Why such a to-do about antlers? You can't eat 'em.

[oldwood]

When we were young , my huntin' buddy and I chased a big buck over 'bout 1000 acres of Pa. state Game lands for four years. Came close to him several times , knew where he hid , where he hung out , which herd of does he ran with. Learned he had patterned us just like we did to him. Most of our hunting when we bumped into his majesty was in flint lock season on snow. His demise was by accident, First day of unmentionable rifle season , hunting buddy's brother shot a buck , and buddy went to help him eviscerate the buck on another hill top. On the way back over to buddy's hunting spot , he passed near one of his majesty's hiding spots and bumped into him w/o getting an opportunity. We both knew that patch of tall golden rod weeds was one of his majesty's favorite hides and he did what he always did, disappeared like smoke down a convenient drainage ditch. From the ditch he circled back in a snow squall right passed my father. The buck's antlers are hanging in my shop. We ate his majesty except for those danged hard tough to chew antlers. .................oldwood

 

[Eric Krewson]

Another angle people overlook is the available hunting opportunities where you live. I have friends who go to the Midwest to hunt and marvel at the amount of deer and the availability of big bucks. One friend who goes every year said the Midwest bucks are not near a weary as an Alabama or Tennessee buck and much easier to get a bow shot on.

The toughest deer I ever hunted was in a county that allowed dog hunting. These deer were so wired that the slight tick from setting your set trigger would send them over the far ridge at break neck speed. After running a no dog club in this county for 15 years I vowed to never hunt a dog running county again and haven't. We were an archery and black powder club on 4000 acres, dog runners would drop their dogs on our boundaries because they knew the dogs would strike on our land and hopefully run the deer to them. 50% of my hunts on this land were ruined by trespassing dogs. Big bucks in this county were as scarce as hair on a frog, I never met a dog hunter that wasn't a brown its down type. Dogs and buckshot is a deadly combination.

My point is; you can be an exclusive big buck hunter if you live where big bucks live. If you hunt the kind of land I have to hunt you take what you can.

 

[Ames]

Of course, I've seen those so called older, smarter, crafty mature bucks do some darn stupid things. Like when I was leaning against the only mature tree around watching a hillside at sunset this year. And he walks into view, staring at me as he walks, until he was 7 yards broadside without so much as a blade of grass between us. Over 180 dressed and still don't know what he was thinking.

 

[GAHUNTER60]

Of course, I've seen those so called older, smarter, crafty mature bucks do some darn stupid things. Like when I was leaning against the only mature tree around watching a hillside at sunset this year. And he walks into view, staring at me as he walks, until he was 7 yards broadside without so much as a blade of grass between us. Over 180 dressed and still don't know what he was thinking.

Usually when a big one does do something stupid, it's because "visions of sugar plums dance in their head!" And by "sugar plums," I mean hot females!

The exact same thing that got me, and probably you, in trouble in high school, college, the biker bar down the street and just about everywhere else when we were young bucks in rut!

 

[Walkingeagle]

Well Spence, as stated earlier, meat is my trophy, not antlers. Perhaps if I ever spend big $$ on a dream hunt I may be more choosey, but likely not. In my life I have passed on rather large antlered moose for the small 1.5 yr old bull beside him. Way better meat. Last year I took a meat mullie that was the first to give me a decent shot. It just so happens that it was a 5x5 buck that would likely score mid 170’s if I ever measured it. Most people would be ecstatic with that as a once in a lifetime buck. Not me. Only deer I ever got mounted was a 180 ish mullie I got talked into mounting. Regretted it since as money not well spent. I shot last year’s meat buck after passing on a very large mullie that people didn’t believe me about (in-laws family farm, they are trophy hunters). I fully described to all of them exactly the deer’s rack. About 10 days later their neighbours shot him and they sent me a couple pics asking if that was him. I said yes. They responded that he measures 223”, you would not have passed him!! I said “you don’t know me well”.
Anyhow, them big animals are nice to see, but not best to eat.
Side note, younger deer have less chance of CWD.
Walk

 

[Mickey Merrie]

Good Sunday afternoon to you all! My what a wonderful website this is! If any of you are just lurking, like I usually do and simply click on the email, "Yesterday's Forum Activity" and read what interests you? Well stop it and log in, as it is the difference between a post card and a Library!

I love the diversity of opinion and technique shared here! We all (hopefully) learn from our experiences, but a wise man once said, "Work smart not hard." I took that to mean, If I work smart and hard I can avoid a lot of problems too! When I combine that with learning from others experiences and prior mistakes, I might avoid repeating or experiencing my own frustrations. So thanks to you all for your sharing here, as I am the better for it!

As for my own experience, I am 62 now and been hunting for a half century here in western Pennsylvania, with brief forays into NY, Ohio, West Virginia and even Colorado. I've hunted with every legal implement available and been pleased to do so. Archery has been fun, but nothing like the Flinchlock! I shot a doe this year with a pistol and that was fun, but nothing like my Lefty Lyman Deerstalker! I saved a tag for the post Christmas season.

Yes I hunt for the meat and love it prepared most any way, though canned is hard to beat! I married the daughter of "Kentucky Folk" and she was raised on Pennsylvania Game as her parents moved here from "The Little Frozen" area of eastern Kentucky for work in the 40's and to get her dad out of those coal mines...

I say all that to say this: She has a lifetime of eating venison and will tell you that a nice buck has more meat then all others and when properly cared for from the shot to the pot will taste as good as any others and often is better! But you got to get rid of all fat and silver skin and not overcook it.

I've been blessed to harvest about a hundred of these fine animals in all age shape and gender. I have further been blessed to be mentored by men, now long gone, who taught me well the way to care for the game. Back in my formative years you were lucky to see, let alone harvest any buck bigger then a spike or forked horn. Heck I won a camp buck pool one year in the 70's with a 5 point which lead all 25 participants in the pool. Back then in Pa. you could see upwards to a hundred deer in a day and all bald as a cue ball. There were a million plus in the woods here and it was bucks only. It sounded like a war they say on every first day. After 2 weeks of bucks only we got 2 or 3 days of doe season, when most folks filled their freezer.

So yes! The antlers had a significance in Pa. Today with 1/3 the hunters and half the deer we have antler restrictions as pointed out above, and many different rules, like doe opening in the second week of buck season. And the changes have been good in some respects but not in others...but that would be an entirely different post.

In all those years I never felt like I was competing against every other hunter (even though I did win that buck pool...It's just what we did back then) and in fact am just as happy to hear everyone else's story as to tell mine. One thing I did learn though is that, "No man with a big fish sneaks home through the alley!"

Hunt for your own reasons and in the way that pleases you! Then allow that same thought process for those who hunt for their own pleasure!
There is no "one right way" and the rest are wrong! I love each season for it's own experience. Some folk hunt with 50 years of experience and others with one years experience for 50 seasons! What matters is that they are content in their own hunt. I began to realize this when I saw my mentors, most now long gone and the remaining few now long past able, went from being meat hunters with many mouths to feed, to teachers with little time to hunt for themselves, to hunting big ones for the challenge, to finally going out and hunting their memories of hunts past. "There is the rock Joe shot the double main beam from." Or "Where is that big double Hemlock Jack shot that pie bald from back in the 80's?" Those few remaining mentors, (my father never hunted) now hunt through my stories I can share with them, along with some back strap!

Hunting is a lot more than harvesting. It is a shared experience and a scrapbook full of memories, be they big bodies, big racks, full game poles or just that encounter with a bobcat, bear, eagle or family of squirrels. Enjoy the journey friends and share them, please? We don't have long till the season closes for the last time on the pastime we so love!

 

[Spikebuck]

Well said, Mickey!

 

[tenngun]

I don’t like to take pictures of the dead, she came home with me for dinner

 

[FishDFly]

"Does anyone care to discuss why deer hunting should have always been a game of “my antlers are bigger than yours”? What is there about taking a buck with large antlers that’s better than one with small ones, or even a doe? Is it just a matter of machismo?"

Hunting is a personal pursuit. As long as the personal is happy with what he does and it is legal, that is all that is important.

What a person does hunting should not be a concern to others as long as it is legal.

If I want to wear a pink tutu, green leotards and pointy shoes, it should not bother anyone.

 

[SDSmlf]

If I want to wear a pink tutu, green leotards and pointy shoes, it should not bother anyone.

Need a picture. Hope I can unsee it.

 

[FishnRod]

If I want to wear a pink tutu, green leotards and pointy shoes, it should not bother anyone.

Not allowed in elk camp

 

[FishDFly]

If elk cannot see orange, pink should bother them and they eat green stuff.

 

[FlyingMountainBoomer]

I hunt with some folks who are all over the spectrum:. Some only shoot big racks, some kill anything that moves. I prefer to wait for a medium sized doe with no fawn or medium sized buck with oddball rack (too small for his size, stunted on one side, etc). I care more about the quality of the meat, and am just as content watching bucks chase as I am shooting at them. I process everything myself, and find that one a year does fine. Others kill anything with a nice rack, but don't even like deer meat. I don't understand them, or the buck fever that turns something I find relaxing into a chore. But, it's not my land, so it's not my place to say anything.... At least was long as they keep their opinions about my choice of weapons and targets to themselves. I'm old enough that I don't need to carry a buck around in the back of my truck showing everyone in the county and beating my chest to feel like a man. Just my .02, your mileage may vary.

 

[Jim Wag]

If I want to wear a pink tutu, green leotards and pointy shoes, it should not bother anyone.

I might try the leotards
If they keep my legs warm
When its breezy

Jim in La Luz

 

[MIOutdoorsman]

I hunt with some folks who are all over the spectrum:...Others kill anything with a nice rack, but don't even like deer meat. I don't understand them,.

I hunt alone, or with one or both brothers, and we all love the venison we take home. I won't judge others for hunting only for big racks, or the first legal deer that crosses their path, but if a guy or gal doesn't like venison, they really should donate it to food pantries that accept it, or to friends who would enjoy it. I'd hate to see someone kill an animal ONLY for the rack, and then toss the meat. That would, in my opinion, be a shame, and a cause for me to personally not hunt with that person again.

 

[Bob McBride]

I’m with the guys above who think nitpicking other peoples choices should be left to the knitting circle....

 

[FishDFly]

"I might try the leotards"

I have read that wearing panty hose will help with keeping warm.

 

[Carbon 6]

I’m with the guys above who think nitpicking other peoples choices should be left to the knitting circle....

Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but deer hunting has "evolved" in my area.
Gone are the days of men getting together and enjoying each others company and participating in the hunt. Gone are the days of "deer camp".
Now fat men sit alone in huts controlling 1000's of acres of hunting land in search of only a trophy to hang on their wall.
It's become a competitive and negative aspect, pitting not man against deer, but man against man for control.
If this hasn't happened to you yet count your blessings, it's probably on it's way.

 

[Bob McBride]

Now fat men sit alone in huts controlling 1000's of acres

Words uttered since the dawn of time, sadly, and until the world matches the engraving on the Georgia Guidestone there’s no fixing it. IMO.

 

[FishDFly]

Everything changes.

No use in worrying about what you cannot control.

How many here are sending in messages from their deer blind versus sitting at home?