What's the smallest size buck you will harvest?

[Empty Quiver]

My simple rule has become, if I'm not going to have it mounted I let it walk. Uniqueness of animal or the hunt will dictate what size. Does are plentiful enough that a meat animal need not be a buck. As I haven't seen any bucks over 2.5yrs old in the last three seasons it's pretty easy to smugly turn down the little bitty bucks! No way do I try and judge others legal harvests though, it smacks of elitism in my book, and I can't abide it.

[JonD.]

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

Really? I didn't know that. I have always heard that the deer around home have "blue tongue", and the KDFWR lists our county as one in which CWD is prevalent, so I have always thought they were the same thing. Whats the difference in these diseases? The deer around home are found dead near water such as ponds and the river. One farmer found up in the teens in the river at one time, and many have found them in their ponds.

[dukkillr]

CWD (short for Chronic Wasting Disease) is a prion affliction similar to Crutchfeld-Jacob disease in humans.
Blue Tongue is a viral infection common in sheep.  I'm not aware of a human strain in that genus.

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_tongue_disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease

[petemi]

I and my immediate neighbors practice QDM, Quality Deer Management; about 600 acres.  That means a good eight point, not a little birds nest rack and does.  During the 3 seasons I selectively take two year and a half old does for the table.  I'm not a trophy hunter, I have a small home without a wall large enough to hang one on.  It'd be a shame to have to hang him in the barn.  I let my hunting family and friends get the big guys.  I really don't want all that venison sausage.  I enjoy watching them, and love to see the joy when a friend takes a really good one.  I frequently use muzzleloaders during the regular rifle season.

[JonD.]

CWD (short for Chronic Wasting Disease) is a prion affliction similar to Crutchfeld-Jacob disease in humans.
Blue Tongue is a viral infection common in sheep.  I'm not aware of a human strain in that genus.

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_tongue_disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease

Thanks dukkillr. The deer around home definetly have CWD and not blue tongue. The map on wikiepedia also does not show our area on it as being one where CWD is found, but the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources does show a small dot right over our county. For several years now we have had an unlimited doe bag limit and our deer poulation is not that great. It makes me wonder if the KDWFR is trying to wipe out this disesase from our area. It is a very small area and the only area in the eastern US where its found.

[dukkillr]

I bet you have both.  The finding dead deer by water is associated with Blue Tongue... The killing unlimited does is associated with CWD.  It's an interesting disease because it's not caused by the usual 3 suspects, bacteria, virus, or organism.  It's caused by a small bundle of proteins called a prion.  Those prions are ridiculously hard to get rid of.  They can survive extreme cold, extreme heat, long periods of time, etc.  It's also somewhat unknown how CWD is spread.  Some theorize that deer who share feeding areas can pass it through saliva although it must not transfer easily.  Because of the saliva thing usually when states discover they have CWD they want to reduce the herd density and outlaw baiting.  It's just my opinion, but I'd say the results have been less than spectacular. 

Tame elk and deer hunting operations can bring CWD into an area.  That's what happened in KS several years ago.

I didn't know that there was any CWD east of the Mississippi except for Wisconsin.

[JonD.]

Well dukkillr, I'm a whole lot dumber about this subject than I thought I was! (and I thought i was pretty dumb) After reading KDWFR website, I read that CWD has not been found in KY. But what puzzles me is that I saw a map in last years hunting guide that showed the area where a disease was found in the US, and there was a very small dot right over where our county was. The only thing I can think of is the map was showing Blue tongue or hemorraghic disease instead of CWD. Anyway, whatever the disease we have is, it has really done a number on the deer herd.

[kevthebassman]

That blue tongue can really hit a herd hard.

I had a lease down by a little town called Parsons in Tennessee.  They had the blue tongue last summer.  One of my good buddies on the lease called me in August (before I paid my fee, thankfully) and told me that they had found 70 dead deer on the lease.  I didn't bother getting back on the lease.

[charles p]

I started this post and want to make a confession.  I have been deer hunting over 40 years.  I've shot a train car full of small bucks and don't condemn anyone for doing the same.  I ate every one of them and would do the same today except that I have unlimited number of doe deer to shoot.  I'm also retired and no longer need to take vacation days to hunt.  I don't even hunt weekends anymore. 

I get a real thrill out of seeing beginners and children take a deer, and all of them want to take a buck.  I'll never forget the day my nephew shot a buck while sitting in my lap.  I could have killed that spike buck several times, but I let it walk.  It was probably my most rewarding hunt ever, and I wasn't even holding the rifle.  He was 10.  He killed three small bucks that year and was proud of every one of them.  I was also.

Deer are a renewable resource.  Only problem is that is takes many years to renew a nice buck.

[backstrap]

I always try to shoot a mature buck if he is not bigger than what i have shot in the past i let him go for another year or 2,unless he is some sort of messed up little buck that needs to be taken out of the Jean pool

[huntswithdogs]

I killed my buck this past year. He was a dandy 8, with some really nice tine length and such, and he's going on the wall tonite(I just got him back from the taxidermist). That being said, this was the first buck I've shot in about 5 years. The property that I hunt has too many does and they need thinning badly. I've been doing my part and have killed 2 or 3 each year. My cousin, who owns the property, asked us specifically last year to just shoot does unless we saw something that we'd consider mounting.

I'm a meat hunter and would prefer to drag a nice tastey doe to the house than a high smelling buck in full rut.


HWD

[JonD.]

That blue tongue can really hit a herd hard.

I had a lease down by a little town called Parsons in Tennessee.  They had the blue tongue last summer.  One of my good buddies on the lease called me in August (before I paid my fee, thankfully) and told me that they had found 70 dead deer on the lease.  I didn't bother getting back on the lease.

Wow. I don't think I would have either. Its almost that bad where I hunt. It makes you worry about eating the deer you kill.

[kevthebassman]

I don't think that the blue tongue survives past the first frost, but I could be wrong.  I know that they get it from those midge flies.

Grossly unacceptable language removed by Graybeard.

[T.R.]

Years ago in the foothills of the Bighorns, I spotted a lone cow elk way out there on the edge of the prairie.  It was all by itself.  I aimed high from prone position and dropped the animal.  But as I approached, distance was far less than I'd estimated.  It turned out to be elk calf that I hit in the spine! (anterless elk license includes calves so I was legal)

Dad gave me the hee-haw when I brought the animal home. But no one laughed when many tasty dinners were served featuring this  youngster elk.  It's true that young elk are best of all!

After that incident, I learned to look closely at the nose to determine youngster or mature cow.

TR

[Perkins]

for meat, the first legal one. even a yearling.
for trophy: i already have bucks well over 200 points.
so I hold off for something as big or bigger.

[NONYA]

Id like to see a few of those over 200" bucks.PICS PICS PICS!!!!!

[dukkillr]

for meat, the first legal one. even a yearling.
for trophy: i already have bucks well over 200 points.
so I hold off for something as big or bigger.

me too, unless we're talking about tame deer.

[NONYA]

No pics?BIG suprise!

[alleyyooper]

For years I shot any buck that had spikes 3 inches or better. I have several huge racks of 8 point. As a youngster it was frond on to shoot a doe even with the doe permit. I grew older and bought my own hunting land. the kids grew up and I was the lone person in the house that liked deer meat other than in hamburg. Now I shoot only bucks i think are big 8 points. I havn't hunted with a center fire rifle in 4 years either. There are no doe permits sold for the area where my deer camp is and that suits me fine. the youtes and wolves keep the herd thind down so they don't eat them selves out of house and home.

Speaking of home, these pictures were taken from our living room window mostly but some from a bed room. If I shot any thing here except a big buck the wife would shoot me.












Al

[ihookem]

I used only shoot bucks till my son started going along. When he was nine we spent two days and saw nothing until 4 pm. A nubby came by and he kept telling me to shoot it in a loud whisper. I will go to my grave remembering how he screamed with excitement in the stand. I never saw him so happy. He asked lots of questions about body parts when I gutted it. I've shot almost every deer in the three years he has hunted with me including two spikes and four antlerless. I need to get deer meat these days for the freezer, life is really getting expensive too.He is a good tracker too with bow and gun. This year I told him no more  fawns untill late season. Last year I past a few does up and he told me when  a deer comes by shoot it next time!! I never shot a trophy and I don't believe in let em go let em grow because we got lots of trophy bucks around and never get shot. The locals and me find enough sheds and get pics to prove it and we have no idea where these big bucks go in the day time. We hunt Price county Wisconsin.

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

Colorado we have to make sure it has at least a 5" antler.  I hunt for a good body sized doe and buck. Antlers don't mean a thing.  Thats just the sport hunter who's after the animal just for his rack and then does nothing with the meat.

[T.R.]

This mature coastal blacktail weighed about 120 lbs or so. It was fun to hunt in the mountains of Napa County, California.

This buck got a lot heavier during the long hike back to where we parked.  He nearly doubled in size! 
TR

[MGMorden]

South Carolina has some oddities in it's laws too.  Like Krochus, you generally take what you can get with bucks because they're rare due to the way our laws are setup.

The laws vary a bit between the upstate and the lowcountry (I'm in the lowcountry which is more lax).

Essentially, by law you can shoot does on a few designated doe days, or you can purchase either 2 or 4 tags per year that are usable after about a month of the season has passed (and our season runs from mid-August all the way to the end of the year).  Other than that, no does.

Now for bucks, it's pretty open.  If it has at least 1 antler longer than 3" it's legal (most game warden carry a 3" buckshot in their pockets for measuring if needed).  On WMA lands, you get 10 bucks per year. On privately owned lands, there are no limits and the number of bucks one can harvest.

As you can imagine, trophy bucks are a rarity.  They occur every now and then ( my father bagged a 12-point that weighed in at 200lbs even about 5 years ago), but they're not at all common.  Most shooters will take just about anything that's legal.

[SHOOTALL]

any size , depends more on the distance i have to drag it than rack ! but i will drag a big rack a longer distance !

[Freezer]

    My friends in Pa have a saying, "You can't eat the horns".  I can't remember the last time my brother killed a buck.  He'll drop five doe a year.  As for me I live in Kaliforniastan and they don't have a doe season out here nor do they differienciate between Coastal Blacktail and mulies.  The no doe rule is to protect and encourage the mule deer population I guess.   
   The rule is Fork horn on one side or better.  As few buck as I see in a year and as hard as I have to hunt for them I'll take what I can get as long as I'm sure I can drop it with one shot.  The smallest I shot was a single fork the largest a very respectable 3x3.  In the 15 years I've hunted deer out here I've taken two deer in a season twice and was shut out twice.  Comming to think of it I did shoot a button buck in Pa once...I thought it was a doe!  It was still a leagle kill.

[Natty Bumppo]

I don't harvest deer - but I do kill them, does and 8 pointers or better.  Last year I accidently (negligently?) killed a 7 point that was missing a G3.  This wasn't always the case, though.  When I was younger I'd shoot any legal buck.

[SHOOTALL]

IT's a streach but ya need to consider where you are hunting . Where I hunt we hunt farms and timber holdings of small size . Smallest 10 acs. and largest 1400 acs. We hunt with dogs and deer move onto and thru. the areas legal for us to hunt . That said we get as many doe tags as we want , sort of , you can shoot 2 a day on doe days . we get 3 either sex tags and some farmers get damage stamps . So depending where you hunt you could kill quite a few deer and it would be a help to the farmer/landowner . Consider also a normal day , you might see 15 - 20 shootable deer . So we shoot alot more , the deer we pass on get shot on the next farm anyway . If you hunt in an area that has less pressure then you might get to hunt bigger deer ( lucky you ! ) . We see big deer AT NIGHT and kill a few each year , but most go to the swamps during the day and stay there feeding in fields at night ! This is the main reason I try to hunt rain days as they come out early !

[Freezer]

    Here in N. Cal. we can't shoot doe.  I hunt Costal Balcktail and to tell you the truth shooting a doe wouldn't be a problem.  The herds are way out of wack.  As for buck, fork horns or better.  I'm lucky to see two forkers in a season (6 weeks).  Last year I did take a nice 3x3 and the year before saw 2 5x5's but couldn't get a shot off.  As long as it's legal I'll take it until they open a doe season.  Ya can't eat the horns. There's one big doe on the main hill I hunt.  She taunted me for years!  I'd love to take her out for dinner

[Swampman]

Whatever's legal is going in the freezer.

[Freezer]

    Did you mean going to Freezer   Thanks, I'll have the wife make room in the deep freeze