does taste better? i don't think so. deer meat is deer meat.

and i think any earn a buck program sucks.

I agree that is sucks to see a hunter pass does to kill a 1.5 but its legal and if they are happy I congratulate them.

Ive said many times I like GA regulations best. However, if its legal good for them. I know lots of hunters that go out a few (as in 2) weekends a year and are happy for any harvest and meet they get. They enjoy the meat all year long and talk about their kill...we need to remember that us on this site are the minority. THere are lots of others that pay for their licenses' that deserve an opportunity that they can enjoy too.

good post.

X2 and I will agree that the younger deer are better eating!

I know some older hunters (55-83 years old) that don't agree with shooting a doe at all. But will take a spike or any buck. Just the way they we're brought up.

deer meat dos not all taste the same and you'll never convince me of that.

I have thrown buck meat away because I could not eat it. maybe it's an age thing or a rut thing or whatever, but I will never pay to process anything with antlers again.....

We eat two-three deer a year and none are bucks......

JMO

BH

i killed a doe once

i would not mind the earn a buck, some places probably need it just so hunters will take some does but for some of you guys in east TN that only see a few deer in a year i can see why you would not want it and my hat is off to you guys cause i dont know that i would even hunt if i only saw 4 or 5 deer during the whole season

i would not mind the earn a buck, some places probably need it just so hunters will take some does but for some of you guys in east TN that only see a few deer in a year i can see why you would not want it and my hat is off to you guys cause i dont know that i would even hunt if i only saw 4 or 5 deer during the whole season

i would not mind the earn a buck, some places probably need it just so hunters will take some does but for some of you guys in east TN that only see a few deer in a year i can see why you would not want it and my hat is off to you guys cause i dont know that i would even hunt if i only saw 4 or 5 deer during the whole season

X2

button buck tastes the best

and why couldnt you do that with the old check system

they were not required to verify the sex of the dee

when the state tells me what i have to shoot im done!

They are good any fawn is good matter of fact! I have shot several fawns with my bow when they were standing beside a big momma doe. Camp meat is most always a fawn, hard to beat it!

when you make hunters shoot a certain type of deer your taking out the freedoms of hunting.

But I still think its a bad idea to kill small bucks one after other and never take a doe. IMO, that hurts every hunter, especially the ones that only have a limited time to be in the deer woods!

I understand your reasoning clear plasticman and couldnt agree more. I dont see whats wrong with having a few more bucks walking around for limited and new hunters. The fair share of the TN buck population is 1. Do the math. Its hard getting that sharing the resource thing through though.

3 small young bucks yes. Not much butt busting involved in that task. Let the rookies have a few for Pete's sake! If you let one walk you might realize how easy it is.

when the state tells me what i have to shoot im done!

does taste better? i don't think so. deer meat is deer meat.

and i think any earn a buck program sucks.

deer meat dos not all taste the same and you'll never convince me of that.

I have thrown buck meat away because I could not eat it. maybe it's an age thing or a rut thing or whatever, but I will never pay to process anything with antlers again.....

We eat two-three deer a year and none are bucks......

JMO


you are correct sir, we dont eat Bulls for a reason...we eat steers

BH

Other than fawns, as long as the meat is processed well, I can't tell the difference between sexes or ages. Two weeks in a walk-in cooler and even the oldest rutted-up buck will have the consistancy and taste of a young doe.

Now I CAN tell the difference in deer from different areas due to what they have been eating (acorn-fed versus corn-fed).

I bet you I could take you to public land where killing a yearly buck is harder than killing a good buck on your private land.Stop putting people down for hunting different than you.I am sick of you acting like you are better than anyone else.just let people hunt and have fun.

Hunt how you want within the law but if you have a desire for a big racked buck then quit killin the youngins, if the public land you speak of doesnt have deer then dont hunt it!, if it does then let the youngins walk unless you need the meat to feed your family, Public vs. Private land is subject to too many variables, one can be easier or harder depending on those variables, there are some hunters that know how to get it done and many more that dont, my opinion is that killin' deer is easy hunting is not

Hunt how you want within the law but if you have a desire for a big racked buck then quit killin the youngins...

Hunt how you want within the law but if you have a desire for a big racked buck then quit killin the youngins, if the public land you speak of doesnt have deer then dont hunt it!, if it does then let the youngins walk unless you need the meat to feed your family, Public vs. Private land is subject to too many variables, one can be easier or harder depending on those variables, there are some hunters that know how to get it done and many more that dont, my opinion is that killin' deer is easy hunting is not

Most proccesors mix deer meat...as I have been told and witnessed, the deer you bring in might not be the deer you get when you pick it up...however I was told that most weigh them to see how much you are owed...just a thought

Hunt how you want within the law but if you have a desire for a big racked buck then quit killin the youngins, if the public land you speak of doesnt have deer then dont hunt it!, if it does then let the youngins walk unless you need the meat to feed your family, Public vs. Private land is subject to too many variables, one can be easier or harder depending on those variables, there are some hunters that know how to get it done and many more that dont, my opinion is that killin' deer is easy hunting is not

none of the processors i have ever used do that. they process 1 deer at a time. you get YOUR deer.

I have never considered hunting public land,

Good for you,... but that doesn't really qualify you as an authority on the ease or difficulty of tagging any animal on public land in my opinion...

Yearly bucks are easy prey public or private. I mean they are great to get the children involved in the sport because they make it enjoyable for them. But i just i cant see a grown man getting much out of the little fellas.

I get about 15 packs of burger,2 long backstraps, and a lot of jerky/roast/stew meat out of one of the little fellas .

thank you RAFI. exactly what i was thinking.

Well when you guys are old enough youll find some new adventures are waiting for you in the deer woods. Good luck.

I get about 15 packs of burger,2 long backstraps, and a lot of jerky/roast/stew meat out of one of the little fellas .

I, along with others, haven't been excited about shooting small, young bucks for years now so I quit....I quit shooting them anyway. I still get excited seeing them but wait for their elders before squeezing the trigger. When I no longer get excited at the prospect of taking that caliber of buck I'll hang it all up.

...but I would fully support the earn a buck program & to encourage the harvest of more does and being more selective on older bucks.

I would too, if that were needed. However, in much of Unit L, under the current regulations, doe harvests are adequate (45+% of the harvest is female), the sex ratio is adequate and buck age structure is constantly improving.

But again, if it were biologically necessary, I would support many other options.

I agree BSK, unit L is doing ok with the current reg's. Consider this example. Bridge-stone WMA in white county where I live, has been flooded with hunters over the last five years that will shoot any deer with a 3 inch antler. This area in the past has produced some really nice bucks. The flip side is, no one will shoot a doe! I quite hunting there three years ago because of this. Last bow season I went back in just to take does. I took three does in three weekends, had cameras out for three months prior to opening day and only had pics of one small buck. Starting last season, we now have an 8 point restriction on this WMA. I hope this will help bring the age class back up for the bucks. I guess it will take a few years. Currently I am hunting 2.5 hours away in west Tn. Sure will be nice to hunt closer to home for a mature buck again!

in that 45+% of females that are harvested out of the total harvest number is that including "antlerless" males shot in that female percentage too?????????

I've started hunting in 1995. I've killed less than 10 bucks. However 3 of them are to big 8 pointers and a 16 pointer. They are all mounted, but I also have a 3 pointer mounted and he means as much to me as the 3 big ones. I've earned all of them and thank God for each one.

I agree with the Tnramblingman. I am a hunter who has evolved into the kind that will pass up small bucks in hopes that a mature buck of a life time could be around the corner. I have taken my share of spikes, four pointers etc. But in the end I think every hunter deep down wants to kill a trophy! You say every small deer you kill is a trophy for you, Well is it in the house or the garage? This is not about your rights to kill whatever you want to, its about not having the patients to pass up a small buck in hopes that he can live long enough to mature into whatever mother nature decides he can be. If you kill him as a baby, you will never know what he could have been. Your just fooling yourself if you really believe that you a re happy with a spike or a four point. I used to be the same guy year after year. I guess its a sign of personal maturity when you become board with just killing a small buck. You really are missing the thrill of going into a mature bucks territory and hunting him on his terms. Weather you kill him or not doesn't matter, its all about the the hunt!!!

i have every set of antlers and a memory in each one. and they are in the living room.

Offhand, I really don't know how many immature bucks I have killed, most many years ago. They still come by and I scope them, it is exciting--and I sit back down in the stand and watch the sunrise or sunset. But I shoot does if I want meat, or the herd needs thinning because a doe tastes a lot better than a rutting buck. So now I would rather kill a trophy buck or no buck at all. I would not trade killing 100 small TN bucks for just one glimpse of a mature big buck. And that somehow means I am evil? I don't think so. In fact, I love to take kids hunting and watch them take their first or second or third buck of whatever size. But there is no reason for anyone to suggest that people who enjoy hunting big bucks are weird or or that we are trying to put other people down. All of us are motivated to hunt and be outside and enjoy nature. But plasticman raises a question no one will answer: what are all of the experienced hunters who just must simply kill every little buck that walks by doing with all of these horns? Are your houses and dens and kitckens full of all the bucks you have taken? Even all those smaller ones? I bet we all have our first buck's horns. What about the 51st one? Or the 101st one? If you don't have the racks and don't keep the racks, please tell me why you shot the deer that had the rack in the first place. I just want to know. Where are the racks? My trophy system involves no scoring. If I bring it in the house it was and is a trophy. I have been to a lot of hunters houses and you just don't see very many three pointers, unless basketball is on TV. Is anybody going to step up and admit you just throw the small racks away?

Then why were you so excited when TWRA changed the buck limit to 3 in unit B?That makes no sense,at least to me.

But I shoot does if I want meat, or the herd needs thinning because a doe tastes a lot better than a rutting buck. So now I would rather kill a trophy buck or no buck at all. I would not trade killing 100 small TN bucks for just one glimpse of a mature big buck. And that somehow means I am evil? I don't think so.

But there is no reason for anyone to suggest that people who enjoy hunting big bucks are weird or or that we are trying to put other people down. All of us are motivated to hunt and be outside and enjoy nature.

But plasticman raises a question no one will answer: what are all of the experienced hunters who just must simply kill every little buck that walks by doing with all of these horns?

If you don't have the racks and don't keep the racks, please tell me why you shot the deer that had the rack in the first place. I just want to know.

Where are the racks?

Is anybody going to step up and admit you just throw the small racks away?

Every buck that has ever been killed on my place--if it is not hanging in the hunter's house--is hanging in our cabin either as a shoulder mount or a European mount. Even the yearling forkhorns and spikes.

My trophies (every one of them) hang mostly in my mind.

I hope I did not raise any one's blood pressure with my post.

And on the matter of people keeping all the racks, it appears the TNDEER crowd keeps the racks. On that I stand corrected as evidenced by numerous posts and pictures.

I hope I did not raise any one's blood pressure with my post.

I used to keep all mine in the house and then the garage, but I have had to move the boxes into an outbuilding, just not enough room for them piled up in the corners. I am in the process of hanging some 12 foot shelving boards and screwing the skull plates to them. I have done a couple and need to hang a few more and get them all on the wall, and atleast where I can look at them and remember each hunt. A few more like these and i will have them all up.
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I rarely mount one anymore unless its a really big or unique buck!

I used to keep all mine in the house and then the garage, but I have had to move the boxes into an outbuilding, just not enough room for them piled up in the corners. I am in the process of hanging some 12 foot shelving boards and screwing the skull plates to them. I have done a couple and need to hang a few more and get them all on the wall, and atleast where I can look at them and remember each hunt. A few more like these and i will have them all up.
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I rarely mount one anymore unless its a really big or unique buck!

I try to kill me anywhere from 1 to 6 does every year. I shoot all i can during Bow season but in the last few years i havent been on does that much during bow season. Not seeing much activity duing morning hours at all except really early many mornings and i assume it has been because of the abundance of acorns.