Ryan, you are one of my favorits on this site ... if you read my original post, I stated that we ALL love to shoot deer .... my question was simply, which side do you lean more towards ... you lean more towards the meat ... you shot an awesome buck last year .... I realize that would be the choice for MOST if not ALL guys .... If I could shoot 6 monster bucks instead of 6 doe, I would .... I hope I am making sense .
OK PT. I get what you are saying, I just think differently than most. :D (there's a shock) I suppose my official anwer would be that I'd rather shoot several does over 1 nice buck....unless I went too many years without shooting a nice buck Then it would be about the horns.
OK Jeff .... let's say you do live there.... it's the last day of the season, you have not shot ANYTHING because you got tonyitis :D, and you are in the last few hours of light .... a 60" 8 pointer comes by .. he is all alone .... you have no venison in the freezer ....do you let him go or put him in the freezer?
LOL me too. Heck, I probably shot that deer during ML antlered season or during firearms. I hunt with bow only and consider ML and firearms bucks "freebies".
I can't compartmentalize these things very well.It's easier with my Idaho hunt.A rifle hunt for ten days in mid November every year.I am looking for a mountable buck.We do have afriend that lives close to where we hunt and the deer we shoot do represent a significant part of his diet for the remainder of the year.So meat is a consideration.Fortunately at least a couple of us normally take a nice buck. At home in New York I am a buck hunter first and a meat hunter second,and a buck isn't going to get shot unless it is going on the wall.I havn't shot a buck in the last two years at home.I have shot several doe's. Trying to kill a good buck is more important to me.
I hunt primarily for the meat, but i do pass on small bucks. I'd have to limit myself to something in the 1-teens (for my area)
I am a meat hunter and opportunist. I am hunting for a mature buck, but will readily drill a doe at the right time, as well as a 2.5 year old buck that meets my standards. I hunt hard and want some payback, so meat it is! Anytime I have strayed from being a hunter, to just hunting for antlers, I have left the hunting season feeling void. I tried it whole-heartedly in 2005, utilizing the big buck or bust mentality. I passed does and small bucks all season, just in case mr. big was around the corner. Never again.
I have to admit, when I'm daydreaming about bowhunting or even real dreaming about bowhunting it is thoughts of long tines and sweeping main beams going through my head. Granted the thought of a freezer full of backstraps, chops, steaks, bologna, ground, and deer sticks makes my tummy grumble and my mouth water, but I love hunting bucks.
Again Bry, I understand the ultimate scenario .... everytime I go out ... but the question was when push comes to shove..
Antlers....and not small ones. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of venison. I'll eat it and do like it, but there are other things I would rather eat. Now, don't get me wrong, I will kill does, but mainly just for the sport of it and give the meat to someone else.
Meat in the freezer if i happen to get some antlers with the kill great if not oh well my family has food on the table................. So its meat for me
Preach if it comes to a point I need to shoot anything to eat, I have other issues to be dealing with.
