Success rate? How often do you eat your buck tag?

Just curious how often you guys eat your buck tag.

Since we started passing smaller bucks on our old farm (2001 I believe), I ate tags in 01', 03', 04', and 05'. In 06' I shot a buck that I really wish I would have passed (itchy trigger finger), and last year I shot a 2.5 y/o that I honestly thought was 3.5 when I shot him. I am making a commitment to myself to not shoot at anything in 08' unless it's 3.5 y/o or older. They are few and far inbetween on the properties I hunt, but I know they are there and average 1-2 encounters with them per year........it's just going to take more time on stand and a bit more patience to close the deal.

In the regions of the country I hunt, I honestly don't know anyone that consistently tags a 3.5+ y/o or better buck every year (gun or bow). I'd think a 75% success rate on 3.5+'s would be simply outstanding in the PA/NY area (regardless of weapon) because of the age structure of our herds. Even with a gun, I've only taken 2x 3.5 y/o deer in my life, none with a bow. With that said, I'm preparing myself to start eating buck tags again, it's been a few years and I know I'm not going to get on better bucks without eating some tags in the process.

I'm curious to know how often others eat there tag. I've often wondered the guys that have had success on mature bucks, how often you come up empty handed in the process.


Whats your success rate on 3.5+ y/o deer over let's say a 10 year period?

 

Matt, I'm not going to be able to contribute much to this conversation for I really am just getting started hunting hard and taking it as my primary hobby. Before I had a much different mindset going into the woods.

Wanting to hunt with a bow so bad is probably going to push me to want to bag my first archery buck this year, but I gotta keep things in perspective as well. I know I have some 3.5 y/o deer in places I hunt, I have to remain selective.

I have told Mobow among others, my goal this year is to wack a nanny and get my first bow kill period out of the way. Then, from there, just hunt. If some of the bucks I saw last year start to show up within range, I won't be eatin' a tag due to immaturity.

Really, what you are trying to do I would like to adopt myself and remain diligent to pursue this goal of only killing 3.5 y/o +

If I go that route and have this mindset, I think I might be okay eatin' some tags.

To add to this, the only bucks I have killed in my life have been immature deer....with a shotgun nonetheless.

 

I've eaten my buck tag twice. One of them came last year! So it's about an 80% success ratio.

 

I ate my tag for 3-4 years in a row before connecting again in 2006. That year I was fortunate enough to take two bucks here in IL. Last year I took one nice buck and did not fill my 2nd tag. I wouldn't exactly consider that "eating" my tag as it was my 2nd. However, I did shoot and lose a very nice buck in early October last fall, which is much worse than eating that 2nd tag. :mad1:

 

I ate my tag for 3-4 years in a row before connecting again in 2006. That year I was fortunate enough to take two bucks here in IL. Last year I took one nice buck and did not fill my 2nd tag. I wouldn't exactly consider that "eating" my tag as it was my 2nd. However, I did shoot and lose a very nice buck in early October last fall, which is much worse than eating that 2nd tag. :mad1:

 

2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 I ate my tag (In Minnesota), but passed up on MANY bucks that were 2.5 or younger

This year, I think our management for our farm will pay off. And started to, last year, when my cousin shot a 150" 10pt (Biggest taken on our farm)

 

I ate both either sex tags my first 3 seasons of Bowhunting.Last year I ate my buck tag I missed two 130"ers.

 

I killed in 2002,2003 and then ate tag soup in 2004, 2005 and killed again in 2006 and ate tag soup in 2007. Like Justin, I lost a good buck in early 2007 and that just set a bad tone for the rest of the season for me.

I'm due again this year with plenty of good properties to hunt! I'll not be too picky with the longbow, so I expect to fling some arrows!

 

For many years I didn't pass on bucks.
Since 2000 is when I started upping my standards. At first they weren't too high and I still scored each year. The past 3-4 years they've been fairly high. Last season was the 1st in 10 years that I did not shoot a buck.
I would say another 3-4 years is needed before I could give any meaningful number.

 

I have never released an arrow at a buck before. So ive ate every tag thus far. I, like many others, have been patiently waiting for the older/bigger deer to pass by that strikes my fancy. I have passed countless <2.5yo bucks. I know what I want as my first buck with a bow, and I wont settle for something less.

 

I have a drawer full of them since moving here. This place has mostly Jack Pines, sand for soil, and unbelievable hunting pressure, so it lacks every thing a buck needs to meet my standards to have mounted. I have killed 3 good ones and one ugly old 6pt cull in the last 11 seasons, have also taken a few does back befor they had the big slaughter, now you cant pay me to shoot one.

 

I have eaten my buck tag many, many times and I will continue to do so until the right buck walks in front of me. I am very disciplined in what size of buck I'll shoot.

In bols case I wouldn't care what walked in front of me. He/she/it would be getting an arrow!! Get er done Bols and good luck with that 1st bow kill!!

 

I dont want to jinx myself but Ive pretty lucky in my years of bowhunting. Back in the early 80s I didnt pass on much, I even took some spikes, and I wouldnt trade any of it. I have eaten tag soup over the years, but not much early on. Im 43 now, and started passing on bucks a years back in hopes of having better opportunities at better bucks. Now the quality of bucks the past few years has been noticeably better. I was QDMA when QDMA wasnt cool : )

 

I've eaten quite a few of them myself. I won't put anything on the ground unless it's mature and scores more than my 123 5/8 on the wall, or is something of a freak. That being said, I passed on a little 3 antlered buck a couple years ago, hoping to see him again when he "grew up," and the only couple of encounters I had with him after that were distant, he still wasn't very big, but it was neat seeing a deer with 2 antlers on the right side, one a long "cowhorn," the other a typical little basket 3pt of a 1.5 yr old deer. I think that when we eat tags, in many ways it matures us as hunters a little more, and allows us to to study deer behavior more and learn more about them when we decide we have no intentions of killing anything in the many various encounters the we all experience where our bow never leaves it's hanger.

I know that once I stopped thinking I had to kill everything I could put a tag on, I started LEARNING a lot more about deer and deer hunting.

 

I ate a tag last year but never really got on a shooter. I believe to much access to the private last year attributed to this both on mine and my parents.
As for years past yes I have ate tag soup also.

 

2007 was the first time in 6 years that I didn't kill a buck with my bow. I had a 140+ inch buck come by me my first sit at some new property. Never gave me a shot, and i was holding out for that buck the rest of the season. He never came back. I did pass 2 that were decent 2 1/2 yo's from the same stand last year. I'm hoping that they made it through gun season. I won't shoot a runt this year, but I will shoot the first decent buck I see. I maybe in the minority, but killing something IS a big part of the hunt for me. I saw all of about 5 does in range all last year....my areas aren't overly populated with does or I would pop a few of them for the freezer.

 

I struck out on '03 and '04 on bucks. Killed plenty of does but no bucks.

Before 2003 I hunted 125 acres of woods by myself. That year 4 more people were hunting it. The farmer wanted more deer killed. They were hammering his crops. We killed 1 less deer then I had kiled the year before. Non hunters think the more people you have hunting a place the more deer you kill. It didn't work out that way here. The deer got too much pressure and relocated.

I had to learn how to hunt that woods all over again. With the extra hunters in there my spots were no good any longer. Too much pressure. Now I let the other guys pick their spots and I hunt as far away from them as I can. It's worked the last 3 years.

 

I have been hunting for big bucks since 2000 I ate two tags here in Michigan then started hunting Illinois in 2003 and have only ate 1 tag there and that was 2004 but I shot my biggest Michigan buck that year. So I guess two in Michigan and 1 in Illinois 7 years.. Walt

 

I average every other year most of the time but i have went three to four years eating tag soup after we started our lease in an attemt to get some big boys on the property that previously got hammered HARD from hunters. It worked tremindiously.

 

First and last was in 05. He was 126", I've let many other smaller ones walk since then!