Here is a situation I haven't really come across before. A little background to this story. My neighbor can only hunt weekends and he only gun hunts on public land. So he has two, maybe three weekends to hunt a year on heavily pressured ground. Its safe to say he isn't the better hunter out there. He does not apply for antlerless tags and shoots the first antlered deer he sees. I would say he gets a deer every other season. Well this year he shoots his biggest buck in 30 something years of hunting. It is an 8pt that I would guess around 110"...and he is pissed! Turns out the buck had an arrow wound and the body cavity was very infected. He's not sure if he should keep the meat and that is why he is upset. He said when he first shot it, he was very excited about killing a big buck. Then upon gutting it, he noticed the wound and said the infection was really bad. He seems to not care at all about the rack on its head anymore. All he can focus on is that he still has no venison. So my question is, if you killed your biggest buck ever (how ever many inches that may be for you) and you couldn't keep the meat, would you be upset or would it not matter since you just killed your biggest buck ever?
I'd be disappointed. I am a hunter. I'm not a trophy hunter although I'd love to kill a large racked mature buck. But I can live without the antlers. Using any tag and not having meat would suck for me!
If I shot my best buck ever (which would be a lot bigger than 110) I would not lose a wink of sleep over how good the meat is.
To someone who values the meat more than the bone on the head... it would be very disappointing. To those of you who value headgear more than the entire rest of the deer, imagine you just arrowed a nicely antlered buck but it runs over the hill and a gun hunter shoots it, making a bad shot and blows the antlers into smithereens. How happy are you now?
That's why I am very thankful to archery hunt as well to gun hunt. It gives me PLENTY of opportunity to take some does for meat, which I usually take full advantage of. I'm a hunter, but if it were my biggest buck, which 110" would be, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. In his situation though, I might be a little upset.
I agree with this. Also, I'd do my BEST to try and inform the hunter that is is MUCH better for the deer heard to take does, if he only hunts for meat reasons.
In my homestate I have access to more than enough tags to fill the freezer with meat. When I shoot a buck it's for the headgear. I usually donate all of my bow bucks to the HUSH program so for me it wouldn't be a big deal at all, but if it's his only tag then I can see his disappointment. Perhaps you could wack a doe for him to help out a neighbor.
I like deer meat as well as the next guy Matt, but would be far more upset if the biggest deer I ever killed broke its rack in a death run after I shot it than I would if the meat was bad. Way more!
I would be upset. I enjoy shooting a big buck for the headware and the meat. I get twice as much meat from the bucks I shoot compared to the does.
I would be very disappointed. I love a big buck as much as the next guy but my first reason for hunting is the meat. In this case I would feel a little better knowing I took this guy out without any more suffering.
I hear ya, John. I have the opportunity to take a few does so I always have venison. And I do share some steaks and burger with him on the years he doesn't take a deer. The odds of him killing another buck on the state land he hunts this late in the gun season are slim. He's still bummed out about it. My neighbor is a great example of a self proclaimed meat hunter in Michigan. He has to shoot a buck, any legal buck, but he really doesn't care about the rack. If he applied for an antlerless tag on public land for the county he hunts, he would most likely get one and he would have a much better chance at filling that tag. But he doesn't because he has to shoot a buck. Looks like I'll be sharing more of my sissy doe meat with him again this year. :D
Can't eat antlers! I'd be glad for the trophy, but I primarily hunt for the meat! On the other hand if this guy is so hung up on the meat why doesn't he get some does?
At some point in MI deer hunting it became wussy to shoot a doe. And if you kill a doe, you could be killing next year's buck. Keep in mind he hunts one of the most overpopulated counties in MI, which is why he has the opportunity to draw an antlerless tag on public land. He's a nice guy and I will share venison with him if he doesn't kill another buck, but he has the same skewed logic that plagues MI deer hunting. There are some counties with low deer numbers, in which case, taking a buck over a doe makes sense. But most of central and southern MI is overpopulated.
i be mad either way! pretty torn on this one... i guess i'd try and go get a doe with my other tags, and mount the head...
I gotta be honest.....if it was no fault of my own...I don't wouldn't feel bad. I, unlike the hunter in this story, love shooting does and make sure that I have venison in the freezer regardless of what my buck status is.
