Let walk or drop the hammer?
 

My brother finally decided he wanted to give hunting a try. He had these two does walk out 40 yards from the stand and let em walk. Don't know about yall but either one would have been a good one for your first.

I'd dropped that one in the front for sure! I hunt for the meat!

Haha no doubt....he said they looked too small. We gave him a hard time because he saw a fawn the night before that might have weighed 40 pounds. Now that is too small. :D

I faced the same problem. I have yet to kill a deer. And on the last hunt of last years season, I had 2 doe walk out about 30 yards. Only problem was I think my black lab was bigger than these deer so I just watched to see if a buck would come then let them walk off. Headed to the alexandria area this weekend to try and get that first one.

Wow! If it didn't excite him, then maybe he is wanting a buck. Has he watched hunting shows before? All these hunting shows nowadays with big bucks are indoctrinating that you have to kill a big buck. Maybe deer hunting is not his thing. Take him duck hunting and you may just create a monster:) May take him squirrel hunting also, because you actually 'hunt' the animal. You have to see them and be quiet stalking them.

No offense, but I have been in that situation a hundred times in a big box stand overlooking a food plot or corn feeder and it doesn't do it for me either.

Those might go 50lbs! Why give him a hard time for waiting on a good size deer to come out? I am so glad we moved out hunting operations to Ms where we have deer, and a healthy herd so we don't have to make the kids shoot anything that comes out, otherwise some "brown its down" shooter will take it. To each his own, but he should have gotten a pat on the back and told he did good by not shooting a deer that has a 8" backstrap! LOL!

Brown=down, just neck shot the smaller ones so less meat wasted

Drop 'em like its hot !!!

I hear ya on the box stand looking over a food plot. That is my grandpaws spot,I hunt in the woods with lock-ons. Only time I sit in a box stand is when it's raining.

Not everyone is lucky enough to hunt in mississippi,no doubt they have alot of deer. Our lease has a great deer heard,only bad thing is they run dogs when the season opens. We hate it,but they stay away from our areas for the most part when running dogs. Would love to find a lease with more focus on managment but we have too much time and money invested to start over. Hard to tell with the pic but the one on the left is bigger than 50 pounds. To be clear we were not giving him a hard time,just some loving smack talking. Im glad he finally got out in nature. He has been battling drug and alcohol problems and finally got his head right. I think he found his new addiction,he was talking about going back on the drive home.

Meat hunter here. If it walks out on me, its coming home with me. Only time I would wait for a bigger one is if I know he's there.

I had the same delima recently and it took alot of gonads to make the call to do it. Man, its the best thing that ever happend to us! Woke up Saturday morning to find deer tracks outside our back door, 15 yards!!!!! Literally, 15 yards from our back door, in between our skinning/storage shed and we have them all around the house! All of that for the same price I was paying in Winn Parish where they hunted dogs, from the roads, and basically made a nice place a shooting gallery if you had hair. I am not knocking it, I grew up hunting LA, I just find it more enjoyable to put my kids/wife in a position to see animals and harvest mature deer.

For me, I get my enjoyment by putting them on a stand, then going to the other side of the property to check pig traps, or feed a swamp area to shoot a pig. Until the rut starts, I find sitting in a box or tree boring. I ut everyone out this past Saturday and went cook and watch LSU, then went ride and pick them up. Then after the game, went bloodtrail a deer with my dog. That gets my blood pumping more than anything nowadays, so to each his own. Just remember, follow your heart on what you enjoy and it always works out. For me, that meant spending the time to research and find a spot - and the time/energy to MOVE!

I hear ya bro,when it all boils down to it it's all about enjoying gods wonderful creation. I am starting to get the same way. Rut has started on our property. Saw a mature buck chasing two does 200 yards down a pipeline friday morning but could not pick my gun up quick enough. Just seeing that buck chasing got my heart pumping! Gotta love it.

Thats good of you, hope he snaps out of his funk. The outdoors has helped many people get out that funk

No doubt....I also had the same issues but never took it to the level he did. Fishing and hunting is one of the main reasons I keep my sanity along with the big man upstairs. He was never much of a outdoors type person growing up,but he is coming around.

I am all about managing the heard and I enjoy killing a big buck and I enjoy just sitting and watching deer some days but if I don't have meat in the freezer or on the ground and a decent doe walks out I am going to shoot her. If you don't shoot some does then your heard gets out of ratio and if all you shoot is old big breeding does you reduce your number of fawns for next yr, so I shoot younger does for meat and to protect the heard.

X2.....That is why I didn't post pics of the two 80 and 90 pound does I killed this year. Alot of people think they gotta be 100+ to kill. Them youngins sure taste good too. ;)

If I have a doe with yearling walk out, mama gonna walk

Worked a checkpoint at clear creek last fall for a wildlife class. Another group was at fort polk. Someone checked in a 27lb "doe".

In my opinion, which I'm entitled to be wrong, you have two different types of hunts. You have a meat hunt and you have trophy hunt. That's just my opinion.


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I use to get my panties in a wad about "shoot this one or that one", but now I just don't care to argue anymore. If it's legal and you shoot it, that is you and who am I to say anything. On the same topic, I don't allow my kids to shoot ANY deer under 90-100 lbs. If they do, they understand that they can hunt the rest of the year, but they will not be shooting anything else!

I do this because I want to insure they do not accidently shoot a button buck. Their is no way to tell the difference of two yearlings that are 100 yards away in a low light situation. I will bet one of my paychecks that one of the two deer posted in this thread was a button buck and I do not want them to shoot those because that just makes the ratio harder to balance. So far this year, we have shot 2 does which our kids have harvested, but I need them to shoot at least 4 more. I passed on a doe this weekend which I eastimated at 100lbs, only because she was a young deer.

I don't agree with that,but everyone has opinions.....they all stink! If one of your kids kills a deer 90-100 pounds and have a mature buck with a nice rack come out they can't kill it?

Nope, if they drop a baby deer, they have to ice their trigger fingers for the rest of the year!! Momma also!

You obviously don't know my kids!!!! Them boys can shoot, and will drop the hammer on anything because they are young and want to kill em'. If I don't teach them patience and game management, then I am part of the problem. So it has helped them become better hunters and better sportsman. When you have young ones you will see!

Sometimes it is just too hard to judge the weight. I would have to break that rule if a big ole buck walked out. Do you let them bring a gun after killing a deer not up to your standards?

Come on Man!!! Hard to judge the weight????? If the deer is smaller than your lab, don't shoot it! If two small deer come in together, they are probably sister/brother don't shoot! If the deer has his head between momma's legs, he is still sucking don't shoot!

If my kids can do it, so can you!!!! And I have not had to enforce the rule since they are able to pass on baby deer. But they know I will, and if that means them sitting in the camp while we hunt, so be it. Otherwise, I would have at least 1 maybe 2 button heads hanging in the shed every year. I have to keep them from pulling the trigger long enough that they learn not to shoot everything that walks out. What's even tougher is the MS laws regarding bucks. My 17 y/o has to follow the law jus tlike me for width/length, but the 3 other ones are legal to shoot "any" buck. To make it fair and consistent, they all follow the rules of Zone 1.

I don't care what you say it is hard to judge the weight under some situations. Under low light in the morning or evening it can be tough. They grow on you sometimes too. I shot a 130 pound doe last year that I though was under 100 pounds and almost didn't shoot. I was shocked when I walked up to her and realized the size of the deer. If that works for you and your family,more power to you!

if at all possible I dont make shots at or over 100yrs, makes it easier to tell what you are shooting and of all the places I have hunted including west Texas I have never had to make a shot that far

Use them as live decoys....never know what else may walk out.

I love the thrill of hunting bucks,but no matter how much you cook em those horns never get tender. ;)

The evening I killed my first buck, I was watching two does and debating on whether or not to take one. Good thing I had patience because the beautiful 8pt I have on my wall came out shortly after. I wasn't "trophy" hunting and have let many does walk over the past few years just to see if the buck showed up and it finally paid off!

Shoot em! Try your best to make sure it's not a bb, but I read in deer and deer hunting that 82% of bb will not be on your property next year, if people get so scared of shooting bb they will rarely pull trigger on does an your ratio will suffer. Who cares what size a doe is , the smaller the more tender the meat.

Same here ! I've got 4 does this year only one over 100 lbs fifth deer was a button buck. It happens

Yes during the rut I do it a lil differently

Click click BOOOOOM

Lmao ditto!

IMO if you want meat, shoot a doe but let the young bucks walk.

You must be in this picture.....Nov. 30, 2010.

Many years ago.... I started off killing 2 does early in the season that weighed 80-90 lbs.

I told myself I would not shoot unless it was over 100 lbs. A few weeks later I spotted a doe with a nice size fawn. I said..... nope, she looked to be about the same size as the first 2. She stayed near me for a long time, so I got a good look. She grew a little bigger each minute I watched her.

After dragging her a little ways, I knew she was over 100 lbs. By the time I got back to the boat, she felt like 110-115 lbs. She ended up weighing 125 lbs.

IMO.... most hunters guess the weight of a deer to be more than what they actually weigh.

Perfect example of weight guessing. It was my first deer when I turned 17 and took him with a shotgun at 25 yards when we were running dogs in the swamp. I guess it was the excitement of actually seeing something that made me not realize how small he was. I really don't remember pulling the trigger or walking across the bayou to go get him but after I shot, I called my brother in law and said, "I just shot a big ole doe." Then after going get him and sitting down, I remember muttering, "Jeez this thing is small." Turned out to be 48 pounds and the guy down the line from me said that mine was walking with a 110lb doe he killed. And my brother in law shot a 100lb doe.

I used to say brown its down but now I will take the time to size up a deer. To me, anything that looks 75 and up is fair game. Deer don't get that big where I hunt.

Thats him in the black looking down at a clipboard lol

I worked with all those ldwf employees, must have been out of the picture. I was there that day. Guy working the back of the truck was taking the brainstem from lactating females ti check for chronic wasting disease.

Are you at ULL or McNeese? Biology Major?

Me too, you can't put antlers in the sausage.

My first deer was a button buck. Wouldnt trade that shot for the world.

Also, I think that each person has the right to manage what they shoot they way that they see fit. You have to keep in mind that the law is there for a reason. If something is legal, its legal. If its not, its not. I wouldn't criticize anyone for taking a legal deer.

^^^ I agree with that. Different strokes for different folks. If you have a lease in Mississippi, you can manage your herd a little different than you can in say Vermillion Parish, many many more deer and big difference in nutrition.

Talked to my lil bro about this last night. He said go big or go home for his first,he might be hunting for a while! haha

haha no kidding, but hey if he has the patience to wait it out more power to him

No doubt...we shall see we are going back in a week or so.

Well you could, it would hurt a little though