Passing on Bucks

[us326544]

I live in North Central MN in an area where it is really difficult to find a 4 year old deer on public land to hunt. I only hunt mature bucks, so I probably pass 2-3 115-125" deer every year. They almost always get shot during gun season. However, last year I passed this one and I am excited to see he made it. He was a 3 year old 8 that would score 115" or so. This year he is a 10 but looks like he has a big frame. If I am blessed to see him in range, he would not get a pass again. Looks like he packed on a few inches anyway.

Its tough for me to go so long without a chance at a good one, but I just know that the 3 year old bucks that I could take don't do it for me and killing them would guarantee they wouldn't grow to maturity. I have bowhunted for 20 years and have never killed a mature deer (with my bow). I usually just kill a doe the last week of the season to put meat on the table and keep my skills sharp.

[Spysar]

Pass on several yearly. A couple times I ate tag soup....sometimes not. My utube channel has a few I passed.

[bbvideo=425,350]https://youtu.be/7XDCv4LODFw[/bbvideo]

that's good footage! what was that under you that he was sniffing? Dirt looked kicked up... was that a scrape?

Believe it or not, I pissed out of my stand and the buck was very curious about it.

[Zona]

I believe it. I watched one lap it up off the leaves. Hope that doesn't count as a mineral lick. Illegal here haha.

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[Jackson Marsh]

I'm not picky, I shoot what I feel like.

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[purebowhunting]

I pass on 2 yo and younger, a 3 if it passed the eye test will get an arrow but most 3 yo get a pass. I try to keep the mindset that if another hunter kills him he'll be happier than I. I don't have many passed buck I regret passing, just an encounter to try to learn from.

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[rizzo999]

Last year I had the great fortune to hunt a smaller piece of public land that had just opened that was bordered by outfitted property. In fact, the property I was hunting had been an outfitted property 3 years prior. The amount of deer I saw during the week was insane which made passing deer quite easy! Closer to home, a 2.5 yr old might not be so lucky...

[olivertractor]

It's been easy to pass on 120" bucks for years, always had doe tags, but now I don't , hmmmm?

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