why does every deer shot have to be huge?

I laughed when I read your first post calvin! Thats funny. I like your attitude and think you're correct to feel that way.

Those guys that say that crap are the same guys who keep asking their wife if size really matters. Inferiority complex and ego problems. So caught up with 'being a MAN' and 'keeping up with the joneses' that they lose sight of whats good or important. They're glass is as they say, 1/2 empty.
 
I know more than a few "big buck hunters" who haven't killed a deer in years.
After hearing a hundred stories of "letting that little one go" I've concluded that most of them are just lazy or afraid to kill one. :p
It's the hunt that counts. Your boy should be proud. As long as you brag on him, I'll bet the other comments don't matter all that much.
 
good job

from an ecological point of view harvesting the big bucks is better for the population but considering that there are way too many deer to begin with and a trophy buck wasnt the objective thats a good deer. i saw quite a few very small deer get shot this year and a few big ones too. i shot one of each and the little one is way better on the table. some guys only hunt the big ones but those guys eat more beef too nine years out of ten :D. i enjoy givin a guy a run about missing a deer or shooting a bambi that "really did look bigger" but its all in fun and i wouldnt do it to a kid who just shot his first deer especailly if he did it in an ethical manner and was happy with himself.
 
from an ecological point of view harvesting the big bucks is better for the population
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If they're giving out doe tags then you can bet that harvesting does is plenty good for the population. There's a lot of money spent determining what tags to issue each year in each county. There's no way a blanket statement like the one you made can possibly be true in every locale.
 
JohnKsa is right, there is many times where the doe to buck ratio is way to high, and outfitters ect... welcome doe's to be shot, this in tern makes the herd stronger, shooting out young bucks with bad genetics is often the way as well, don't want to mess up the good genetics right, this is proper Deer Management. Here in NH the southern areas have a extended doe season for that reason. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.
 
My recommendation would be to let him run the BBQ the first time you cook any of it(if you already haven't) and then you'll see him just like after he shot it or help him make some jerky out of it and take it to school with him, all his friends will think its the coolest(not to mention best tasting) thing at the time. I remember eating my first deer (a doe) and it was delicious, still to this day any deer I shoot tastes better to me than any gourmet meal. Not to mention if he got a good shot on it just keep bragging on him about how good his shot was.
 
Every shot you take has a story. Any time spent in the woods especially with your son is great. I have a large spike mounted on my wall because it was my first deer killed in my home state of Tennessee and because I was with good friends. I have taken plenty of small does to fill the freezer.

It's not all about the size of the trophy. Congrats to your son.
 
3 words, macho, egotism, ignorant. I hunt N.H. where the deer population is 1 per square mile, guys hunt for a month straight without seeing a deer all season so any deer here is a good deer. I find some guys turn hunting into a macho competiton which is not why I hunt, also it can be dangerous if its the first one to score mentality. I have 3 trophy deer registered in N.H. (deer dressed out over 200lbs) and have shot others as small as 80lbs dressed. my hunting partner got one this year dressed at 55lbs and we didnt rag on him, he put in his time, he hunted hard and safe and he deserved to get a deer. I have seen this mentality, the years I got monsters no one knew except my immediate circle of friends, I dont have to brag and neither do the people I hunt with. I feel that hunting is more than a bragging sport and can belittle the sport especially to the ears of nonhunters. Comments like these hurt the sport and do not influence young ones to take up the sport. You can usually spot the idiots, they have a foot long dressing knife, when I see them in a coffee shop I wait till they leave and watch which direction they go in and I go the opposite direction.
 
I process all our meat myself. My wife decided to start deer hunting 3 years ago and killed a small buck. When I wrapped the meat, I put her name on every package. Every time we had a meal from her deer, I praised her for providing it for us. I think year long congratulations from Dad will more than cancel out those negative comments made by less important (and more stupid) people.

Now this is just me, but I have suspected for years that a lot of those " I passed up" stories we hear from horn hunters just mean they really didn't have a chance to fill a tag at all. Like the joke, what's the Indian word for vegetarian?---Bad hunter!
 
When I hunt I actually avoid the older bucks and go for the younger does or bucks. Got a yearling buck this year that was nice a tender and not gamey at all. (Helped that he was butchered and on ice within 60 minutes of shooting.....got him in the back yard of my father's farm.)

I do hunt purely for meat though. I am not a trophy hunter (though I do harvest and use the antlers in all sorts of projects. My wife loves using the antler buttons I make for her (so simple to make using my drill press and bandsaw).
 
How big is big

I hunt in west central Wisconsin. The group I'm in have been hunting there for over 40 years. We wieght all the deer we get. The average Doe 90 to 105 lbs dressed out. The avergae Buck 110 to 130 lbs. We shot some smaller and some bigger. All of our boys started hunting deer when they were 12 years old. Anything they shot for their first deer was a good hunt. Starting with the second deer we try to get them to see the difference in size of the deer in the woods. This is something that needs to be learned by experience. The more time you spend in the woods the more knowledge you should gain. We all would love to shoot the Big Buck but, that is not reality. I went 33 years before I shot my first buck with a gun and the last 10 years of that I refused to shoot a doe. I wanted a buck gun hunting. I'm very successful bow hunting as far as bucks ar concerned. I just don't see them gun hunting. Was my first Buck a Monster Buck? No but, it was the biggest buck I ever shot with a gun. A safe hunt is a good hunt. The taking of game is secondary.
 
My first deer was a yearling that weighed 68 pounds dressed out. Shot with a 45-70 from about 60 yards. I was happier than all get out! Dang thing tasted awesome too.
 
The taking of does is also an important management tool, which youngsters need to be taught.
This may be one of the reasons fewer young people are getting into hunting, and the shooting sports.
My son's first deer may have spoiled him. He was 14 years old, and I had been invited on a hunt by a vendor (from my work) to a ranch in central Texas. Long story short, my son also got to come. Basically, the feeder went off, the deer came, the rancher pointed out the one to shoot, my son shot, and I video taped the whole thing. While I appreciate the luck in getting to experience this first deer kill with my son, and don't want to take away anything from his experience, I wanted him to understand that this wasn't the same thing as really working for and earning your deer. This season, he hunted with me at my deer lease. We didn't always see deer. He finally killed an 85 pound doe on the last either sex weekend. He was in a stand by himself and did it on his own. He got to experience the nervousness, and "buck fever", and the pressure of making the shot, all on his own. He got to help load it on the four wheeler, and skin it back at camp. He got to get his hands bloody, and even got his face bloodied (initiation). No one at camp made him feel bad about his deer. Killing does is an important part of our management plan. I was very proud of him, and he was as proud of himself for this deer as he was for the big nine-point buck from the ranch hunt. I think he understood the difference; this was "real" hunting.
 
Calvin
You've done a great job, just something to consider if u haven't already is a diary. I purchased our camp and property in 96 and have kept a log at the camp. The log is filled out every night before bed. I always encourage the kids to make their entry for the day, this log has become priceless, first squirel, partridge, and hopefully deer this year for them. The past few years I've been fortunate enough to have fawns come out first. You know the ones that are so tender on the plate. I've chewed on the big ones long enough, mind you if you marinate them long enough there fine, but I still prefer the little ones, congrats to your son on his first harvest.
Seriously consider that log though, you'll be glad, your son will be glad, and perhaps his son, that you did. ;)
Bic
 
People come here to Wyoming to hunt trophy deer and elk. I wait til doe season to even go out most of the time. I like doe and young buck meat better.
 
The only time you'll hear me say 'too small' is if I am hunting a deer management area (some around here, one side has to have 4 points, IIRC), or if my general tag is filled (two Buck tags, one can be used on anything, the other has to have 4 points on one side)

We have a saying. 'If it's brown, it's down', but obviously not refering to the UPS man. Once I have a deer or two down that season, maybe I'll start worrying about size.
 
there is nothing better than doe meat but nothin beats a big buck on your wall :D. me, id be happy to have either. your son shoud be proud to have taken his first deer, no matter what it is.
 
Congratulations on the deer!

You are just dealing with bad manners. Most of the guys who turn up their noses at a doe would shoot a little forkhorn, whose rack could be covered with a teacup to say "I got my buck!"

Trophy hunters are another matter, since a trophy hunter is judged by what HE won't shoot, not by what he does shoot. Most real trophy hunters are delighted to see someone bring in a doe instead of a 2 1/2 year old buck. I have a lot of respect for a guy who figures he will only see a "shootable" deer every three years or so, and is content with his lot.

I shoot the first legal deer I see, usually. Yearling, doe, big, little, it doesn't matter to me, I will lgenerally leave the antlers to those who appreciate them more than me, I just like making a good shot that anchors the deer and doesn't ruin any meat.
 
I'm going to have to go with the general feeling on this one.

I don't go out every year to get a deer/big game animal It is usually every other, every fifth year. I was out in the woods one year with a female elk liscense and an over the counter black bear. Well I'd been meaning to take a bear for years, but since I was principly out for elk, I passed up the bear I came up on the first day. Long story short, 2 weeks in the field and I didn't again get close enough to an elk or a bear to get a good shot off.

Better to take the chance you have than to let it slip away. After all a doe in the freezer is better tasting than an unused tag. Better memory too :) .
 
Some people are fixated on trophy sized animals, envisioning a den with lots of Boone & Crockett type glassy-eyed mounts staring down at them as they sit reading the paper in front a fire while sipping 100-year-old brandy.

Me?

I went for the younger, smaller critters.

Better meat. Not as much, but tastier.
 
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