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.