Author Topic: What's the smallest size buck you will harvest? (Read 5257 times)

charles p · « **on:** March 02, 2008, 02:50:53 PM »

A hunting partner of mine refuses to shoot any buck that is not "the buck of a lifetime". His says leave the bucks for the children to shoot. He only shoots does. I draw the line at 8-pt or better (eastern). I still have just as much fun and we get plenty of meat from shooting does.

What is your philosophy.

tn_junk · « **Reply #1 on:** March 02, 2008, 04:19:32 PM »

I shoot either does or bucks bigger than 8 pts.
Haven't killed a buck in many years.

alan

Leatherstocking · « **Reply #2 on:** March 02, 2008, 04:32:03 PM »

I typically like to hold out for a mature buck, and have killed many does over the last few years without taking many bucks. That said, it also depends on the circumstances. If it is getting late into the season and a smaller buck steps within range where I am extremely confident that I can make a clean efficient kill, I will take it. Did that this past fall with a five pointer (12 yards away with 30-30 in hand). Wouldn't have shot at that buck on opening day or if he was 100 yards out, but I believe in making a quick efficient kill so strongly that I will sometimes take a smaller buck for that reason in those circumstances. Just my approach to it.........

Land_Owner · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2008, 03:47:13 AM »

Depends on the number of animals being seen, the body size of a particular animal, and whether I am having a good doe harvest or does have been few and far between. I don't see a lot of bucks where I hunt. I can be selective though, if I want to be. The "smallest size" is body proportion and not less than 130#'s - judged on the hoof. Whether it is a spike or four or greater points is not necessarily material. My QDM tendency is to let buttons, spikes and small bodied bucks walk. I will let four and six point bucks walk when they are small bodied and the doe hunting is good. I am a meat hunter and prefer does.

When I was younger, spikes were "on the menu". As I grew up in hunting and took on a QDM role, spike bucks and small deer are no longer the "game" they once were. I killed a huge 6 point this season because of body mass and the lack of does, thinking it was a four point at the time first spotted.

PartsMan · « **Reply #4 on:** March 03, 2008, 05:06:51 AM »

Opening day or closing day.

Really most guys around here, including myself, try to take a buck as big or bigger than we already have.
For some that is quite big. I am only looking to beat this years 8 point.

Here we have to many does for our bucks. This stretches out the breading season to long.
So it is not responsible to take every buck we see.

Better to take a doe and wait for the big one.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #5 on:** March 03, 2008, 06:23:07 AM »

I have taken my share of small bucks, and a partner specializes in bucks with milk dripping off their lips. I should note that we do not have a regular doe season. In fact I was acting as spotter for him on a hunt and I was checking out a small bucks horns because State law requires a fork on the upper two-thirds of the antler on one side. I could clearly see a fork in my 10X binoculars, and told him to fire. The next thing I could see was a spray of milk from the buck’s lips when the bullet hit him.

Normally I have two buck tags, and some years I have filled them and other years I have eaten track stew. One year I passed up five bucks, two of which were better then average because my father-in-law/hunting partner was on his deathbed. My heart was not in the hunt and I broke camp and returned home early.

I can remember the first legal small buck I passed up, it was the last day of the season and in two hours it would all be over until next year. The neighbor had taken me out hunting and we spotted a buck with small forks bedded under some brush. The size of the horns did not stop me; it was the extremely small size of the buck. I passed on him, because his live weight could not have been forty pounds. I was 12-yearsold at the time and had a tag left.

I was raised on venison, and my kids were raised on it, but it is not popular in our house any more. The reason being is that my wife lost her taste for meat when she was being treated for cancer. During that time I had to cook meat outside on the barbecue, because the smell upset her stomach. Chemo is not easy. Now days most of my venison goes to other family members.

I have held a job and lived in locations where I get to watch a fair number of deer. An example from last year spring was a nice looking buck with good forks on each side that was coming into the backyard. One morning I was looking out the kitchen window and noticed he had blood running down his face. The horn on the right side was hanging from the velvet about six inches above the skull. As the summer progressed the remaining horn cured into a spike. I suspect this happens every year in the deer herd.

While this old guy is a spike on one side I would be happy to take him during the season.

SingleShotShorty · « **Reply #6 on:** March 03, 2008, 03:05:01 PM »

If the buck is not something I would want to mount I let it walk. I shoot only deer that are 2 1/2 years or older. We have a rule on our hunting lease nothing under an eight point.

R.W.Dale · « **Reply #7 on:** March 03, 2008, 05:03:40 PM »

Anything legal I'm shooting it and eatin it. Rules you have to live by with our retarded game and fish commission. No does without a super special permit for decades has us seeing 40 and 50 does per BUCK

Land_Owner · « **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2008, 11:28:58 PM »

krochus, There are higher "rules", self imposed, which you may freely adopt that lets younger, smaller bucks pass without the need for "legislation" from the GFC. What are the GFC rules where you are?

Not being judgmental here. It just does not sound like you are satisfied. Where are you hunting that there are no doe days? That's tough! Can you press for some latitude in the legislation?

R.W.Dale · « **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2008, 12:48:59 AM »

Quote

krochus, There are higher "rules", self imposed, which you may freely adopt that lets younger, smaller bucks pass without the need for "legislation" from the GFC. What are the GFC rules where you are?

Not really seeing as I have no means of controlling what deer and hunters do outside my small sphere of influence. That only works in Texas when hunting behind a fence.

I'm in northwest Arkansas, as a meat hunter it's quite frustrating to see deer after deer that's pefectlly good to eat but being forced by our regulations (4 point rule) to hold out for a semi trophy that all were shot 2 years ago. Let me kill my 1 deer a year and I'll go home.

PartsMan · « **Reply #10 on:** March 04, 2008, 04:25:53 AM »

Quote from: krochus on March 03, 2008, 05:03:40 PM

Anything legal I'm shooting it and eatin it. Rules you have to live by with our retarded game and fish commission. No does without a super special permit for decades has us seeing 40 and 50 does per BUCK

Those are strange regs. Bad for the deer population if you ask me.

In Oklahoma they are begging us to shoot does.
They keep adding special doe weekends and youth hunts,
and this last year they cut us back to 2 bucks total.

I have to be picky because of my regs.
You can't be picky because of yours.

Mohawkpart2 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 05, 2008, 03:04:18 AM »

Well, due to moving, I didn't have long to hunt this year but I would say 8pt or above. They are pretty common to central Texas. My guns were still out of state during the season so I ended up hunting with a Mossberg 500 patrol shotgun with 00 buckshot that i borrowed from work. Passed up a couple of 6pts and fork-horns. Saw two 8pts but they were out of range for the shotgun. Ended up harvesting a nice doe at 6yds. However spike bucks are always on the list to be taken. My dad has seen a lot of them this year.

dukkillr · « **Reply #12 on:** March 05, 2008, 06:25:33 AM »

In Southern Missouri it's any 3 1/2 year old buck. Missouri hunters love to shoot young bucks so finding a good mature buck is quite a challenge.

In Kansas I hold out for a great buck. 4 1/2 and heavy... I like mass in my deer. The deer in Kansas are much more balanced, and the hunters much more educated. Every year in Kansas I pass deer that would be buck-of-a-lifetime quality in southern missouri. And then I see southern missouri hunters checking in their spikes and forks and 2 1/2 year old bucks and it all comes together.

Changes are on the wind in both states... This may all be different next year.

I shoot does in both states.

elmer · « **Reply #13 on:** March 06, 2008, 05:00:30 PM »

Our club rules are 4 1/2 or older or a 1 by that is over 1 1/2. I shot a 3 1/2 year old spike in 2006 and no bucks in 2007. I did get two does both years.

buckshooter · « **Reply #14 on:** March 07, 2008, 01:52:41 PM »

Hey Charles p you are right, I do the same thing, something that has 8 points or more. Which I say is a mature buck. Why I do this, because anyone can get a spick or five, also if you let them grow they could be a monster in a couple of years then you shoot it. I am from Ohio where you can only shoot one buck a year, at first I thought it was stupid; because of this four or five years ago Ohio is known for big monsters bucks know. One of uncles said, wait shoot your buck first then kill all the does you want. My first gun hunting trip was youth gun season in Ohio, I got a 12 point with a 20 inch inside spread, to this day I have been sworn by it.

Thanks for your time

[/b] Buckshooter

Dave in WV · « **Reply #15 on:** March 08, 2008, 12:25:13 PM »

Horns make thin soup. The smallest deer I shot was little and young. It was all pink and tender like veal. Best eating deer I have bagged. I don't have to shoot when hunting to have a great time. When I do, size and count don't matter. For eating I like a doe.

buck460XVR · « **Reply #16 on:** March 09, 2008, 07:30:44 AM »

To me it aint the size of the buck in the hunt, but the size of the hunt that's in the buck. For those of you that are privileged enough to have the opportunity to wait for something of monstrous proportions to walk out in front of you before you shoot, good for you. But let's be honest and realistic......the majority of deer hunters across America aren't that lucky. Many have hunted their whole lifetime and never have seen a 12 pointer in their sights....and it isn't because they are not good enough hunters. Odds are it has more to do with the area they are hunting in combined with deer numbers and hunting pressure. Like fishing.....if the biggest bass in the pond is a two pounder than a trophy fish from that pond is a two pounder.....waitin' for a five pounder will do nuttin' but make you old. I have shot some big bucks and I have shot some small bucks and lots of does. They are all trophies in my opinion. Funny thing is, some of the biggest were the easiest......shot on private land with little or no other hunting pressure and after a period of years of QDM where the deer became used to humans in their territory without being shot. One actually looked at me before he put his head back down to feed at the food plot. To me, my biggest trophy is a spindly little six point I snuck up to within 10 yards in the pourin' rain on heavily hunted public land on the last day of the season and then shot him in his bed with my .357 without him even knowing I was there. May not have the taxidermy bill of the massive 14 pointer shot outta a box overlooking a feeder, but sure as heck a lot of more of a hunt......at least to me. One was a hunt....the other, just a shoot.

Yes, I still strive to take the largest buck I can and in certain areas pass up on bucks that are larger than any I have seen in other areas. But I do not belittle anyone for making their own choice of what is a shooter and will be the first to congratulate any successful hunter no matter what the size of the rack. The size of the horn does not the hunter make. Many button bucks on public land are way more wary than large bucks on large tracts of private land. I get a big kick out of watching hunting shows where the hunter gets taken out to a heated box (one that the outfitter has set out after doing all the scouting)every morning after a big breakfast at the hunting lodge. Then after a coupla days of sittin on his butt, a monster walks in front of him and starts feeding on the hay bale set out. Never fails, after he shoots it he says "man, it's been a tuff hunt!".

Savage .250 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 10, 2008, 01:55:03 AM »

As this is a personal choice question, I don`t shoot spikes or doe. What other folks do is up to them.
Having shot my share of bucks over the years the need to harvest each and every year is not the most important aspect of the hunt. That being said, If I chose to harvest something ,it will be my choice. It just won`t be a spike or a doe. Everything else is a possible.

AtlLaw · « **Reply #18 on:** March 10, 2008, 08:01:46 AM »

I'm still pretty much in the "if it's brown it's down" stage for a number of reasons. When I was young people went their whole lives without ever seeing a deer during hunting season so if you did, you shot anything legal. Nowadays our season is about four months long and the limit is 12 deer- 2 bucks and 10 does. But I'm still a meat hunter. I try to kill 4 a season and would prefer 3 does and a yearling but young bucks are right up there on the tasty list also. After my meat is made for the coming year I "hunt horns," but don't usually kill another deer.

rural17 · « **Reply #19 on:** March 12, 2008, 03:46:37 PM »

2 1/2 year old I rarely see any older than that in my area $:-\$

.357 shooter · « **Reply #20 on:** March 12, 2008, 08:38:32 PM »

I am not a trophy hunter, by horn status. I shoot what makes me happy for that day.

kevthebassman · « **Reply #21 on:** March 13, 2008, 02:16:46 AM »

I don't pull the trigger unless it's 8 point or better. We've got 10 million does on our place and $7 unlimited doe tags, so meat is not a problem. I usually get a doe during archery, then me and my brother will each get one in rifle and one each in muzzleloader, then maybe another in the special doe season. That keeps us in venison all year.

*ROCK-MAN* · « **Reply #22 on:** March 21, 2008, 01:46:46 PM »

This last season it was a spike.It was what is called in east tx a goat horned spike.This deer looked to be at least three years old with a 12" spike on one side and a matching fork on the other.The regulations were spiked on one side or 13" inside spread.If I see one with a 13" inside spread I'll take him to.Thats in east texas and it can be a challenge.On my trips out to west and south tx it's usually 8pt or better.These days it seems like most are "trophy" huntin but I hunt for the love of the sport and the outdoors.If this puts me on the wrong side of some people's opinions then it's a good thing it's just their opinion and they aren't makin tha laws.
Good Hunting,
Rock

giturgun · « **Reply #23 on:** March 21, 2008, 02:37:29 PM »

Has to beat this one. Don't care if I kill one or not, Don't shoot does. Last year was a 7 p0int .This year a 8 . Got a rule last years or bigger.

NONYA · « **Reply #24 on:** March 21, 2008, 03:47:23 PM »

150 B&C or better,Ill take a smaller buck if he has kickers and or MASS.

Hooker · « **Reply #25 on:** March 23, 2008, 05:08:13 PM »

Horns are nice, but knot heads eat better

Pat

NONYA · « **Reply #26 on:** March 23, 2008, 05:21:17 PM »

Thats why I buy 6 doe tags

T.R. · « **Reply #27 on:** March 24, 2008, 03:54:21 AM »

This is a forky buck that weighed approx. 275 lbs. But what made the hunt memorable for me was the long stalk in rough country to get with easy rifle range.

Does are good eating, too. My minimum is whatever the current law has mandated. Trophy hunting is not for me although I 've taken some big ones.

TR

JonD. · « **Reply #28 on:** March 24, 2008, 06:35:33 AM »

I used to be a "trophy" hunter, but after having a 9yr stretch of not taking a deer, I have changed my tune. Deer have gotten so scarce where I hunt due to Chronic Wasting Disease or "blue tongue" as we call it, and poaching, that I shoot the first thing that comes around the hillside whether it be doe or buck -- you have to if want one to eat,-- if you don't, somebody else is sure to. I don't know how many times I've let a smaller buck walk and then in a few minutes hear a shot two hills over in the same direction the buck went. I used to be a rack hunter, but have since changed my mind because you can't eat the horns

.

dukkillr · « **Reply #29 on:** March 24, 2008, 06:41:33 AM »

Quote from: JonD. on March 24, 2008, 06:35:33 AM

I used to be a "trophy" hunter, but after having a 9yr stretch of not taking a deer, I have changed my tune. Deer have gotten so scarce where I hunt due to Chronic Wasting Disease or "blue tongue" as we call it, and poaching, that I shoot the first thing that comes around the hillside whether it be doe or buck -- you have to if want one to eat,-- if you don't, somebody else is sure to. I don't know how many times I've let a smaller buck walk and then in a few minutes hear a shot two hills over in the same direction the buck went. I used to be a rack hunter, but have since changed my mind because you can't eat the horns .

Chronic wasting disease and Blue tongue are two totally different diseases.