Mule Deer over Money

[tttoadman]

My last ID November hunt I passed up 6 or 8 4x4 bucks. I found the winner with 2 days left. I grazed some hair off his belly. I chased him for 2 days in blowing snow. He kicked my ass and sent me home. I was likely the last person to see him that year. One of the funnest and most educational hunts I’ve had. No regrets bringing that tag home empty.

 

[Hnthrdr]

My last ID November hunt I passed up 6 or 8 4x4 bucks. I found the winner with 2 days left. I grazed some hair off his belly. I chased him for 2 days in blowing snow. He kicked my ass and sent me home. I was likely the last person to see him that year. One of the funnest and most educational hunts I’ve had. No regrets bringing that tag home empty.

First big buck I chased for 4 days straight at the end of a 3rd rifle hunt in Co. saw him for a total of 5 min in those 3 days, jumped him 2x and glassed him from a mile a couple times. Learned so much about him and hunting bigger heavily hunted deer. Not killing him was just fine. He taught me a bunch that I would have never learned had I tagged one of the many smaller bucks I saw early in the hunt

 

[199p]

Wall hanger or bust

 

[willfrye027]

It’s easy to talk about eating tags..actually doing it 5 days in when things are looking grim is another story.

Zero shame in shooting a small buck if you eat it and respect the animal.

Better to shoot a small buck than a doe. Plenty of bucks around to breed all the does, usually never enough does around to make more fawns..

 

[Hnthrdr]

It’s easy to talk about eating tags..actually doing it 5 days in when things are looking grim is another story.

Zero shame in shooting a small buck if you eat it and respect the animal.

Better to shoot a small buck than a doe. Plenty of bucks around to breed all the does, usually never enough does around to make more fawns..

This is the truth. Agree 100%

 

[Pistolpete28]

It’s easy to talk about eating tags..actually doing it 5 days in when things are looking grim is another story.

Zero shame in shooting a small buck if you eat it and respect the animal.

Better to shoot a small buck than a doe. Plenty of bucks around to breed all the does, usually never enough does around to make more fawns..

100%, I’ve struggled the last few years in the situation you described. I’m getting better at passing the “decent” looking younger bucks, but definitely not perfect. I agree with you about guy’s shooting what they want, if a forky makes you happy have at it.

 

[CMF]

If it is an either sex tag I would shoot a doe before a dink. If it was dink or nothing a lot of factors involved, how easy to draw again? Is the packout worth a donk? I'd like to say pass but I would need to be in the moment to decide

I missed a doe before I shot my dink. And I wouldn't shoot one in deep. I hunted most of Sep and didn't get an elk that year, all of my help traveled back home. I went out my last day on a meat mission. But with meat in the freezer, I let a bunch of youngins walk on my NM hunt later in the year.

There’s no shame in eating a tag…

Aint no shame in eating some 1.5yo muley backstrap either...

 

[Slickhill]

Mule deer tag for the area I hunt takes 2-4 years for me to draw. When I get one I hunt it for a big buck until dark on the last day. I’ve killed mule deer before to include some nice bucks so I don’t have to kill one to check a box.
Plus I can shoot plenty of whitetails that are generally better eating and always easier to handle and deal with around home if the freezer is low.

Elk on the other hand. If it’s legal I’m shooting, first day or last. I’ve killed a pretty good pile of them over the years and in the area I hunt getting a second opportunity after passing or missing one is rare, there just isn’t that many of them in the area in a given year.

 

[Lawnboi]

It’s a sliding scale for me depending on what my freezer looks like. I’m out there to make meat first. If I just want to have a good time I’ll go hunt predators and actually do something that will help the herd, instead of believing that not shooting a male deer of a certain antler structure and size is going to positively impacting the health of said deer herd.

Hammering on having big bucks and not focusing on overall herd health is what is ultimately causing most of the issues we are seeing with hunting today.

 

[Dos Perros]

Mature bucks only.*

* - but sometimes shit happens

 

[Hnthrdr]

It’s a sliding scale for me depending on what my freezer looks like. I’m out there to make meat first. If I just want to have a good time I’ll go hunt predators and actually do something that will help the herd, instead of believing that not shooting a male deer of a certain antler structure and size is going to positively impacting the health of said deer herd.

Hammering on having big bucks and not focusing on overall herd health is what is ultimately causing most of the issues we are seeing with hunting today.

I agree, which is why I won’t dog. Guy who wants to punch his tag on a forkie, meat is meat, I think predators and not killing does (within reason, we have to acknowledge carrying capacity) will help the herd. The big/little thing is a personal preference, but when guys hammer the little ones and wonder why they never see big ones. It always makes me chuckle a bit haha

 

[180ls1]

If I travel for a hunt it isn't a meat hunt.

It's interesting, I know guys who use the exact opposite logic. "If I am spending all this time and money, I damn sure ain't going home empty handed"


Personally, I am agnostic about the time and $ invested.

 

[Wheels]

I am always hunting for the best that the area has to offer. I have eaten a pile of tags with no regrets.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I could care less about the trophy. Antlers will probably get cut into dog chews. I’m hunting for the fun, the experience, the memories, and the food. If I feel like shooting it and it’s legal. I’m shooting it. If I don’t feel like it, I don’t.

 

[BluMtn]

Out of state hunting is for horns, fun, and a new experience. If I don't find the horns I am looking for, then I eat tag soup. I would rather do that, then explain why I shot a dink.

 

[Rich M]

First and foremost, this is not a thread to discuss Resident v. Non-Resident opinion, we all could be better stewards of the sport.

If you are hunting out of state, are you holding out for a mature mule deer and eating the tag.
Or, any opportunity that presents itself you will be pulling the trigger?
Just gauging harvest mindset.

Back in 1978 I received a book and decided I wanted to shoot an antelope and a mule deer. In 2019 went for a muley and got a 160" 4x4 w eye guards - beautiful buck. All done chasing muleys - got my dream buck. Decided to not go and hunt muleys again and let others use the tag - hopefully they have trigger control and get their dream buck.

The hunting industry is driven by trophy hunters and trophy hunting is more sustainable for the animal herds.

 

[Lawnboi]

Back in 1978 I received a book and decided I wanted to shoot an antelope and a mule deer. In 2019 went for a muley and got a 160" 4x4 w eye guards - beautiful buck. All done chasing muleys - got my dream buck. Decided to not go and hunt muleys again and let others use the tag - hopefully they have trigger control and get their dream buck.

The hunting industry is driven by trophy hunters and trophy hunting is more sustainable for the animal herds.

How does shooting a 2 yo buck compared to a 4yo buck make for a more sustainable herd?

 

[Jason Snyder]

The hunting industry is driven by trophy hunters and trophy hunting is more sustainable for the animal herds.

Why does hunting need to be an industry?

 

[cataylor4]

I hunt WY for Mule deer and it's a few years of collecting preference points, so I won't pass up any decent muture bucks. That said, I wouldn't take a young deer just to fill the tag and would suffer through the bitter taste of tag soup instead.

 

[Ralphie]

Grown adults shooting immature mule deer bucks or does is a huge pet peeve. First of all they are dumb. Second if you are traveling to hunt then the meat is not a big deal in your financial world. In fact if you can afford to hunt at all the meat isn’t a big deal. Some hunter will have thousands of dollars of stuff and then say well this animal will feed my family through the winter. Let them grow up.

There are plenty of species that aren’t struggling. And yes I’ll happily shoot cow elk and immature bulls. WT, turkeys, antelope, black bears have at it.

I agree predator control is important and do my share.