Horns for me , im not the ruff gruff mt man that can eat it seven ways to Sunday i had to do that growing up , i appreciate the pioneer's that fought so hard to get the good stuff here to eat . evidently they were sick of it to.

Depends on my mood

I take what ever shows up buck or doe does not matter try to never fire more than two shots Never learned how to cook antler have never shot that monster buck crown is down it goes good with taters and gravy Take and hunt what you want as long as it is not wasted, if you kill it use it or find someone that will .

With a trophy buck and doe in the same place at the same time I'm shooting that trophy buck and letting the doe go. Especially if that buck just bred that doe.

Can always kill that bred doe on next hunt day

Have actually had that happen a few times.I let the buck breed the doe then shot the buck.I would then not go back to that area the rest of the year hunting other areas instead.

In the big picture of whitetail deer management, you are not accomplishing much other than making yourself feel good about letting the bred doe walk.

WA give you a 10 day to hunt early session with a modern firearm for a buck,,,,one deer.

Almost 30 days in most GMUs for any deer using bow or ML..one deer

Heck, I’m just glad y’all are able to get out hunting when you can. That’s what it’s all about.

Heck, in the next couple years, it won’t be up to me, as I’ll likely have one of my kids with me and they will be the one picking what they want to shoot.

If we're going to let bred does walk. You .ight as well stop hunting does after Halloween because theres no way to tell that she's not unless you can get a pregnancy test on it or you see one actively chased by a buck or making come hither sounds

This^^^ absolutely.

And how about those hunters that won't shoot does because they don't want to see the fawn fetuses when they field dress the doe. SMH

I measure all fetuses on a fetus scale and record conception and paturition dates.

This. I went through a picky stage. Not so picky anymore. I love shooting deer, bow or gun.

Food. Antlers are cool, not saying they aren’t. But meat is the primary goal

I can understand that. If Kansas was that restrictive, I'd be as selective as you. I bought my land (70 acres) around 3 years ago, primarily for deer hunting. I spend a lot of $ on it every year, but it gets me out of the house and exercising, and I have fun with it.

In Kansas the first tag is either-sex. Then we can get either 4 or 5 more antlerless only tags (I forget the limit). From my perspective that's 1 buck and as many does as I want. I start the season with 3 tags so I can shoot 2 anterless in one day if given the opportunity. I hold back back the buck tag until I either get a chance for a nice buck or its late season. On my property nice bucks are somewhat rare. I've never seen anything up to "Kansas trophy buck" standards, but I've gotten a nice 8 point in 2 out of 3 years. Last year I didn't get a buck, but I got 4 nice does. The last 2 does I shot in one day, I was alone at the property and got them broken down into bags of meat before heading home, where my wife helped with the rest of the processing getting everything vacuum sealed. Doing it myself, I don't think I want to shoot more than 2 does in one day. And I'd only shoot one if its an evening hunt.

So I let small bucks pass until late season, and beyond that I'll shoot any big enough to be worth the trouble. If its getting late season and I want more meat, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot the 8 month olds. My reason for hesitating on them early season is its equal work to process a small one, but a lot less meat.

If Kansas adopted an "earn a buck" policy, I'd loosen my standards on early season bucks.

Maybe where you live with alot of deer, but up here in northern Maine with fewer deer we need more does in the big woods.That bred doe is going to have 1 to 2 little ones if she survives the winter.Chances of her being shot are very slim as they only give out around 10 total doe tags here in zone 11 last I knew.Alot of years there are no doe tags given out here.

button bucks

Ding Ding Ding... we have a winner! It's what we all know, thanks for saying it

So what about the guy that let's bucks larger than his best ever walk? Some of us outgrow antlers and can care less about them. I'm sure for those that still highly value them you understand that as well as a strait man trying to understand how any man can be gay. It just does not compute in you heads as being possible. The big steroid guys at the gym were the same way when I said I have no interest in bench pressing 500 lb. They just took it as I said that because I couldn't not because to me that's not in shape and a good way to get injured.

People tend to think everyone else values what they value and that's not the case.

Some of us don’t care about antlers. If I have a tag for him and he walks out first I guess I would. And if he is there with her I guess I’d shoot the bigger one.

Really, I wouldn’t care. I shoot the first deer I see. I need about 100 or so pounds of deer, I hunt till I get that, past that I donate it.

I will say, I hunt some crop damage properties so, I’m restricted to antlerless only.

I am invited to hunt those properties for antlered deer, but usually by then, I’m on to ducks, geese, rabbits and trapping.

Which leads to the most important game animal, the wild turkey.

I really need to hunt more of them in the fall.

Turkeys are the best.

In my opinion that is…


Anyway, hunt what you want, how you want and with the method of take you want. As long as it’s legal knock your socks off and be safe while doing it.

If it's a 1200# black Angus, corn fed steer, I'm it's worst nightmare!