When To Let A Buck Walk And Grow
You may have had pretty good hunting seasons in the past. There was no shortage of meat in your freezer and a fair share of racks in your collection. The thing is those racks aren’t as big as you’d like. You haven’t tagged a buck that you thought was large enough to mount on your wall yet, or maybe you have and want to expand your collection. You’ve seen the pictures that your friends have shown you of bucks that are twice the size of any you’ve tagged. So what’s the problem? You’re not a bad hunter, not missing shots and you shoot plenty of deer each year. You just don’t see many four to six year old bucks come through your hunting land.
The thing is, they can’t age to four years old if you shoot them at two.
Hunting For Meat
The problem is you’re shooting them too early. It takes time for a buck to grow and if you pick them off at two or three years old you’ll never see them grow into their prime. Maybe you’re shooting for meat and you’re not willing to wait a year to put that deer on your table. If that’s the case, go for doe. There are plenty of other deer that will make great sausage or jerky all while the young buck you spotted puts on a few more pounds and grows a larger rack. You can’t eat the horns of an immature buck either, so if meat is your game then you’re looking in the wrong place.
Hunting For Trophies
If you’re looking for a head to mount on your wall, wait another year or two. It’s better to miss out on a half sized buck one year to get a fully grown buck and a better rack next year. One buck you can proudly mount on your wall is worth many smaller bucks that you can’t brag to your friends about. And the feeling of satisfaction you get from mounting a buck you’ve invested years into is well worth the wait, and the bragging rights.
So this year when you have your eyes on a buck that you know isn’t fully grown, give it some time to become the trophy it will be in a year or two. Besides, it’s more fun to tell a story about the buck that you’ve been tracking for years.
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