What would you do?

[Graps]

Ok, it's the last day of deer season and there's less that an hour of shooting light.
You have a perfect shot opportunity at a small buck but you see a very big buck hanging just out of your prime shooting area.
It seems to look like it might come in but you are just not sure.
So, do you take the good shot at the small buck you are sure of or do you try and wait and see if you can get a decent shot at the big guy?

[Jamesh76]

You know my answer based on my thread last year

[Carpdaddy]

For several years now I have had no problem passing on smaller bucks regardless of circumstances, which means I get to eat Buck Tag soup!
I keep thinking I’ll break over but when the shot opportunity arises I never do. Maybe this season, I’m on a long dry spell when it comes to Bucks.

[Jamesh76]

I kill enough does, I get enough meat. A mature buck opportunity is just a season extension for me. If I kill.one great if not, I keep hunting. It's the challenge of getting a mature buck in range which keeps me hunting. Then again, the mature does are just as much of a challenge if not more. Had one locked up looking at me for about 4 minutes at full draw last year. She won. I did havevet several younger does last year though. 1 1/2 -2 1/2 yo.

[Greg Felty]

I would wait for the big one and then I would probably pass on him to. It's to much work getting one out of the woods anymore.

[stumper]

Small one. I will need the meat.

[EWill]

It would depend on my freezer situation.

[Grizzly]

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The property I hunted on, when I used to hunt always asked me to not take anything smaller than a 130". He even preferred we not take anything smaller than our largest buck, but he would not hold us to that. I'm first a meat hunter, so I enjoy filling the freezer with does. I also have a scoped in-line that I know will fill the freezer if the bow doesn't. Because of that, there is less pressure on me. I would pass on the young one and enjoy watching the Big one, whether he came close or not. Where I live, doe tags are plentiful, so there is no reason for me to take a young buck or even a button buck if I can identify him beforehand. Now for the youngsters or newbe's, they are allowed one small one if given the opportunity. Of coarse we are talking about Pike County in Illinois which has a reputation for plentiful and large deer. Pike, and a few other counties are bordered by the Mississippi on one side and the Illinois River on the other. It is hilly and the farm fields are rarely all flat, except for the bottom land. It's a beautiful area. My wife has two families that are still on good sized farms and they have both graciously allowed me to hunt there. If it were not for those hills, I never would have stayed in flat old Illinois.

A photo of the hill and fields above the main farm house.

[dougedwards]

That would depend on a variety of factors. I usually have a discussion with myself pertaining to such things prior to heading out to the field.

I elect to buy my meat and don’t put pressure on myself to make a kill. I would probably take the risk of waiting on the possibility of taking a nicer buck. For me, there is nothing to lose by doing so. The older I get, the less desire I have to drag an animal carcass into the night unless it is a nice one and sometimes think twice before doing it then. It’s all a fun time whether I kill or not kill.

Doug

[joe harrod1945]

pass on the smaller buck