What percentage of hunters pass on 1 year old bucks?

[john1984]

I know Dan just stated in my other thread that only 1 out of 100 hunters will pass on any deer.

So what is your opinion on your public land 1 year old bucks???

What percentage of public land hunters will pass on a 1.5 year old buck in YOUR neck of the woods????

Take your best guess. Thanks

[Dewey]

I think the percentage that pass on a 1 year old is pretty low. I'm guessing less than 20%. Most guys out there just want to fill their buck tag and are not too choosy about it. Very few put in the time that we do so they hate to pass up any opportunity if they see horns.

[Edcyclopedia]

Thinking about it I believe this falls under the parento rule 80/20.
20% of the hunters are successful with 80% of the deer...

So of those 20% - my guestimate is 1/3 pass them (after all they do like red meat too, not just racks, so opportunity and/or amount of tags will play into this a fair aount)
Of those 80% that don't get much, I'd go 5-10% pass, as they want big racks and will hold out, just aren't too consistent...

[jhpa]

In my neck of the woods, I'd say under 10% will pass. The mentality is mostly that "the deer won't survive to a bigger age class anyway, the next guy will just shoot him. So, if it'll be dead anyway, it might as well be my deer."

Can't say I thought any different until relatively recently.

[Hawthorne]

Interesting question. I think it’s really low on the public lands I hunt. Probably 5%.I think it’s talked about a lot with hunters but few practice it

[Tennhunter3]

99 percent here shoot the little ones.

And I'm the one that lets 1-2 year olds walk.

[Boogieman1]

Tough call here, this state promotes shooting 1 year olds and anything else with milk on its lips. It's actually a 2 buck county I hunt, you are allowed one buck considered trophy over 13" inside spread and one spike or button. I refuse to shoot a spike for personal reasons so I consider it a one buck county. Don't think near as many hunters pass as those who didn't see squat, missed or wounded and say they passed. My way of thinking is if your goal is a mature buck and your settling for a younger age class it just makes things harder for u the following year. The old theory if I don't shoot him someone else will makes zero sense to me.

[Tufrthnails]

In KY a lot of the guys near us will pass the one year olds, but with the one buck rule they can do that pretty easily they got a lot of time to kill one buck the 2 year old in that 125" area start to get a hammered pretty hard from what I see up there. In FL with the recent 3 points on one side rule a lot more of them are getting passed up. I couldn't put a number on it, but we are seeing a lot better deer every year in the areas I hunt and what is coming into the check stations is by far better rack sizes overall. Their are still a whole lot shooting anything legal, but overall that is a whole lot better then all the forks and spikes I used to see up at the stations.

[First Sit]

On Indiana public almost everyone shoots everything no exceptions does, buttons, small bucks. Very very few guys pass bucks on public some do but the vast majority don't. I'm seeing more people pass young bucks than 10 years ago on private but Indiana buck harvest is still roughly 80-85% 1.5 yr olds statewide with around 10 % or so being 2.5yr.

Most of the dead heads I find are 1.5yr bucks too.

[thwack16]

Passing 1.5 year olds?? I'm not sure the last time I saw an adult shoot a 1.5 year old buck. Our state antler regs make it nearly impossible for you to legally shoot one, not to mention most public land having even stiffer antler regs. I figure a good 90% of adults are passing every 1.5 year old buck they see. For youth, however, any buck is legal. I feel that the majority are still being passed by youth though.

Here is a snippet of the ages of the buck harvest from 2016-17 season for two WMAs I hunt. Every deer killed must be turned in with certain measurements along with jawbones pulled.





I really can't imagine that a high percentage of people are killing 1.5 year olds in 1 buck states.

[First Sit]

Passing 1.5 year olds?? I'm not sure the last time I saw an adult shoot a 1.5 year old buck. Our state antler regs make it nearly impossible for you to legally shoot one, not to mention most public land having even stiffer antler regs. I figure a good 90% of adults are passing every 1.5 year old buck they see. For youth, however, any buck is legal. I feel that the majority are still being passed by youth though.

Here is a snippet of the ages of the buck harvest from 2016-17 season for two WMAs I hunt. Every deer killed must be turned in with certain measurements along with jawbones pulled.





I really can't imagine that a high percentage of people are killing 1.5 year olds in 1 buck states.

Some good looking numbers right there! What state is this MS?

[mike perry]

The percentage of hunters in the area of PA I hunt that pass year and a half old bucks is probably higher than most areas because we have a 4 point on one side antler restriction here. Now I’m sure there not many hunters passing a legal buck. They really hammer the 2 1/2 year olds around here. Very few bucks make it past 3 1/2 in area 1A and 1B in NW PA

[Jonny]

Pretty low by me based off the few hunters I know who shoot everything. I think some come in and pass stuff up.


My family filled every buck tag they had last year on spikes. I shot the biggest buck of the year last year and that’s a rack that just goes on the woodpile.

I like to think I’ll pass spikes, but honestly I can’t say I always will. With a bow, more likely. Gun, it dies unless it’s a fawn. Way too far of a drag to knowingly shoot a fawn.

[Jackson Marsh]

I killed one a couple of years ago. ....it was delicious

[Swampbuck]

Statewide I would imagine only about 10% or less are passing.

We get 3 buck tags here so people start passing if they get a couple.

The swamp I hunt has better percentages. Many guys that put the work want the reward and pass. Maybe it's 30%.. the rest are fine tagging out on spikes if they can