Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Time To Kill? A Few Thoughts On Hunting

I get LOTS of little bucks that roam through during November. Hardly ever see one more than once. I'm making it a point to not see 2 of them more than once this year.

Spot on.

Been seeing one unicorn buck around and another cow horned spike. They are for the freezer if they show in November.

Points well taken. Management or rather bad management does a lot more harm had done more harm than hunters have ever done.

My reservation might also have a lot to do with the health of the herds where I hunt. In Central O R where I passed on the big buck those three years were we when poaching had severly decimated the herds.

Scott, Always find this subject, and comments interesting,and wonder how many of you have anything to do with herd management? or know anything about herd management?How many of you have hands on experience in herd management on large tracts of land? rio7

Couple of guys posting in this thread would do well to talk less about hunting and maybe actually do some hunting. Passing mature bucks so they can spread their genes and because you "can't eat horns"....GMAFB!

OK, Lets kill all the bucks and bulls then see how much better hunting gets.

My post was about thoughts on the subject not some sort of mandate everyone must follow. I am not a democrat.

I have none, but I'm not a cattleman, just a hunter that isn't interesting in raising livestock to slaughter.

Just wondering if your never going to kill a trophy animal why let them grow. The genes are already there or you wouldnt see the big one you are talking about. The genes are in the young bucks as well. Just my opinion and its worth nothing. ED K

you and gary alt can both GFY

You must be who Rio is talking about.

There's a right time to take a buck. A right time in his season, and right time in his life.

"Mature" is subjective too... A buck that lives to see 3 1/2 around here is pretty old. Because everyone shoots everything with antlers 'because they can'.

Philosophies get a bit different when you actually start trying to improve things. Would it piss you off if you were following proper management techniques only to have the hunter 1/2 mile from you shoot anything with hair on it?

Some get it. And some don't.

I hear you. Imagine the nerve of a guy killing the deer he wants on HIS property. WTF is this country coming to when people think they can do what they want on THEIR property.

Viva Obama!

Steelhead, there was no mention of cattle management in my comments or of raising deer for slaughter, or for antlers, i am happy you are a hunter, and shooter, i have a some time,tell me all you know about deer, shouldn't take long.rio7

I weren't talking about cattle management either, you stupid [bleep].

God put deer on this planet for man to eat. Bucks [bleep] doe. Deer live outdoors and will do what deer do and that's be deer.

Pretty easy really.

I fill the freezer first. I don't shoot spikes. Anything else will do.

After that, I try to take a decent buck, after he has most likely already had the chance to breed.

Sometimes I will take a deer for others to eat....

Yes, it is pretty easy.

That's why most states, even out west where public hunting abounds have put minimum size restrictions on antlered game. And limited the harvest to one animal.

For people that can't regulate themselves.

I started out as a meat hunter but became more of a trophy hunters for a couple decades, though I always did take some meat deer as well. Now I am once again more of a meat hunter, though won�t pass up a good trophy when one appears.

Also have studied game management both in college, and a lot since then. The �kill all the spikes� theory got big play for a number of years, so much that it�s obviously part of the mind-set of many hunters today. But it was disproven years ago, because spike bucks may just be due to poor nutrition their first year, whether because they were late fawns, their mother was young, or weather in general.

Does carry not only fawns that may turn into a trophy, but carry genes that result in big antlers on bucks as well. So killing does and not bucks doesn�t guarantee anything except that the buck you pass up will live a longer. Whether he ends up as a trophy is a matter of chance, and not just from genetics but nutrition, which varies enormously, especially on public land.

Yeah, we can grow big bucks on private land, just like we can grow huge cattle by selecting for genetics, but if we choose to breed bigger-antlered bucks like cattle (as many do in Texas) we may be selecting against other factors that may be even more important for herd survival.

On a personal research note, the idea that mature �trophy� bucks aren�t good eating is generally BS. Big mule deer can be less tasty when worn down by the rut, but I have eaten several exceptions. I�ve yet to kill a big whitetail during any part of the rut that tasted less than good, and some were great.

I am a trophy hunter. Everything I put on the ground and freezer is a trophy for me.

My point being, ask Manlicker when the last time he killed a buck was, any buck, let alone a mature or "trophy" buck. Same with ScottF....

Well put, John.

Yeah the word is getting around about spikes.

Being selective with does is great too. It's just harder to teach folks about what does to cull, and what ones to keep.