I have enjoyed reading every one's view point on this thread. Here is mine. I have mostly been a meat hunter in my life. I have five kids and I am trying to raise them to be good stewards of the outdoors. We hunt mostly to fill our freezers each year. I eat beef and pork so rarely now that it messes up my stomach when I do.
That being said: I shot a Mule Deer buck in Colorado about six years ago that Grossed 190 inches. I was hunting with a buddy from High School and he has permission to hunt some private land. I saw well over 100 deer that week and several fairly nice bucks. When I shot him, he was in a field with at least ten other bucks and probably 30+ does. I took my time and really looked them over. He is the best buck I have ever had a shot at and he completely changed the way that I hunt. I realized that if you don't let the smaller bucks grow, they will never be able to reach their potential. I have shot two bucks since that time, one was a good one that meets my criteria (he was 5.5 years old so a mature buck) and one we really needed the meat. So, here is what I think we could try: When you see a buck out in the field, if you don't say "Holy Cr@p" to yourself, he is not big enough to shoot. I feel that they should in most cases be wider than their ears or almost twice as tall as the height of their ears to be a shooter buck. I don't necessarily want to force quality deer management on everyone, but lets teach it in hunter safety courses and show that it works if you will just wait.
I grew up in Iowa and started hunting for deer at age twelve. I saw one buck that first year at over a half mile away and I had a buck only tag. In the 11 years I hunted in Iowa, I only saw three deer that I would consider a trophy and one my brother had shot and it was on the ground. The other two were over 200 yards away and the old slugs were not worth much past 75 yards. The deer farther north have to have bigger body size to be able to survive the colder winters and this I feel also adds to them having larger antlers. The Texas deer population has been polluted with large deer purchased from Northern stock that helps them get bigger. I have a very good friend back in Iowa that is a deer breeder and he has sold a lot of deer to Texas. They also have a lot of high quality food up there that is grown in some of the best soil in the world. One other factor that helps is that people cannot take 300+ yard shots with a shotgun shooting slugs like you can with a rifle.
I have hunted for deer almost every year since in whatever state I was living in at the time. I really enjoy hunting deer here in Oklahoma and I encourage my kids to take does to fill the freezer and if they want to take a buck, I would prefer they take one bigger than the one they got last year. I try to teach them that each is a trophy no matter what, but that we want to improve over time (as with all parts of our lives). Kids are a bit different for me than adults and so don't mind if they take a few smaller bucks to get the taste for the hunt and get a sense of accomplishment.
Like all things, if we show people through education that a certain way is better, most of them will see the light and try to follow it. I will leave you with this thought: Ask any meat hunter you know this question, "If a six point basket rack buck walks out in front of you at 40 yards and stands broad side quickly followed by a monster 12 point at 50 yards that stops broad side; which one will you shoot?" We all know the answer to this question. We all would love to shoot a trophy deer some day and if we start letting the little bucks go, we might get to shoot one sooner than we think. Just my 2 cents. Here is a parting shot that everyone will hate: Let's stop all buck harvest for one or two years and see what everyone thinks the year after they open it back up. Would not bother me one bit.
Merry Christmas everyone! Get out and spend some time in the great outdoors with your family or friends or even alone.
That being said: I shot a Mule Deer buck in Colorado about six years ago that Grossed 190 inches. I was hunting with a buddy from High School and he has permission to hunt some private land. I saw well over 100 deer that week and several fairly nice bucks. When I shot him, he was in a field with at least ten other bucks and probably 30+ does. I took my time and really looked them over. He is the best buck I have ever had a shot at and he completely changed the way that I hunt. I realized that if you don't let the smaller bucks grow, they will never be able to reach their potential. I have shot two bucks since that time, one was a good one that meets my criteria (he was 5.5 years old so a mature buck) and one we really needed the meat. So, here is what I think we could try: When you see a buck out in the field, if you don't say "Holy Cr@p" to yourself, he is not big enough to shoot. I feel that they should in most cases be wider than their ears or almost twice as tall as the height of their ears to be a shooter buck. I don't necessarily want to force quality deer management on everyone, but lets teach it in hunter safety courses and show that it works if you will just wait.
I grew up in Iowa and started hunting for deer at age twelve. I saw one buck that first year at over a half mile away and I had a buck only tag. In the 11 years I hunted in Iowa, I only saw three deer that I would consider a trophy and one my brother had shot and it was on the ground. The other two were over 200 yards away and the old slugs were not worth much past 75 yards. The deer farther north have to have bigger body size to be able to survive the colder winters and this I feel also adds to them having larger antlers. The Texas deer population has been polluted with large deer purchased from Northern stock that helps them get bigger. I have a very good friend back in Iowa that is a deer breeder and he has sold a lot of deer to Texas. They also have a lot of high quality food up there that is grown in some of the best soil in the world. One other factor that helps is that people cannot take 300+ yard shots with a shotgun shooting slugs like you can with a rifle.
I have hunted for deer almost every year since in whatever state I was living in at the time. I really enjoy hunting deer here in Oklahoma and I encourage my kids to take does to fill the freezer and if they want to take a buck, I would prefer they take one bigger than the one they got last year. I try to teach them that each is a trophy no matter what, but that we want to improve over time (as with all parts of our lives). Kids are a bit different for me than adults and so don't mind if they take a few smaller bucks to get the taste for the hunt and get a sense of accomplishment.
Like all things, if we show people through education that a certain way is better, most of them will see the light and try to follow it. I will leave you with this thought: Ask any meat hunter you know this question, "If a six point basket rack buck walks out in front of you at 40 yards and stands broad side quickly followed by a monster 12 point at 50 yards that stops broad side; which one will you shoot?" We all know the answer to this question. We all would love to shoot a trophy deer some day and if we start letting the little bucks go, we might get to shoot one sooner than we think. Just my 2 cents. Here is a parting shot that everyone will hate: Let's stop all buck harvest for one or two years and see what everyone thinks the year after they open it back up. Would not bother me one bit.
Merry Christmas everyone! Get out and spend some time in the great outdoors with your family or friends or even alone.
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