Letting the little bucks grow works!

[Jeff S]

For many years we shot the first buck to come along. Never saw any trophy class bucks in all those years. Five years ago we decided to not shoot any buck we would not put on the wall.

What a dramitic change we have seen. Two years ago I took a 140 class 9 point. This year I have four trophies on my trail cameras. One of which I missed a couple weeks ago.

This improvment has amazed me. I had my doubts it would work because we only have 93 acres we are managing. You don't need a large tract of land to make this work.

Minnesota could be another Iowa or Kansas if we manage our bucks properly.

The good old days may be just starting

[Stratosman]

I hunt private land and am pretty selective, others in my party of five are not. And neither are the guys in the 1st gun season that hunt the same property. I am the only one that bowhunts the land (about 320 acres) and wish I could convince the others to manage the herd better, but it would never fly.

[FOOT]

Jeff, I agree.

Unfortunately we tried it in our area around Battle Lake but it isn't big enough to hold the deer. They travel in and out and give other parties opportunities. We've tried suggesting to the other hunters to let the little baskets go but nothing doing. They shoot anything with horns.

With the proliferation of doe tags we would shoot the does for meat and tried to let the little bucks grow.

Don't get me wrong, these other hunters have every right to shoot a small buck it would be nice if they would let them grow.

[PerchJerker]

Agreed - you have to let the little bucks live for a few years in order to have big bucks. Things like genes and nutrition don't mean anything if virtually every 1.5 year old buck gets shot. I like looking at the photos of racks from the same deer from every year of their life. 2.5 year old bucks have nice racks, but WOW, if they live to 3.5 or 4.5 then you're getting some really big racks and they should be deer anyone would be proud to shoot. Let 'em go so they can grow.

[Piker]

I think it's a great idea to let all young bucks walk. The best deer hunting is when buck/doe is closest to 50/50. Some deer will never get great racks, yet most of them will be very nice at 3 1/2 years.

I don't think the DNR/State should regulate this. I don't think it's appropriate to define a "trophy". I think people should start Quality Deer Management first with themselves. Then move on to their hunting party and their neighbors. I think the climate needs to be changed where a hunter isn't embarrassed to say they only shot a doe. Shoot a couple does, then shoot a mature buck.