Any good reason for not shooting???

J

jimbo_4

New member
I have not seen much so far this bow season, nothing I could have shot at, until this evening. I had a doe come in, within 15 yds, and right behind her, a button buck. The button I would not have shot, but the doe, I had a few good opportunities, but never acted on one! I'm not sure why, I'm assuming either was because she still had the younger deer in tow, or I just didn't want to tell my friends..." check out my mid size doe". Either way I didn't shoot, and I could have been meat in the freezer. Maybe there's a good reason I held fire, if so, tell me. I think I just didn't want to bother for a doe though, I could be having venison jerky in a couple weeks if only I had pulled the release! :mad:
 
well since we have such a liberal limit and I ain't in it to show off wall hanger deer I have only one reason not to shoot... well 2... First rule I have is not to intentionally take a momma from a fawn who may not survive the loss and the second is a laziness call. If I am a far piece from the truck and it has been a long day I will let a big deer walk!
I am in it to put meat in the freezer.
Brent
 
hey lets face it, taking a deer can be alot of trouble. Gotta gut it, get it to the truck, get it to the processor, go back and get the meat, get it in the freezer.........its not like taking a deer is a good economic move, youd go broke trying to harvest deer for food when u factor in time and equip. You are prob just at that point in your hunting life where either you are really hankering for some deer meat, or you really want a decent buck.
 
I'm with hogdogs to a point. Does here tend to stick together and a "smaller" doe may not be her fawn at all also if the spots are gone they're old enough to make it on their own without momma. A young doe will be some of the best venison that you have ever tasted.
 
We get two and that's it. I have two tags, one for anything, and the other for an antler-less, or an antlered, with one side have at least 4 points on one side. I think this little button buck could have survived, he was about 1 1/2 or so. Although the area is pretty heavy with yotes, I'll be out there all weekend, and gun season starts in two weeks and that's when the season craps out. So I have two weeks to make it count realistically, or till Jan 1st when the season closes officially. Just a little disgusted with myself for not taking her, wasn't that far back either, maybe 500 yds or so.
 
scotty, I am in the small group of el' cheapo hunters.
My license and wma permit are under a hundred bucks. My guns include a mossberg 500 20 gauge I bought in the 80's and I traded my junk wore out lorcin .380 to own a Marlin .30-30 and a Maverick 88 12 gauge.
I drive less than 12 miles to the wma to use the cheapest ammo from walmart at WELL UNDER a dollar per shot. I do all my own butchering duty with kitchen knife drawer implements and my grinder is several years old manual...
So the way I look at it my first deer of season is under $2.00 per pound and it goes way on down after 3 to just a few cents per pound. The folks that allow me to top off their freezer pay the light bill on their freezer as I tell them to eat what they want just leave me some. So all in all I am in it to eat cheap... we could literally bag 180+ deer legally not that I could outsmart that many...
I know of many friends that will never be UNDER $1,000 per pound for their venison!
Brent
 
You're saying that the two were 500 yds. apart? That doe would be in my freezer. Momma doesn't let her kids roam that far especially in 'yote country.
 
I think he means he was only 500 from the truck so yeah that too would have been a dead deer in mine too! To me a any deer with horns is old enuff to live on his own so long as he ain't polka dotted!

Brent
 
Your standards are higher. In my relative youth, I was all about filling the tag. Now, I'm selective. It has to be nearing the end of the season or I've burned out on sitting in a tree stand for me to take something less than what I hoped for. Given enough time, the extra big sway belly, long faced old doe will get there. No regrets about passing on the others.
 
Yeah that would shoot the whole cheap meat idea all to heck! Let's keep an eye on the gas prices! I have the VERY LARGE Eglin AFB wma at my disposal and just a few minutes from my house is one of the least hunted quadrants of the place. By end of december I should have a good handle on the topo and traffic if you wanna come across! No extra bedrooms but an inflatable matress will fit in here so no need for gettin' a 'tel or buyin eats!
Brent
 
I'm with hdogs and swampy. Outside license, permits and consumables I'm in it for the meat and the opportunity to commune with nature. I butcher myself. I'll average around 150 lbs a year of venison and a hog a year that I keep. I'd put my cost per pound under a dollar now that I have a pretty good set of equipment. Cost figuring in equipment would be about $2-$3 a pound over the last decade. Not too bad compared to supermarket prices. I've been lucky to have family property to hunt for free.

I'll take a doe over a buck 9 out of 10 times.
 
I have a real problem, I tend to name the ugly stumpy legged spike bucks - one I call Boo-Boo, stupidest deer on the planet. I cant bring myself to shoot him since i figure he doesnt have long, car bumper or yote, which will it be?!!:D
 
You likely didn't shoot due to the "peer pressure" factor...too many folks nowdays think they have to take a trophy to feel proud or to somehow justify it to their friends. I have gravitated towards getting some meat in the freezer as I get older - those who say "wait for the right one" don't realize how fast bow season turns into winter time up here, not to mention that a frenetic gun season is coming up fast! (I'm in WI - I know your conditions!). I have waited in the past, and yes have generally gotten something, but December is for hard-core bowhunters up here! Just ask yourself why you're out there - if its important to get a "trophy", then wait for it and be willing to miss out. If you enjoy venison like I do, get one or so in the freezer before you get choosy. Any deer taken cleanly with a bow is one to be proud of, don't think for a minute you need a Pope&Young buck to feel good about your hunt! And PS...don't worry, if you didn't blow 'em outta there, they'll be back!
 
or I just didn't want to tell my friends..." check out my mid size doe".
Click to expand...

Sounds like you are after bragging rights to me. If you are only in it for the trophy, that's fine with me, but my response to my friends would have been "Check out my tasty mid-size doe!" Nothing eats better.
 
I won't shoot a doe with a fawn, call me a wimp, it makes me sad to think of a little 6 month old deer watching it's mommy die.
 
Way too much Disney in some of those replies.

Button buck = 1 1/2 year old? I don't think so.

mid-sized doe= tasty vittles.

take to the processor = not the only choice.

Thanks for not shooting her. From all of us venison lovers who will be more than happy to put her on the dinner table. You could/should be smelling it cooking right now. Don't let peer pressure determine your actions.
 
Reminds me of a story. One year, I was getting skunked, but good. Very few opportunities, and the ones I had were marginal at best. Last day of the season came, and it was a cold one. I walked in not more than 200 yds from the road and sat under a huge pine. If it's brown it's down I promised myself.

Wasn't sitting more than two minutes when a huge doe walks right up to me (20 paces) and just stares. While she is looking at me, I bring my ML up 1/2 millimeter at a time. Took a full five minutes to get it shouldered, all the while, she is just staring at me and I'm sweating bullets that I'm gonna get busted. Finally, she turns to walk away, but I don't pull the trigger. Instead, I reach for my call and grunt. She turns and comes back even closer. I'm thinkin', I've got my freezer full, now. But again I wait. She turns to leave and again I grunt her back in. We continue to play this game for another 20 minutes. Finally, after becoming such good buddies in such a short time, and having been rewarded enough for my hunt, I let her go on her way. Freezer went empty that year, but I've never regretted my decision. Wife was ****** though!:)
 
I shot a button buck with my front end loader and just finished boning a fat A$$ doe I shot with the bow yesterday. She had fat 2" thick in some spots which tells me that it is going to be a bad winter, and that small deer may not survive. Little bucks are run off the first rut, and don't get back to mama until the rut is over. By then they may not be accepted back because mama is pregnant and needs to put on weight to feed the one in the oven. A fat button buck or small spike are the first horns I shoot. I like venison, and if the doe isn't nursing a fawn, I stick her.
 
Seems like a terminology thing. To me, "button buck" means almost no horns at all, which to me means a yearling who's lost his spots but isn't more than maybe six or seven months old. Our bunch of hunters, we referred to those as "camp meat": A little spike buck shot in the neck for eating at camp. Probably dress out no more than thirty or forty pounds.

Generally, when I was doe hunting in my herd reduction efforts back at the old family ranch, I'd watch a group of does and usually shoot one that didn't have any fawn around. But, once fawns have lost their spots they've weaned off of Mama Milk and do okay on their own, traipsing along with the rest of the bunch...
 
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