Shoot or not?

[Shed Hunter]

Here's the scenerio. A fairly good sized buck is running your way. He might be anywhere from 15" smaller than what you would be happy with or 15" bigger. You really can't tell and you get that two second oppurtunity to make your decision and shoot. Would you rather deal with the regret of killing a buck that you weren't really excited to put your hands on when you walked up to him for the first time or let it walk and worry you missed an opportunity at a deer that could have been what you've been waiting for for a long time?

I was in that situation this morning and I let it walk because IMO it would be worse to shoot and never be able to fix it than to let it walk and have a chance to kill him if he did turn out big.

I don't know that he is a frequenter of the area.. He was chasing a doe hard so there is no telling where he came from. I have cams out though so maybe I will get a pic. I also ended up walking up on a nice 8 point (I still hunted this morning). I would have shot him in most areas but there are some really big deer in this spot so I let him meander til he wandered off. All I can say for sure is I'll be back at it soon!!

 

[deerhunter10]

pass actually happened to me yesterday morning and when it comes down to it I want a deer that is going to tare me up I don't want to kill just any deer. I don't get mad if I don't kill a deer. I think you made a good decision.

 

[xtremedeerman]

good decision I passed 2 friday

 

[Mike Belt]

If I'm not at least 98% sure I want to squeeze the trigger on a buck I don't. The other 2% I'll write off to misjudgement. In the long run I'm glad I held off more often than not.

 

[diamond hunter]

pass

 

[catman529]

If I thought he was at least 3.5 and was within 15" of what I wanted I'd shoot him for sure. I don't even have a rack size I want, ill shoot whatever makes me happy

 

[rem270]

if i have to think about it i know i don't need to kill it.