Letting small bucks walk?

[DaveT]

Here's what I would like to see.

Make the metro area 601 a trophy/QDM experiment. For 5 years we put some type of antler restrictions or earn a buck in place. Heck, I'd even go for no buck harvest at all for 2 years, then antler restrictions after that. There are plenty of deer in the metro, we had unlimited antlerless tags this year. You wouldn't be eliminating much opportunity, as there are apparently does behind every tree. A small insert in your synopsis about not shooting buck fawns and some other educational stuff, and let's see what happens. If you have tried to get permission to hunt in the metro area, you already know how hard it is to get, having a lot of trophy bucks isn't going to affect land prices, they are already sky high.

Poll the hunters before and after and see what they think.

My bet is we'd be somewhere around 50/50 for and against before it starts and closer to 90 for and 10 against after.

[kr8r.tom]

the dnr is already doing an experament on antler restrictions in some state park hunts,(along with earn a buck) if the goal is to see a difference in antler development i think this will give a false study because the state parks it's more of a balanced age structure compared to the real world of 95% 1.5 year old bucks to 5% 2.5+.

so the answer from the dnr will be: "antler restrictions don't make a viable difference in antler development, so go ahead and kill all the little guys you see!"

[Eric Doll]

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[picksbigwagon]

Let's remember to keep this on the topic at the top of this post. If we continue with accusations and verbal bashing, I will shut this topic down.

[Musky Buck]

I just think we went through the glory years of deer hunting MN already and we're wondering how or if we can get that back. Maybe we can, maybe we can't. I feel our state is about maxed out when it comes to deer hunters, sure we can add more, but our deer already seem very pressured in the area I hunt. What are the license sales from MN compared to other states around us for bow,muzzy,rifle ? The deer harvest should reflect that number. Technology has changed everything including deer hunting. How many of you still use a hand ice auger ? How many T-cams are in MN woods now. New bullets,guns,muskets,etccell phones,texting etc.Times have changed. Get the property owners together and discuss passing on young bucks, that's about all you can do and just focus on your hunting area and the bigger bucks which will be tougher to get, there simply will be more of them around.

[picksbigwagon]

well said

[Musky Buck]

The title to this topic is part of the issue, small bucks do walk around too much during the rut. But, that matters not on my land and the neighbors, none of us including the youngsters shoot little bucks. We just enjoy them for what they hopefully will become and I like watching them act like big shots grunting and acting silly. I have had 4 encounters with little bucks chasing a doe only to have the mature buck a few minutes behind following along. For me it was 1994, last little 8 pointer I took. I had zero fun field dressing it and little if no satisfaction. I had 2 days to hunt so I figured I better take him. Now, I'd rather eat my tag then wrap it around a yearlings leg. When that day comes for you you'll never go back, it takes some shorter or longer periods of time to get to that point. 1 last note. I feel fortunate to have good Ottertail county ground to hunt which I have seen 74 antlered bucks since 1983 during rifle season. Now, if I hunted lets say near Lake George, I doubt I would've seen as many bucks. Dad hunted up there for years and he was lucky to see a buck most seasons. Things would be way different depending on where in the state I hunted.

[fishermusk]

The Button Buck

An 8 pointer, 4 pointer and a button buck are standing by a field browsing on acorns.

The 8 pointer says, 'I'm happy with my 10 does, we're really getting along.'

The 4 pointer says, 'I'm happy as heck with my 5, they really take care of me!'

The Button buck says, 'My two are all right, better than nothing I guess.'

Then all of a sudden a GIANT 14 pointer walks out into the field. The three bucks had never seen anything like him before, they were in awe. The big buck made a huge scrape and [PoorWordUsage] in it, rubbed a tree the size of a telephone pole and snapped it off at the ground! The three bucks looked on in amazement.

The 8 pointer says, 'I could probably get by with 4 does...........Who really needs 10 anyway?'

The 4 pointer says, 'You know............. Come to think of it, I only really use one or two of mine!'

The button buck was silent, as the other two bucks look over to him in confusion. Suddenly the yearling runs out into the middle of the field! He rips and tears up some grass........ [PoorWordUsage] all over the place, snorts & wheezes, rubs his head raw on a tree and chews a lickin branch clean off! Then he runs back over to his buddies.

His friends immediately ask him, 'What the heck are you doing!?'

'I'm just makin' sure that big sumbitch knows I'm a buck!'

[pinkfloyd4ever]

That says it all

[dspohn]

Haha nice.

[Bear55]

Ha Ha that is good stuff.

[lungdeflator]

props to you for letting him walk. The title shouldnt be "Letting young bucks walk?", it should be "let young bucks walk." After all the surveys the DNR and other hunting organizations have done, most people have said they want to see bigger bucks. You catch fish and release tem because they are too small, but what are the chances you will catch that fish again when it is bigger? Same goes for deer except you can see much better results if you let smaller ones go, and more then likely you WILL see the same deer again.