Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Virginia boys question

What’s your thoughts on earn a buck program

I don't hunt very often in an EAB county. Seems with the check in system we have with the app or phone, there's really no way to be accurate with the harvest numbers. Example: guy is a true trophy hunter, kills a buck, checks in a buck and a doe. Next morning he can legally kill another buck. Checks buck and a doe. And now he can take a 3rd buck (depending on county) without ever taking a doe. So he has checked in harvesting almost twice as many as he has taken, killed 3 checked 5.
I've talked to a few people in the EAB counties, they say it's a joke and haven't really seen a decrease in the numbers of deer. I haven't really seen a difference in the antler restriction counties either. Just my take. Neither one really affects me. I enjoy watching more than shooting. I try to take 3+ does and a mature buck each year. I get most of my meat supply on damage tags. And give most of the meat away during regular season.

R.D.

Not VA, but next door in WV. Like VA, we have a version of Earn-a-Buck in some counties that lets us shoot one buck, then requires us to shoot an antlerless before we shoot any more bucks. Doesn’t bother me, just requires a little discipline if you want to be able to shoot Ol’ Hank when you see him. In 2016, I was hunting a farm in Clarke County, VA and killed a freaky-antlered buck with my ML. Two days later, I was in the same stand and had three bucks, including Hank, in front of me and had to pass because I hadn’t killed a doe. No big deal. I took two does off that farm during the firearms season, but never saw Hank again.

Clarke County has so many deer they open the doe season on private land on about the 1st of September, a month early, to try and weed them down. Gotta remember that hunting is about managing the deer, not just killing bucks. In general, I think they do a pretty good job in both states. I killed my doe during our early antlerless season so if I kill a buck next week in the rifle season, I can still shoot one in the ML season and/or the Mountaineer Heritage season in January. We have a three-buck per year limit, all seasons combined. I think that’s plenty.

Some states, I believe, make you shoot a doe before ANY bucks. That’s real Earn-a-Buck! Could be tough some years. Still, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Virginia uses a phone call in system to check your deer. Since you can kill two deer per day what appears to happen in EAB counties is after shooting the first buck hunters call in a doe kill later in the day to get the EAB out of the way. This allows them to continue hunting for a larger buck.

This system gives the DWR poor harvest information and does not accomplish the herd reduction the EAB program was intended to provide.

The only way to get that accurate data and accomplish the herd reduction would be to return to physical checking, and no one wants that. It’s expensive and can be gamed as well, just not as easily. Some are going to cheat, but there have always been cheaters who didn’t check their deer so they can shoot another one. I expect the EAB, while far from perfect or foolproof, is getting more does killed, and maybe allowing some younger bucks to grow a bit, which are the goals, and I doubt that the F&G folks ever expected perfection in the first place.

This^^^^
But it's[EAB] needed in some areas and hopefully enough honest hunters do it right.

From my understanding the state owns the deer but what if your hunting near another state and the deer crosses into that state which one owns the deer??

Good question
Would seem to me as long as you had blood where you shot him at you’d be good to go
But I’m sure as you probably are too you’d have to leave your shooting iron behind .
So I guess it might be of best interest to get a game officer involved
Even if it ain’t the answer you want
It’s still better than the cost of getting caught .
Kenneth

Agreed. I'm good with it myself, but I'm fortunate to have access to a couple of places where getting a doe or three for the freezer isn't a problem.

Horns are nice, if they are big. But I've killed enough bucks that only something bigger is interesting.

Meat hunting is where I'm at. Nice bucks are targets of opportunity, I'm looking for steak and burger for the year.

Just can't imagine unlimited does, and not killing enough of them to be able to shoot any worthwhile buck.

After the steak and burger is met, there is jerky and baloney to make.


Can you get a buck tag for previous doe kills?
Kill a few as early as possible, get credit for buck tags later?
That might help the situation.
Guys wouldn't have to mess with does when the rut is on, and they are focused on killing something to pump the ego and show on social media.

We get 2 buck/either sex and 3 doe/antlerless tags on initial license[or landowner exempt], then you can purchase more antlerless tags west of the Blue Ridge.
East gets one more either sex.
I'm right next to a CWD zone and hunt some prop that is in the zone, basically all the doe you can or want to kill there through March.

2 does =2 bucks