post by jjas on Sept 29, 2016 17:06:50 GMT -5
mkfrench
The examples you cited about buttons just further makes my point.
And other than the exception you posted about first deer, I see zero reason to kill a button or doe fawn. IMO, it boils down to...no challenge, little meat, why bother?
But...as I said before. It's legal and within any hunters right to kill what they please.....
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Post by Woody Williams on Sept 29, 2016 17:42:12 GMT -5
It's called "deer season"... So everyone should legally kill what they want to and capable of.
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Post by wesb81219 on Sept 29, 2016 18:04:34 GMT -5
It's called "deer season"... So everyone should legally kill what they want to and capable of. Well said. it couldn't be put more simple and to the point. that's what it's all about.
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Post by trapperdave on Sept 29, 2016 18:39:44 GMT -5
When it's off the teat.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2016 18:53:35 GMT -5
It's called "deer season"... So everyone should legally kill what they want to and capable of. Well said. it couldn't be put more simple and to the point. that's what it's all about. If it was always this simple, then we won't have this thread? But your right.
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Post by wesb81219 on Sept 29, 2016 19:29:15 GMT -5
It's that simple for me. I purely enjoy hunting and love everything about it. doesn't matter how much or how big of anything I get to take home with me from the woods.
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Post by beermanbrian on Sept 29, 2016 20:50:01 GMT -5
I've never had any luck with trying to eat antlers...... You sure can stir the stew with them though.
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Post by Jamie Brooks 1John5:13 on Sept 29, 2016 21:13:12 GMT -5
I asked one how old it was, but he just didn't desire to share that personal information with me ...so I shot him.
If it makes me happy to pull the trigger, I don't care what anyone else thinks.
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