I have been hunting and reloading a long long time. Deer rifle and loading tools dont owe me a thing. Saves me grocery money.

Meat. I also shoot plenty of big antlered deer / bodied deer while doing so

Whatever comes by first is good enough for me.

Both, I know when I am deer hunting I say many prayers of thanks.

If hunting on a trip out of state I hunt for antlers , when hunting in VT I hunt for a buck over 130 lbs. I don’ t see enough deer to shoot a doe. We have a terrible state biologist here and he is (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) that hunters don’t shoot the amount of doe in my area. But you can’t shoot what’s not there! I don’t think they are using the correct data to determine the actual deer population in VT.

Both.Meat first.Then antlers

First one that shows up gets it, rinse and repeat till you're out of tags.... Not discriminatory at all, lol

I don't have time to play with my food.....

I enjoy they challenge of hunting mature specimens being 4.5 plus and probably 5.5 plus, but I tell everyone else shoot what you feel your happy with being doe, fawn, 2x2 or a mature buck with archery. God gave us a real gift with the whitetail deer, something that can hide in your back yard and still be a challenge to harvest.
Anyone that kills anything to make a fellow hunter angry has some real problems. Same as the guy that doesn't care for the harvested beast.

Why is this always a question, lol? I target both. If I have a buck I’m after I’ll chase him and still shoot a pile of does for meat. I don’t know of anyone that just targets antlers. As a hunter, management should always play into your hunting. Just shooting willy nilly does no good for anyone.

If i hunted for meat my hunting season would be very short. Not any challenge to kill a doe here even with a bow.

Get er done
It will give you more time for sidewalk caulk art…..

I wonder how many who claim to be meat hunters would pass on an old tough B&C buck for a fat 1 1/2 doe if they where standing beside each other. I suspect some are meat hunters by default.

Question : Meat or antlers?
Answer : YUP !

This for me

If the first one is a big buck......

I kill as many does as I legally can as fast as I can, then I sit and wait for antlers.

hunting for antlers usually causes tag soup i hunt in this method with the bow i hunt for bucks the bigger the better but when it comes to gun hunting if its brown its down

Meat, but won't pass up a nice buck.

We always start our season with bear and moose hunting. If that goes well then I’m very picky about what deer I shoot since the freezer is already full. If the freezer is empty then I’m looking for the biggest bodied deer I can find. If that deer has large antlers then so much the better.

hard to pick what got more volume of meat. What's the target volume or quality of meat. Then there is what are you doing with it. Making a lot of jerkey and ground or wanting steaks for the grill.


It's not all cut and dry, either/or, or has a single thing to do with anyone else's opinions or standards. Amy kids think I'm nuts when I let deer they would have shot walk and say something like if I would have shot that buck he would be dead and would be no chance he would walk in front of you tomorrow. Another rack on the wall is not exciting or going ro do anything for me. But will really get them excited so why would I want to shoot it.