Good deal- just didn't want this thread turn into an age topic thread. We've got some good discussion going on thanks to Steve's original question.
If I was hunting my buddies property that I compete with every year, I'd stick him fer sure.... wouldn't want to leave him for my buddy next year...and I'd swear to the almighty I thought it was a doe.... But if it was on my place I would pass. SB
Absolutely not,I'd let him walk, Dec 20th this past season I had a very big bodied buck that I am pretty sure which buck it was, or at least one of the two bucks I was after. He was fully shed, I had him at 12-15 yards broadside, as soon as I saw those big red spots on his head as he came down the snowed in trail, I decided I'd just watch him as he came past I decided to draw on him for practice. I drew, he stopped, it was really cold and quiet out, I was up in ponderosa pine tree with great background cover. He still heard my clothing (very cold out)and he looked up and froze himself, stood for about 3 seconds, then took two bounds and stopped again and looked back out at about 30-35 yards..for a few more seconds then put his tail up and trotted off into the timber. I've always felt if they shed before I can kill them, they get a pass till next year.
http://www.teamoverkill.net/id2.html I just looked....and on second look, it doesn't appear to look like you after all. At a quick glance, I thought it might have been you. I think it was around the 25 second mark.
I see absolutely no reason that I would kill that buck,a buck has to be really old before his horns start decreasing in size. You can't expect 4.5 year old bucks if you kill them at 3.5.
Steve, I could not do it. I like the idea of killing a mature Buck knowing that you out smarted him in his own living room, but the Antlers is a big part of the equasion for me. If it had shed its Rack, his belly was dragging the ground, his back looked like it was going to break from the sway in it, his teeth were all but gone, and he had an AARP card in his back pocket,,,I still would not shoot it unless it had head gear. But thats just me,,,give me antler :d
I would pass on the deer and hope to see him next season. I enjoy hunting much more than killing deer and like to keep my racks as a momento to the hard work I put in. Killing this deer could rob me or someone else from having the horns on the wall and meat in the freezer next year. In this scenario I let him walk and wait for a doe. I passed on a beautiful 115" deer that had no brow tines this year in the late season because he wasn't ready for the wall and needed to grow. He was 3 1/2 and I enjoyed knowing I could kill him and beat him but let him grow another year wiser. I don't need the kill to know that I succeeded in many of my hunts.
My theory is, those bucks that make it to 3.5 have a chance to be something really special the next year. I'm not going to shoot. But then I've even passed mature bucks with really busted up racks to - which is even taking it a step further.... Just my personal preference....
The two bolded statements fit me pretty well too. A buck 3.5+ is pretty rare in my area and I'm apparently not very good at finding them in the daylight. So until that changes, I'll hunt for age more than the antlers. I respect everyone's decision either way and not everyone's situation is the same.
Jeff, I respect your stance, that is something that alot of guys couldn't do as they are too attracted to the rack. I do have a question though... If you have such an encounter, havn't you already "won"? Would you rather let the deer walk knowing that you already had that buck dead to rights and hope to have an encounter with him the following season when he has his headgear? For me, I would personally think that I would rather have him along with the antlers so I could have a mount done and have great pictures for my memories. If I shot him as an antlerless buck, I wouldn't have a mount, and I wouldn't have the great photos to share with everyone, just another antlerless deer, the meat would be go in the freezer and a photo would be taken, but that is where it would end.
You should see how lopsided the poll on HNI Is Jeff!! I was shocked with the responses I got over there. I've heard time and time again that Inches don't mean much and age does but yet they won't shoot a mature buck without antlers according to the replys and poll. Don't make sense to me If your all about the age thing. Interesting none the less though. Thanks for the replys everyone!!
I get where your coming from Jeff and it isn't that I would call him "just another antlerless deer", but in the end, your left with just that. You don't have the rack to do a mount, your pictures don't have antlers. I know to you the antlers don't mean as much as age and that is cool, but wouldn't it be "better" if you were able to harvest that same buck the following year with his antlers attached? That would be a far stretch around the area I hunt, but it is a possability. There really is no wrong or right answer to the question, I can say for me that the antlers mean too much for me to take that deer. I want those antlers to go on a mount on my wall so I can look at that buck and remember my accomplishment. Different strokes for different folks. Hell, my grandfather has a box of antlers in his basement that is just loaded with the antlers off the bucks he has shot, some big, some small, and they don't mean a thing to him, neither did the age of the deer he shot, he was out for one thing and that was meat, the first legal deer that came in that he had a tag for was hitting the ground.
Same here. I would not shoot. I hunt for mature bucks with racks. I've shot enough deer in my life, including mature bucks, that I don't have to kill one to make for an enjoyable season. I've had plenty of seasons without killing a mature buck. Even a couple of seasons without killing a deer period! Those hurt! However, I survived and hunted even harder the following season. Never been skunked two years in a row (fingers crossed). Plain and simple..... I like my bucks to have their racks intact. I have passed several bucks that were at least 3 1/2 because their racks were busted up. Heck, for the last several seasons I have passed bucks with intact racks that would make P&Y hoping for a bigger one. So passing one that has shed is an easy decision for me.
Steve it is kinda like you traveling all the way to Canada to hunt and when you get there you have forgotten your string to your recurve and have to use the guides compound if you want to hunt?? Seeing your all the way there you most likely would buyt it just wouldn't be the same!! Walt
Lol!! Good analogy Walt!!:d I understand why people who are more about the rack then age who wouldn't shoot this buck (I'm one of them). I guess the folks who put more emphasis on the age thing were the big shockers to me. GMMAT (Jeff) owned up to It and said he'd shoot regardless, I expected him to say that being he's always preached that. At least Jeff stuck to his guns on this, most others who think the same way didn't. Kudo's to you Jeff for sticking to your word!
I would rather find his sheds and eat tag soup than shoot a buck w/o head gear. I'm not a trophy hunter by any stretch of the immagination. But for me to burn a buck tag, there's going to be at least some visable antler.
No dilemma for me. If I have an empty freezer I shoot, if I have 1 deer in the freezer I shoot, if I have 2 deer in the freezer I think about it and then shoot.
I don't know about your state but if his antlers fall off he is now considered antlerless. And anyway that late in the season who cares about what kind of tag you burn?
