Second legitimate bow season. Never taken a white tail with a bow, but shot one doe with a shotgun. You have seen an 8, 6, and 4 point on the camera. opening day the 4 point walks under your stand. what do YOU do?
Wait for the 8 pt if it was me. If I was you... shot the 4 pt if it makes you happy. The only one you need to please is yourself. Tim
Yeah i hear ya. The 8pt is a nice deer, but a first buck is a first buck regardless of its score. hmmm I guess we will see when the time comes...
Whatever makes you happy really ....whatever you draw back on your heart will be racing that's a promise
Get whatever you have the best shot on first. You'd be kicking yourself if you missed a 4 or 6 point just to kill an 8 point later on and another hunter killed it/mountain lion killed it or something.
As the others have said....shoot what makes YOU happy. I passed on several small bucks until I shot my first one in my fourth season. Didn't want to shoot a buck just because it was a buck. This one isn't a giant but when I saw him I knew he was the one. Good luck !
I would drop the hammer on the first opportunity I was blessed to receive. Doe, 3 point, 6, does not matter.
I was like Rob in my first two years of bowhunting. I took two does and had multiple opportunities at small 6 and 4's. I too didn't want to take a buck just because it had antlers and was a buck. I waited and was blessed with a shot this year at a 170 class buck. Granted, that is not the norm and might not ever happen again but I still waited for what I thought was a shooter buck. Either way, you should not be worried about the size or amount of points. If you like the deer when you see him out in the field then take him or her. You will never forget your first archery harvest!!! It is an amazing sense of accomplishment. Good luck and get after it!!!
I am in the same situation. I have an 8 pointer that has at least a 20" spread that I am waiting to see how turns out. I have a pretty large 6 point that is almost and might actually be the same width as the 8 and we have a lot of little guys running around here. I took two last year. One with a 30-30 and the other with a slug. If it were me in that situation and verry well could be, I would wait. My thought is, that little guy has to get older to become a big guy. The more little guys that are around the more big guys there will be in the area for later. Now if its a doe come opening day, Shes getting the shaft.
If i were in your shoes I wouldn't shout, but then again in arkansas there is a 3 point rule. Bucks must have 3 points on one side to be legal. I would however sling one at a doe or six if it gave me a shot. And to be honest I probably will take the first legal one that walks by this year. Got my bow in march and need to get a little blood on it. Then from that point I am horn hunting. I say get the monkey off your back.
I agree but, last season there were 3 really small guys taken. Two by my brother who took a very small and I mean really small as in 12" high and a spread of only about 10" at the widest 6 point and a 4 point close to the same size. I mistakingly took a spike for a large doe last season. 100yd out, no contacts and using a 12 gage slug with only a brass ball. Had I took the time to glass him first I would have passed on him. I just don't want to hurt my herd by taking out to many small guys. I am gunning for the big 8 point this season and does. We have so many doe's the bucks don't have to move much to get to them durring rut. I feel like my brothers 6 point from last season would have been a monster in 3 years. I don't think he was more than a 1-1/2. The 4 point probably would have been too. I think the spike I harvested had potential also. The base of his spikes were around 1-1/2" wide and they were 8" high. I plan on hunting for a long time to come and I hope my sons do as well when they are older. I would really like to have some monsters running around here when they start hunting with me. We have plenty of doe's to harvest in the mean time.
Shoot what makes you happy. At the end of the day you have nobody to impress and make happy but yourself.
I would kill a couple doe's over taking a smaller buck. I would stick it out for a 2 1/2 year old. Maybe that 8 or 6 that you speak of.
