Passing a buck.

[Hnthrdr]

Good thread, what’s that old Supreme Court saying about porn? “ I know it when I see it” I sort of use that logic when hunting these days, especially MD. I shot some small bucks to start, but now if I have to try to sell myself on shooting I would rather pass. I like the challenge of looking for big bucks especially in marginal units. Same thing with bulls, this was the first year I passed on rag horns, I have meat in the freezer and it led to some incredible encounters with some great bulls, didn’t punch my tag but had some unreal experiences, looking forward to the few days I get to hunt for 3rd rifle, I’ll be helping some buddies bag bucks and hoping that I can turn one up that tips my trigger

 

[huntnful]

No week long hunts yet, they have school/sports obligations typically.

Soon then!!! Still, even 2 days hunting together is worth more than just about anything.

I don’t remember a single sporting event that stands out as a memory with my dad, and he went to everything. But I remember almost every time we’ve gone hunting together. That’s from the son’s perspective lol.

I think my literal earliest memory ever is my dad taking us dove hunting with him on opening day, instead of taking us to school. I was probably 6 lol. And we never went to school on opening day of dove season again if it landed on a week day, throughout all of our schooling years haha.

 

[RockAndSage]

Working slowly along a rocky, shaded draw hunting desert mule deer. These deer saw me before I saw them, at 165 yards. Slow and methodical movements allowed me to keep them from blowing out for several minutes. As soon as I saw them, I slowly sat down, slipped my shoulder straps off from my pack, extended my bipod legs to a seated position height and looked over the buck. He was a decent 3x3 with probably 3” eyeguards. I decided to pass him, but got a pretty cool picture of what I thought really depicted “passing a buck”.

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I think I’ve created much more opportunities in the field by moving slowly after I’ve been spotted by an animal vs. being in a hurry to yank my gear off and send a round. It’s good to be capable of speed, but I don’t think it should be the default setting upon initially spotting an animal that’s already aware of your presence.

Also just moving slowly through any country that you think animals might be present in. They seem to take much more time analyzing small movements than big fast rushed movements.

I couldn't agree more on the importance of moving slow. Deer literally have a faster "refresh" rate on their eyeballs than humans do - what we think is kinda slow comes across to them as jerky, fast, eye-catching movement. It's a hardware thing.