Mule Deer over Money

[Billy Goat]

My early years, I was hunting what was legal, a kill was a success. Making a trip of over 30 hrs, hiking my ass off, ******* up a few stalks, I'll take what I can get, especially since I only travel with a bow.


Taking bucks rarely has much of an effect on herd health, so if someone wants to shoot what's legal, good for them. If someone can prove me wrong, I'm all ears.


Anymore, it takes a lot to trip my trigger. I'm not out for the kill to make it successful, yet I'm looking for the biggest, and that still isnt what makes it successful.



Just the title makes this thread seem off to me.

 

[Bugger]

Hard to say without knowing the variables of unit potential and scouting results. Either way, I think most of us are a different hunter on the drive West vs day 3 in the mountains. My family and I like venison too much for me to ever purposely pass a legal buck on the last day, but that hasn’t stopped me from rolling the dice early and getting skunked lol

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

Meh, I chase the experience.

If I can step onto a property for the first time. Figure things out, and make it happen. Then I'm all in.

I find the whole experience enjoyable. Especially a fun blood trail.

With 2 kids under 3. Time is short and I'm better off coming home a day early than a day late chasing another 10 inches of antler.
That way I can go on another adventure without the wife thinking I'm just out there avoiding coming home.

Proud member of the spoon and crockpot club. Eat some sort of wild game everyday of the year.

 

[eaglemountainman]

Not a mule deer, but I just came home from Alberta with an uncut moose tag in my pocket. I had opportunities at smaller meat bulls, and while I do love moose meat, I held out for at least a 40" bull or nothing. But rhe weather was warm and the bulls weren't responding, so it didn't happen.

I'm not a trophy hunter either, and 40" bulls are far from monsters, but I wanted at least a decent representative of the species.

Had a great hunt in some beautiful country. I saw loads of critters, including elk, mulies, whitetails and bears, and had a blast with my Cree guide. I more than got my money's worth.

 

[100percent]

Go big or go home! I have killed several nice bucks through the years but, I could paper my walls with uncut tags!

If I want meat, I will shoot a whitetail doe!

Also, the kill is the end and i don't want it to end! I enjoy the experience down to the last second.

 

[WCOPP]

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.

I live in the west so that probably changes my hunting views but I do travel to several other states to hunt and I don't ever feel like I need to come home with a "meat deer" or a "last day animal". We have lots of cow elk and whitetail does to fill the freezer with.

 

[Wapiti1]

Depends on where I hunt. I have friends or family in a couple of states and happily shoot a forky for them. I'll see what else is out there and keep a couple of last day bucks in mind to get meat in someone's freezer.

Then again, there are some draw tags that are trophy hunts and I am happy to eat it.

I'm hunting to make me happy. That about sums it up.

Jeremy

 

[CMF]

Grown adults shooting immature mule deer bucks or does is a huge pet peeve.

And yes I’ll happily shoot cow elk and immature bulls. WT, turkeys, antelope, black bears have at it.

Makes perfect sense...

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.

We'd rather eat game we kill than buy beef(except the occasional ribeye), regardless of the cost of either.

 

[Lawnboi]

This thread is a great example of money over wild game.

Nobody used to give a rip about a picture or mount. Now we care more about that than the meat.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Eh not so sure, that no one used to care about it. Lots of old time pictures and big buck contests say otherwise. I would argue that a lot of us here care more about mule deer as a whole and less about busting a forkie so you “have something to post” at least I do, yes I’m in it for the meat, the horns, the experience, the comraderie, the solitude, the beauty, the challenge, the struggle. All of it. It’s sport and church mixed into one. How do you reconcile your comment with guys like Robby denning? A self proclaimed big buck hunter who obviously loves MD more than most of us here combined. To borrow a quote my favorite 2 year old buck shooter Stevie Rinella “there is a lot of nuances here, oh I better shoot that 2 year old so I have something to film” I think we all should shoot what we want when we want, within reason& the law

 

[Lawnboi]

Eh not so sure, that no one used to care about it. Lots of old time pictures and big buck contests say otherwise. I would argue that a lot of us here care more about mule deer as a whole and less about busting a forkie so you “have something to post” at least I do, yes I’m in it for the meat, the horns, the experience, the comraderie, the solitude, the beauty, the challenge, the struggle. All of it. It’s sport and church mixed into one. How do you reconcile your comment with guys like Robby denning? A self proclaimed big buck hunter who obviously loves MD more than most of us here combined. To borrow a quote my favorite 2 year old buck shooter Stevie Rinella “there is a lot of nuances here, oh I better shoot that 2 year old so I have something to film” I think we all should shoot what we want when we want, within reason& the law

I have no issue trying to shoot big deer, I enjoy it too. I’ll be the first to say that I probably don’t fully agree with a lot of the hands that be, and how things happen, but I also understand that we can’t all fight each other, because of that we are losing.

That’s just the icing on the cake for me though(the antlers/horns). I also don’t see hunting as a sport.

Glamorization of trophy animals has put us in place where it’s not only making things increasingly more expensive, on top of becoming a cash cow to many state agencies; but it undermines the reasonable purpose of what we are doing.

Hard to justify to a non hunter that we are just out there for a big buck, and if we can’t shoot that then we won’t shoot anything. It also taints the experience to people just beginning.

Iv seen a growing attitude of disrespect for anything but a big deer.

 

[Jason Snyder]

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.

Why let them grow up? Is there more intrinsic worth in killing a deer when it’s 7 vs when it’s 2 or 3? Who cares?

Some of us value the health benefits of eating the cleanest meat you’ll find, processed by our own hands. That has much more intrinsic worth to me than the age of the animal.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I have no issue trying to shoot big deer, I enjoy it too. I’ll be the first to say that I probably don’t fully agree with a lot of the hands that be, and how things happen, but I also understand that we can’t all fight each other, because of that we are losing.

That’s just the icing on the cake for me though(the antlers/horns). I also don’t see hunting as a sport.

Glamorization of trophy animals has put us in place where it’s not only making things increasingly more expensive, on top of becoming a cash cow to many state agencies; but it undermines the reasonable purpose of what we are doing.

Hard to justify to a non hunter that we are just out there for a big buck, and if we can’t shoot that then we won’t shoot anything. It also taints the experience to people just beginning.

Iv seen a growing attitude of disrespect for anything but a big deer.

We share similar thoughts and differ on some it’s a sport to me like war is a sport not like soccer if that makes a lick of sense. It’s part of life in a way many of us can’t explain sport is probably not the best language but it’s really one of the only ways many of us connect with the creation half decently anymore

 

[Hnthrdr]

Why let them grow up? Is there more intrinsic worth in killing a deer when it’s 7 vs when it’s 2 or 3? Who cares?

Some of us value the health benefits of eating the cleanest meat you’ll find, processed by our own hands. That has much more intrinsic worth to me than the age of the animal.

Is it more challenging? What if you have already killed 2 elk this year? Dump the forkie and go home day 1? Hell you often don’t have to leave a road or trailhead. Do you take antlers home or not?

 

[KurtR]

Mule deer if its not going on the wall i let them walk now. Elk im killing the first legal one. I suppose the difference is mule deer are 10 minutes from home. Elk have been 18 hours. Havnt shot a deer in 5 years my wife and kid both shoot a couple so we have enough meat but now even both of them are more into big deer vs just killing a deer. i would rather eat waterfowl any ways deer is turned into sausage and jerky

 

[Lawnboi]

We share similar thoughts and differ on some it’s a sport to me like war is a sport not like soccer if that makes a lick of sense. It’s part of life in a way many of us can’t explain sport is probably not the best language but it’s really one of the only ways many of us connect with the creation half decently anymore

I can understand that. I guess I see it as part of being a human. Like raising livestock, farming, or growing a garden.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I can understand that. I guess I see it as part of being a human. Like raising livestock, farming, or growing a garden.

Exactly, it is all of that and more for me. Raising livestock is probably as close as you get since it involves the act of killing, yet it’s still a little different in my mind from that but it’s something that has to be done for life to carry on. It’s sad that so many don’t acknowledge or appreciate what it takes for us to live on a daily basis, ie that death has to occur

 

[TaperPin]

Why let them grow up? Is there more intrinsic worth in killing a deer when it’s 7 vs when it’s 2 or 3? Who cares?

Some of us value the health benefits of eating the cleanest meat you’ll find, processed by our own hands. That has much more intrinsic worth to me than the age of the animal.

I do have to hand it to you bird hunting types, you guys do seem to enjoy the day to day hunt in a relaxed kind of way. One of my favorite deer hunting partners is primarily into birds and he is good company and often reminds me how lucky we are to be in the mountains regardless of what we’re after.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Why let them grow up? Is there more intrinsic worth in killing a deer when it’s 7 vs when it’s 2 or 3? Who cares?

My reason is that I would like mule deer buck-to-doe ratios to increase. It's much more difficult for me to kill an older, larger buck than a young one. Targeting larger bucks and passing on smaller ones has greatly reduced the number of deer I kill, which hopefully results in a contribution, be it very little, to increasing buck-to-doe ratios.

 

[Lawnboi]

Those contemplating herd stability when it comes to bucks aught to take a listen to a few of the podcasts that Robby has done with biologists from various states. Heck if your interested in mule deer health in general it’s a good listen.