Shooting small bucks vs doe deer

About 20 years ago I heard a friend comment that he passed up every buck to allow our children an opportunity. Made a lasting impression and I have followed this logic.

A young buck can never be mature if it is shot. How do you feel? I can get 4 doe, so I do not need a buck for meat. Never walked up to a dead small buck and felt proud.

Fortunate to hunt in an area that allows six deer.

Personally I hunt for meat not knife handles. So when the opportunity presents itself and it is pithing the legal limits, I take it. I am more likely to pass up on a big old buck than anything else.

Shoot what ever makes ya happy, hunting is supposed to be fun.

Here in Wisconsin depending on your location there may be no doe tags. A couple of counties over may have 3 doe tags per license. We rely on the meat as we eat venison at least once a week or more as hamburger, roasts and steaks. Learned over the past 40 plus years of hunting that passing on a quality shot at a buck or doe can come back to bite you when tag soup is the only menu item come post season!

Chris

Yup!

Yep, it should be fun!

It should sustainable and ethical. I have no problem shooting doe, but I prefer to pass up a small buck. Most importantly to me, is meat in the freezer.

I think the best thing you can do is to shoot any legal deer you want and don't waste 1 second worrying about any legal deer anyone else shoots.

Keith

It depends on your deer population. If you have a surplus of deer taking does in place of a buck is a good idea as the population can handle the does being taken.

Where I hunt (low deer density) it is better off, in my opinion, to take the small buck. The buck will only be a net -1 in your deer population and that is it. Taking a doe not only kills her, but also any deer she would have birthed the next year and the following years.

I’m with you Charles but I am fortunate to be able to take a young buck easily with a bow or gun. Years ago I realized that I wanted small bucks to grow. My son and I shoot several doe a year for meat. I could care less what and how people choice to hunt and they should care less about how I choose to.

Exactly

We used to get 1 buck and could buy up to 4 more antlerless tags. That went on for 7 years. Now weve had 5 years of 1 deer allowed.

I used to be able to bow hunt, then rifle, then muzzle load hunt. Now I just save my 1 so I can rifle gunt with my 80 yr old Dad. Because Hunting and Family is what matters Most.

So follow the Laws and have Fun with Family

we used to get 1 buck tag.

the logic we had was shoot the first legal buck , one would live through he season and that lucky buck would get all the ladies making more new deer.

then we started getting a doe tag if we applied for it this was about 90-92 in 90 I remember seeing 1 buck and 30 doe

by 2000 they were giving out a free no need to apply doe tag.

then in about 2004 we had to earn the buck by shooting a doe first that only lasted for a few years but you could shoot 4 doe earning 4 buck in some parts of the state it was unlimited up to 4 free tags a day

fast forward to 2019 1 buck tag and 5 doe tags for free and have for a few years in the county I typically hunt.

we don't even come close to filling all the tags , get enough to eat for the year and done.

we shoot whatever will make a target of it's self that is worth processing.

Back in 1966 when I turned 12 years old and was legally allowed to hunt here in Wisconsin we (our group anyway)
never thought of passing up a buck. It was rare to see one here and we would travel from Sauk County to the northern
forests, pitch a 16 foot canvas army tent for cooking and then another 12 foot tent for us young guys to sleep in
that my uncle called the nursery. Only the old guys were allowed to sleep in the main cook tent, poker playing emporium, etc.
I truly miss those days, every now and again someone with great fortune would shoot a deer and we would marvel and respect
that feat. I was lucky enough to do it a couple three years in a row and my dad would say to my uncles, hmpf, that boy may amount to something yet.

Zim

Wow, another advantage to the South. 10 antlerless and 2 bucks, one of the bucks has to have 4pts on one side. Certain places I hunt we have to kill does...30-40 off one place and 60-80 off another. Sometimes if the quota hasn’t been met then deer drives with shotguns are used to thin the population. We’ll stack pickup truck beds full of deer. Some are for personal use, some are given away for free, and some are bartered for next years crops (corn, peas, beans, etc...) None go to waste. Even some processors participate in the Hunters for the Hungry program and deer can be donated.
Most of the time, small bucks are passed on and some even limit themselves to one mature buck...mature being anything 5.5 or older. I don’t know if anyone in the South that “needs” meat to survive. A lot of us just like it a lot, lol.

Bucks go first no matter the size as long as their worth butchering we shoot no yearlings of either sex and antler size means nothing I will keep my $500.00 dollar that would be spent for mounting and buy something that puts food on my table or clothes on my back or retains a value before I mount a head on the wall

I'm a zone up here that allows 3 bucks no point restrictions and no limit on antlerless deer.

We often have had what we call, Young bucks day.. Sometime during the season a few friends bring thier sons for a day of harvest. The older bucks know where to find and send the young bucks to our young bucks. The young bucks drag young bucks with the older bucks leading the way to the trucks.

So much joy is expierenced on those days. Most have passed the youth age now and those days of the creeks running red,are sorely missed.

Most places in PA you can only shoot two deer. A lot of times based on the population ive observed id feel better about taking a yearling buck than a doe thats been bred or going to be. Wish we had that choice.

i patterned and targeted the big doe i shot in archery.she would come out and give me a hard time before i was ready to take a doe and lookin for a big buck.she aint stompin that foot at me anymore.

funny is,i sat on my little stool in the same area yesterday and about 1 i saw a big deer comin through the golden rod and right at me.got ready only to have a nother big ol girl sttand and stomp at me.

This is the philosophy I hunt by.



This also.

Some of those old foot-stomping super alert does can be some of the toughest deer to get a close bow shot on. Have fun shoot whatever makes you happy and save another vehicle collision while you are at it.
Jim

I'll shoot over a pile of big/old bucks for a 1.5 year old anything. Last thing I wasn't to eat is a old buck. Been there, done that, yuk.

I got over the antler craze in my early 20s...and I consider myself a slow learner.

Harvesting deer should (amongst other things family/experience related) be about the meat first. We've lost the meaning of hunting when it becomes about the antlers, IMO.

I've seen multiple big bucks harvested and just the antlers and backstraps taken. The rest went into the dumpster. Female warden didn't care about it, so I guess I shouldn't either. What a shame, but that's the mentality we are growing.

unfortunately as bad as the rear hams and backstraps only sounds.i'll find as many missin heads and left whole to rot as i will wasted rib meat.not me,just what i see.

your question was "How do you feel?" Here where we hunt around home in central lower Michigan we have been fortunate to have a healthy deer population. We moved to this location 24 years ago. We gained permission from the local land owner to deer hunt within walking distance from home. His first words about hunting his property were " we have too many does, probably 20 does to one buck". He was right! With a young hungry family we took several does a year. Once in a while one of us would shoot a buck. Always a year and a half old. We very rarely seen a buck with any size to them. Back then on opening day of firearm deer season the shooting was none stop for the first hour of daylight. Deer were running from woodlot to woodlot. After opening day you were lucky to see a deer during daylight hours.

Fast forward to about four or five years ago. Opening day had half the amount of shots fired that first hour. It wasn't because of lower deer numbers, it is because people around here have started practicing quality deer management. Weather they belong to a QDMA group or not these folks have seen the benefit of "Let em go, let em grow". At first I wasn't sold on QDMA. Then after listening to a few friends ad seeing their success, we started a quality control program here. We now own some land and have good success with letting the small bucks go and seeing more shooter bucks. Our taste buds have not changed. We still take does for the freezer and if someone has never shot a buck that is new to our group, they can shoot any legal buck they choose. And the high fives, back slapping and picture takeing will be no less than if it was a monster buck.

We are not snob hunters, we are down to earth simple people that like to hunt deer. I have all my deer antlers hanging proudly in my fur shed. From spikes to 8 pointers. No big record book bucks. But they all have a fond memory for me. What we do now is try to get a few bigger bucks. I remember back 30 some years ago when I would see folks with a nice big buck and I would think to myself "wow is that guy lucky". Was he lucky or did they practice quality management of some sort.

Getting back to your question, I feel as long as they are legal, take what you want. I will be happy to help and happy to give high fives, back slapping and picture taking no matter what size the deer is.

The one thing we all need to remember is to never look down on another sportsman or sportswomen for what they do as long as it is legal and ethical.

Happy Trapping, Joe

Big Joe, that must be a different QDMA than I am familiar with in mid Mi.

the vast majority of hunters I see, are more than 40 years old.

Couple of small ones looking at me yesterday while I was pulling traps here in south Texas. Good thing I wasn't in heat!

QDM should be voluntary and left at that.I just got off another site where the chest thumpers are crying about Michigans buck laws,they want it redone to benefit antler growth.Trophy hunting will kill the hunting industry,which is already on wobbly legs.

Our Pa deer don't get that big Mark, don't come with the ear tags already in them either.

We hunt for the freezer. So we try not to shoot our breeding stock. Any buck will do.
If we get bonus tags, which none have been available for years we only shoot buck fawns. We feel these deer in the years ahead will be miles away if they're our in my freezer.

shoot what makes you happy and gets you the meat you can use

Ditto! It has become a cult-like group of guys that can be downright jackasses toward anybody that shoots a buck that they don't think should have been shot. I have 51 opening days under my belt, and I am sickened by some of the hyperbole. Sad.

If you have a low density population why would it be legal to shoot does?

Dirt, in our state, most deer GMU's are county-by-county. It is nearly impossible to micromanage areas within a county. We have had some terrible outbreaks of Blue Tongue in the southern part of the state. I have many friends in one county that was hit very hard by it about 5 years ago. Some farms/parcels lost 90+% of their deer before it was over. Then, other areas nearby (within a couple miles) they lost none. Imagine what a patchwork of management that would require! My county, according to the DNR, has an over-population of deer, yet my own neighborhood has so few does that I don't want to tag one. I haven't shot a doe on my own 180 acres in maybe 12 years. They are getting thicker though, and before long I will gladly fill a doe tag. It kinda throws a wrench in the QDM mantra of letting the small bucks go and shooting a doe for meat, at least on my place.

I shoot whatever crosses my path first, no one is going to tell me what to shoot, I can not stand people telling me I shouldn’t have shot the 4 point I killed a few weeks ago, all my wife and I eat for meat is venison.

I hear it from the guys I work with and the neighbors, I even heard it from the mail lady the other day. LOL. well I have no regrets on any animal I harvest and my freezer is full.

Like stated above——- shoot what makes you happy!

QDM land and lease owners have large sums of money and time into raising a certain deer that they intend to shoot. Why would they not look down on others that are happy with less? Taking the easy way out or you can shoot the does because their not worthy of my time and effort when I need horns and only certain horns.
You have the same type of people in all outdoor sports. it's usually breaks down to money and trophy's VS meat or fish ………..

If I see one more outdoor show "I'm here with my good friend" translation ( the guy I spent a ton of money on to be here) and most are on the QDM bandwagon because of MONEY.

Money corrupts all. If the simple things like huntin and fishin.

Now I have to go Pheasant hunting and I will shoot at Rooster I see no matter how long it's tail is .

As another Michigander I agree 100%, MUCC which does support our right to trap has been less than on the up and up when it comes to our deer regulations. They loss my financial support because of it. If our trapping org. had a membership option without automatic MUCC I would rejoin. Honestly I prefer to tag out on deer meat as quick as possible so I can trap my behind off.

I like big horns so i pass on the little bucks we have does running out our ears so we dont wory about protecting the herd through the does . We harvest as many does as we can for meat . The blue tongue has been around us
the last couple droughts. its hit them hard all around us but has not hurt the pop on our farm . I think its the cattle waters that make fresh well water available that dosnt have the bugs in it that pond or stagnant creek water has .

Hey "neighbor", go ahead and let that "future trophy buck" walk. When he crosses on over to my place, his growing is done.

x2

mostly this.

I typically put the first deer I can get a shot on in the freezer.

we are allowed 2 bucks, so if the first deer is a small buck, I'll generally pass on smaller bucks to keep that tag open in case the bruiser comes by.

other than that, I'll take all the does I can put in the freezer.

example, this year I haven't been out as much. I killed a spike on the firearms opener.
this past saturday, I passed on several small bucks hoping for a doe or big buck. neither happened.

I try to kill does but if we don't see any and a small buck walks up I'll take him home with me