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Late season changes......

my ONLY goal is to have meat in the freezer at the end of the season. i am more likely to pass a deer later in the season than early but until i get the freezer stocked, nothing that gives me a shot gets a pass.
 
Bottom Hunter said:
My point was very simple......do you set a goal for the season , to only shoot a certain size deer and not waver until the bitter end...regardless?
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Yes, I do set goals.

Bottom Hunter said:
Do you settle for a deer that does not qualify under your previous standards just because the season is ending....? If so, why?
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Absolutely not.

Bottom Hunter said:
Why are your standards higher in October than they are in January?
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Actually, my standards are higher in January (late Dec.) than in October. Mainly, because I see more (lots more) bucks on their feet. Especially in the last hour of daylight. I see several bucks that I passed in bow season and definitely will not shoot them that late in the year.

Bottom Hunter said:
Do you really NEED to kill a buck every season and/or do you feel obligated or entitled to kill one because you paid for a license?
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No. I definitely want to kill a buck every season but definitely do not feel obligated. I have been down the road of shooting one out of obligation and ended questioning why I watched that buck all year, only to shoot him in the last week of the season to "fill a tag".

Once I get a deer for the freezer I am good. I can kill a doe for that. I just really enjoy watching the phases of the season. The pre-rut, rut, post and second ruts all elicit different behavior from bucks. Quite frankly I just like being in the woods and I just hope for an opportunity at a good buck. Last year right after Christmas I watched 5 bucks chase one doe. Two are gonna be studs this year and were every bit as good as the 3.5 y.o 7 point I killed earlier in the season. That made the hunt for me and capped off a great season watching it all unfold. I think we get a little caught up in the numbers in hunting too much. Whether its number of points, number of tags or tags filled, number of inches of antler, the ages of the deer, etc...we really need to forget the numbers so much and enjoy the great sport a little more.
 
stik said:
my ONLY goal is to have meat in the freezer at the end of the season. i am more likely to pass a deer later in the season than early but until i get the freezer stocked, nothing that gives me a shot gets a pass.
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Nothing wrong with that at all. Once its filled you can sit back and really enjoy it then.
 
Bottom Hunter said:
Do you really NEED to kill a buck every season and/or do you feel obligated or entitled to kill one because you paid for a license?
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Do I NEED to kill a buck every year? No, but I sure WANT to! However, that doesn't always work out. I've killed one total buck in the last three years.

Does that bother me? Yup! ;)
 
Ive unfortunatley went entire seasons without filling a tag. Wouldnt say my "priorities" ever change, I still want to kill a B&C buck more than I want to kill a unicorn, no matter the date. Maybe its just that my trigger finger gets to..... "itching"...... a little more than I can stand. For me, no deer is absolutely safe at any point in the season but, especially between Christmas and MLK.

Thats whats awesome about Tennessee bag limits, we can have cake and eat it too.
 
If I had the luxury of hunting private land I would probably think different. I hunt only public land without the use of any cameras or controlling who hunts where. My goals for public land are 4 on one side or big sixes, and fill my 3 buck tags every year.
 
Bottom Hunter said:
Some here seem to think this thread is ONLY about buck size.....yet it is not, even though many here want it to be..lol.

There never was a mention of what size deer to kill, i do not care what you kill. It was just about goals and giving up on them to fill a tag. i didn't fire a shot last season, and it didn't bother me at all.


My point was very simple......do you set a goal for the season , to only shoot a certain size deer and not waver until the bitter end...regardless?

Do you settle for a deer that does not qualify under your previous standards just because the season is ending....? If so, why?

Why are your standards higher in October than they are in January?

Do you really NEED to kill a buck every season and/or do you feel obligated or entitled to kill one because you paid for a license?

Again, this is not telling anyone to or not to shoot a spike or a small buck or anything else, it's more just about what type hunter you are, when it comes to goals and what you go in to each season wanting to accomplish and then as time goes by , if you change your mind year in and year out or do you stay the course, even if it means going home empty handed at the end.

No need to take offense and get angry thinking I'm trying to tell you how to hunt or what to kill because I could not care any less what you do.....it's just a question, answer it or not and let's move along.
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Gotcha! My post before was kinda harsh on the size thing. Didn't mean to derail. :grin:

As for dropping standards towards the end of the season; Normally I'll set a goal at the beginning, and I'll pass on numerous deer to get to that goal. But if it's coming down to the wire and there are only a few days left. Then yes, I will lower my standards and go for the biggest that's in front of me. Or kill a few does in lieu of accomplishing the original goal.

Then go back to the house and kick myself in the azz for not taking the best I saw that year!

The main reason for dropping standards for me is the meat, and the fact that I still have tags to fill. When you grind it all up except for the back straps and lions. It all tastes the same, and it's good too! Not to mention better for you then beef.
 
My priorities have not changed on deer hunting since the first day I hunted 37 years ago. I have a successful hunt each and every time I go into the woods. Killing a deer,whether it has horns or not , is just iceing on the cake. Been that way since day one. The only thing that has changed is I no longer hunt with a firearm , bow only.
 
I have killed one Buck in 4 years ,could I have killed a "Lesser buck" then the one I was hunting .I will let you decide.
Killing is not what it is called ..Last I seen it was hunting.
And Hunting is what I love ...and if things work out this year ...I will show you why.


But to each his own you buy your license ..you need to decide before season what you want ,and will be stisfied with.
But the people that want to moan about the size and limits on Bucks, are the ones dragging them 1.5 year old bucks out.
 
102,i know several people,and some of them are tndeer members that really stick to their standards,yes,every hunter has their owm choice of what to kill,thats what makes tennessee such a good state in my opinion
 
Everyone that buys a tag wants to fill it. Otherwise we are wildlife watchers and not truly hunters. The state gives us the choice (within limits) of shooting whatever we want. Its different for the hunter who hunts public land and feeds his family venison all year than the hunter in a club where strict QDM is practiced and enforced. Do our standards change with the end of the season or with our success to date; depends? I say do whatever you want within the laws and rules. My standards don't change but for me it depends on how much buck fever Im experiencing at the moment which varies indirectly with the days remaining to hunt in the season and number of deer in the freezer. I hunt in a club with strict minimums on the bucks so I have to keep my bullet in my pocket near the end of the season.
 
I stick to my standards each and every deer season.
My standards are to have fun, kill as many legal deer as possible every year (within reason) and make the most humane and ethical shot I can make on every deer I kill.

But some years my standards involve shooting a certain antler class buck. Like a P/Y buck.

I generally hold out for this when I head up North for the first couple weeks. Then, I may become less picky as my hunt there nears its' end.

I have, however, put several buck tags in the drawer after the season if no decent bucks offer a shot.

But mainly I set out each season to kill a buck that is a decent representative of a "good" buck for the area in which I hunt.

I will add this though, after meeting or exceeding this goal many times over, it all becomes rather anti-climatic. In fact, of late I have had to re-visit why I put in all the effort in the first place.

I have now, as a hunter, come full circle back to my roots, and hunt PURELY for the sake of the hunt, and enjoyment of family, friends and the outdoors.
Oh I am going to kill something, but I don't worry near as much about antlers or age. Just a good, clean, kill.

102
 
Bottom Hunter said:
Are you the kind of hunter that changes his "priorities" on what to shoot as the season progresses?

Will you let a deer walk on the first day, yet kill it on the last day.??

I know hunters that settle for smaller bucks at season's end and I'm not sure that I understand that way of thinking. if you want meat, then shoot a doe, if you want a buck for the wall, will it grow during the season and be bigger at the end of the season....?? of course not. I hear them say things like,"Well, i wanted to take a buck and was waiting for a bigger one, but since a bigger one didn't show, I settled for the smaller one"..

Why do some hunters feel the need to kill bucks that they may indeed pass on early in the season?
Especially, when meat is not a factor?

thanks...
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Last season i didn't get to hunt nearly as much as i normally have with my son being born. I killed a doe on opening day of bow. and wanted one more for the freezer. I passed an itty bitty 6 on opening day of ML and after that, i didn't see a deer until December 17th, which is as long as i can remember going during a season without seeing a deer. On that day after over a month without a sighting, i was not only ready to shoot a deer, i still wanted another one for the freezer. On the evening of Dec 17th, i had a 1 1/2 yr old 3 pt (never killed a 3 pt before) come in and i shot him. I wouldn't have cared if it was a spike.

I accomplished my goal of getting more meat and I'm glad i did. i didn't get to hunt much more and did not see another deer the rest of the season when I did.

I try to shoot does for meat, but i sure am glad I didn't pass last year. I don't think that I settled for anything.
 
Last year I killed the first buck I've killed in 6 years. I've passed on a bunch of them and the one I did kill was smaller than many of those I had let walk. I actually shot him based on my guess at his age rather than his rack size. So to answer your question, I don't drop my standards or expectations in between opening and closing day of the season. I enjoy my time in the woods but I'm there to kill a buck. I don't like going buckless for an entire season but if he doesn't qualify (to me) and he gets by me without me squeezing the trigger once he will every time I see him that season. Although neither tastes good, I'd rather eat buck tag soup than steaks from a deer I shot just for the sake of shooting something. Stickly my opinion....
 
And I for one, am VERY glad we all have the freedom and Opportunity to choose what makes us all happy.

If I find a target buck I know exists in an area I am able to hunt, I can CHOOSE to hunt this buck.

Or I can change location completely and choose to hunt another type of buck, or doe.

I have hunted states and WMA where there were few, if any, choices.
 

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