What do you do?

[Guest adamoxtwo]

Everyone I talk to has a different approach to the first deer they drag out of the woods. Just want to see everyone's opinion on what they prefer. Is it a Buck, Doe, size or just meat in the freezer?

[roverboy]

I think your talking about the first deer of the season. Right? I usually won't shoot a buck unless it looks at least 3 1/2 yrs. old. If I need a meat deer, I will try to get a good sized doe and try and make sure its not a button buck.

[Guest adamoxtwo]

I think your talking about the first deer of the season. Right? I usually won't shoot a buck unless it looks at least 3 1/2 yrs. old. If I need a meat deer, I will try to get a good sized doe and try and make sure its not a button buck.

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

[DaveS]

I hunt meat deer first, then trophy. If a trophy shows up first, all the better. I usualy get my meat deer with bow. The rut is "rack" time!

[Guest GunTroll]

If I blessed to hunt in TN this year for deer on private land, I'll probably just shoot does unless a worthy buck steps out and or depending on the land owners terms and all. So for me in TN its meat first.

In MO where I do my trophy hunting I shoot for bucks first and let does pass till I fill the buck tag. I view does as bait for the bucks. Never know if a buck is in tow and blasting at every doe in sight will put the buck on alert. Or at least thats my opinion and past experience. This year I may not even get a doe tag since MO has an unlimited doe harvest going on and I believe the neighbors are taking advantage and doing my part in addition to theirs and therefore me killing one will not help IMO to get the numbers down. I'll save my time as well as money for the butchering too.

[Handsome Rob]

I'll take the first deer that comes close enough, that isn't a fawn or small buck. I'm trying to manage my little property for good bucks & a good herd balance, so more than likely it'll be a doe, followed by more does.

I'd like to get a rack on the wall this year, but I'm not going to draw on anything less than a good 8 point

[DaveS]

I'll take the first deer that comes close enough, that isn't a fawn or small buck. I'm trying to manage my little property for good bucks & a good herd balance, so more than likely it'll be a doe, followed by more does.

I'd like to get a rack on the wall this year, but I'm not going to draw on anything less than a good 8 point

The Doe to buck ratio in the area where I hunt is about 12 to 1 according to research. I'm on a "doe mission" this year. They got to go! I would like it down to about 4 to 1. I'll do my part!!!

[Guest adamoxtwo]

The Doe to buck ratio in the area where I hunt is about 12 to 1 according to research. I'm on a "doe mission" this year. They got to go! I would like it down to about 4 to 1. I'll do my part!!!

I looked into the field I'm hunting last night and watched 6 Deer (a Decent 8 point 2 or 3 year oldish, 2 Mature Doe, and three yearlings). I need to get a better look at the 8 point, but usually since I know that they are always bedding down in that field I will let them all pass a couple times just so I can survey the heard. Then I will select a decent Doe and fill the freezer. And from that point on I will wait and see what we have. I have a 3 deer limit on that field. So I try to take 2 Doe and 1 Buck. I believe more in management, but also want to keep the heard small because people have been hitting quite a few of them on the roads by the house which makes me not so happy that they are being wasted like that.

[ShaunM]

Im going to take more does this year. If its a decent buck or scrub looking buck then it will be shot.

[DaveS]

Im going to take more does this year. If its a decent buck or scrub looking buck then it will be shot.

I agree 100%!!

[Chris]

The first good looking doe that crosses my path is going to end up in the freezer.

[Guest GunTroll]

My standards are low when it comes to does. I'll take what I can get. Ugly ones too!

[whiskey]

It all depends on the situation, property, stand location. If I am hunting a big buck that I know is using that area, I won't shoot anything else in that area. If I am just hunting, without prior knowledge of a shooter buck, then I don't mind taking a big doe. I prefer to wait and take does later during the rifle season. The way I look at it is, the more mature does I have come pre-rut, the more chance I have of luring in that big buck. I don't care anything about shooting a young buck. Last year I took 3 does to my 1 buck. The buck wasn't a trophy, but was a mature deer. I don't mind shooting an ugly 4 year old buck. The 3 does were all after the rut had passed. Last year, I passed on a few does early during bow season because I didn't know the property that well. Later during the archery season I decided to take a doe and never got another chance.

I don't consider myself a trophy hunter, although I am always hunting for a trophy. To me a trophy hunter is intent on only killing a wall hanger. I am intent on only killing a mature buck or a doe. I respect adamoxtwo and WD-40's choice to hunt for meat first. Some people grow gardens because they enjoy gardening. Some people grow gardens simply for the food. Both are still gardeners.

[Deerbnb]

I hunt western KY during the rut most years I'm fortunate enough to take a nice buck. If I am having a really great year I might have already gotten a decent buck in TN by then if not when I get back to TN if its brown its down. We eat em.

[JAB]

As I've never shot any deer, period - in spite of having hunted them (although, admittedly, not in a hard-core fashion) off and on for much of my 40 years - if I ever get a chance I'll take whatever I can get. Venison is my favorite meat, I don't really care about trophies and I can't eat antlers. Buck, doe, whatever - my idea of a 'trophy' is a nice piece of pan-fried backstrap or a slow-roasted hind quarter, etc. and based on my past success (i.e. failure) rate, I'm not likely to harvest enough of any type to have a real impact on overall 'herds'. Given my preference, I'd take a big doe because although I haven't killed one I have cleaned/butchered deer and find does to be a little easier to process (no musk glands to worry about, etc.)

Edited August 17, 2011 by JAB

[whiskey]

I'd like to add, that if you hunt Unit L in Tennessee and don't care about antlers, then please focus your efforts on does. The herd ratios are off and it's due in part to hunters choosing a 1 1/2 year old 6 pointer over a fat doe. This is the reason we are allowed 300 does per season and only 3 bucks!

If you don't hunt enough to have the luxury to pick a deer, shoot whatever you can to feed yourself.

---

- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

[Guest GunTroll]

words of wisdom right there!

[DaveS]

If you hunt "public land" shared by hundreds of other hunters, better shoot that 1 1/2 year old 6 pointer while you can! If you don't, the guy next to you will.

I have the luxury to have 200 acres of prime deer land at my disposal. Our trail cams are showing some mighty fine bucks hitting the food plots. An aweful lot does, fawns (some still nursing) young bucks and bucks with crappy horns (3 pointers, crazy looking spikes ect., ect.)

Our efforts are going to be the taking of does. I think we'll let the "big boys" breed this year and rid the place of scrubs. Keep in mind though that if a buck bigger than my 10 pointer or my daughter's 12 pointer come within range...the Ol' Smoke Pole might just call down the thunder! But that's not my plan.

We'll let the kids on the youth hunt take whatever they want from the food plots. It'll be their call.

[Guest GunTroll]

And thats what needs to change IMO by peer pressure and recommendations by TWRA biologist. If that fails then point restrictions should come down the pipe and be forced upon all. Many states have done this to great success for all who enter the woods. with our current ratio, its hard to argue that killing that little buck is the only option. Of course kids excluded.

Why, here near me the Cheatham WMA is a buck only hunt during rifle is so backwards that that policy alone has shaped my opinion of TWRA as a whole. Even though I understand all the WMA operate independently from each other, somewhat. Still dumb! Backwards thinking and old philosophy hold outs is why TN is not a destination state to hunt WT deer in unless you just want to kill as many deer as possible (does).

[Guest adamoxtwo]

If you ever need or want a hunting partner please let me know I am more then willing to pull my own weight.

If you hunt "public land" shared by hundreds of other hunters, better shoot that 1 1/2 year old 6 pointer while you can! If you don't, the guy next to you will.

I have the luxury to have 200 acres of prime deer land at my disposal. Our trail cams are showing some mighty fine bucks hitting the food plots. An aweful lot does, fawns (some still nursing) young bucks and bucks with crappy horns (3 pointers, crazy looking spikes ect., ect.)

Our efforts are going to be the taking of does. I think we'll let the "big boys" breed this year and rid the place of scrubs. Keep in mind though that if a buck bigger than my 10 pointer or my daughter's 12 pointer come within range...the Ol' Smoke Pole might just call down the thunder! But that's not my plan.

We'll let the kids on the youth hunt take whatever they want from the food plots. It'll be their call.

[DaveS]

Troll, you are right in your thinking. Part of the problem I see is that TWRA charges extra money for a type 094 tag to harvest antleress deer. I often wonder how many a por' boy don't have the money to buy that tag, but takes those small bucks for the food. I think point restrictions would work to some extent, but in others, I see many a little buck left in the woods with his "backstraps" missing, because some poor fellow wanted some food, and couldn't buy a doe tag nor could he pass up a meat buck to wait on, lets say, an 8 pointer.

With society and the economy going as it is, I feel the taking of small, young bucks is going to become common. I'm here to tell ya, these ol' country boys around here don't want to hear no "point restriction" crap. They kill for food and that's that. They can't afford nothing else.

Here we're all discussing which deer we should shoot, when in a year or two, there isn't going to be much to hunt anyways. What the upcoming pig explosion doesn't get, the developers will. We should ALL be raising hell to our law makers about saving land and our natural resources!

Write to Quails Unlimited, write to Ducks Unlimited, write to National Wild Turkey Federation, and tell them how displeased you are about TWRA halting the hunting of feral hogs. Feral hogs destroy hundreds of thousands of ground nesting bird nest. Lets all fuss about something worth fussing about. Do something worth while. If a man wants to shoot a small buck for food...let him. Why restrict his decision. He bought his license too (hopefully), and if it's his land, the state should have no business telling him what size buck he can harvest. Them ol' boys ain't going to listen any ways. Everyone keeps saying we don't need no more regulations in Tennessee. What do you think "point restriction" is, or no shooting of does ect., ect. is going to do?

All I got to say is that those fella's that want point restrictions and giant bucks....then impose those rules on yourself. Those who enjoy the hunt and is happy with whatever legal deer that presents itself for a clean kill...then be happy with it. But none of us should wish for more rules. Hell, I can't understand half the ones we got now!

What would happen (and it has in some states) if Tennessee stopped the harvest of bucks for a year or two to allow the bucks to grow bigger and better. Then what? What if the point restriction was for the harvest of 6 point or less to save the mature bucks for breeding? I've been exposed to point restrictions before. When I was an MP game warden in the army, and it wasn't pretty, and I never want to see it again! It's a shame there wasn't "wanton waste" laws then.

Be thankful for what we can hunt now. It's not going to last forever! Also keep in mind how much influence the auto insurance industry has on deer hunting. If they had their way, it would be "down if it was brown!" They were the biggest battle that Kentucky and Tennessee had in the elk restoration here. THEY DIDN'T WANT them because of the potential for damage to vehicles due to elk/vehicle colisions. They don't want deer either! NO MORE RULES!

We all need to be happy in the choices we make. We should not, as a group, make those choices for everyone else!

Just my two pennies worth is all!

[KahrMan]

I'd like to add, that if you hunt Unit L in Tennessee and don't care about antlers, then please focus your efforts on does. The herd ratios are off and it's due in part to hunters choosing a 1 1/2 year old 6 pointer over a fat doe. This is the reason we are allowed 300 does per season and only 3 bucks!

If you don't hunt enough to have the luxury to pick a deer, shoot whatever you can to feed yourself.

---

- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

That's good advice. I usually look for meat for the freezer first.

[Guest GunTroll]

I agree to 99% of what you said there.

While I understand yet another reg sounds horrible, and with the current decision on hogs leaving a foul taste in some mouths for new regs, a point restriction should and will encourage more harvesting of does. I keep referencing MO and by no means do I think their system is the best, it is a good one IMO. Here are the stats state wide per county. While most counties had more bucks harvested than does some are equal and some bucks out numbered does. So its mixed a bit... Deer Harvest Map | MDC but I think the plan is working there and in some counties the point restriction does not exist at all. Most of those counties are in the south and I do not know the reason for this but I bet MO's biologist have a plan/reason for it.

I got no decent reply for your ol boy comments made above other than they are wrong in their thinking if they are breaking laws as you say. Also flawed logic on the ratio. People once thought the world was flat too.

Maybe for every one new reg, two should be dropped. Like I was told in the Army " I can add to (rules), but can't take away from" by my NCO's all the time, maybe TWRA has the same logic and needs to be called out on it. Too many new "good" ideas being enforced down there without looking into the books on the ones they have!

I have to comment on the "put the rules on yourself" comment you made WD. I brought up point restrictions when I first landed here in TN and you were adamantly against, then saw the light last year when your neighbors killed Bambi's, and now your against again. What happened? The hog issue? You also want a more primitive muzzle loader season for your flavor of firearms. That would be more regs/restrictions? Why the contradiction?

I may have a hard time articulation this though through typing, but I'll give it a go. Me, hunting for larger antlers in no way lessons anyone chances of harvesting meat. You shooting anything that moves directly effects my style of hunting however. Until the ratio is dead even how can anyone tell me I'm wrong? Please feel free to explain how I am. Maybe if your land has nothing but bucks I'll concede.

Unless your a land baron here in TN or have a high fence, your deer are crossing property lines many times a day onto other folks property that may have no restrictions at all (brown its down type stuff) so we are all effected by by each other. Plain and simple. And what about the folks who have no private land to hunt, they are just screwed big time if they would like to harvest a mature buck. Letting bucks get bigger does not lesson the chances of bringing home meat. Again tell me how I am wrong.

Not trying to ruffle any feathers, just wanting to show a different side/thought is all.

[DaveS]

I understand fully. No bones there. My question is, why would we impose such rules as point restrictions? That would hurt the fellow out hunting meat, and does are not always the answer.

TWRA should issue FREE doe tags to the poor and elderly. I have neighbors in need of help. Some don't hunt, some can't afford hundreds of dollars for a license. These are good people, who do and mean well, that don't need to be hurt anymore by our State and Local Governments.

My stand on muzzleloaders? If you shoot (and I have 2 of them) inlines that are scoped, fire just as acurate and at higher velocities than lets say a 12 guage modern saboted slug...move it into gun season with the rest of the "centerfires". Have a special season for sidelock traditional cap, and sidelock flint. That's all I'm saying.

Me and my Son have a little rule on our property; we shoot mature bucks (I have yet got one to tell me his age before he took a dirt nap) as a general rule. We shoot no deer with spots. We love shooting fat does for the table. The TWRA biologist and Federal and State Game Wardens have given us advice and helped us on managing our heard. Henceforth the foodplots and the the harvesting of does this year.

You have very good ideas that I may try this year to see how they work. We challenge ourselves every year and make a rule that we can't take a buck "smaller" than the one we each got last year (certain exceptions apply). We are blessed with the fact that the other 2 properties that surround ours allows no hunting. This works well for us. We are blessed with some very large bucks and I guess we can be choosy. I'm not a trophy hunter by now means, but I like big racked bucks. I like deer meat even better.

That means I have to shoot better than my buck last year (10 point, 18 inch inside spread)

My Daughter has to take better than her deer (12 point, 23 inch inside spread)

With the exception of an injured 3 pointer I put down, and several does taken, we let many many young bucks and does walk. This could have hurt us, because there was a chance that those bucks may have not gotten any better.

My favorite hunting weapon is a .50 cal Flintlock Kentucky Long Rifle. Her name is "Kleine Schwester". And together, we're going to call down the thunder on some deer!

I do not live on the land that I manage. When I make referance to neighbors I refer to the neighboring property on our land. They allow no hunting on their property.

When I referance neighbors shooting all sizes of deer, it's my neighbors where I live. I can't control them. But they're poor country folk, and can kill any deer they want as far as I'm concerned. I guess that's why I like hunting by myself or with family as I haven't to answer to anyone about my choices except unto to good lord himself.

Good day to all...

Edited August 18, 2011 by wd-40

[Guest adamoxtwo]

PA has a Point limit on their Buck hunting which is one (1) buck (2 x 2 or greater) a year . And you have to apply for a doe license. Hunting there is not great.