First week.. what would you do?

[mowin]

Everyone wants to shoot a big buck for the area. So for those that can be selective, let's say you have two bucks that are "shooters". 

It's the first week of the archery season. The #2 walks by.  Are you shooting, or are you going to pass because it too early, and you just love the thrill of the chase? 

[Swamp_bucks]

I’m shooting unless number 1 is right behind him.  Still a shooter on the list not going to let it pass.  

[Nomad]

I’m shooting it ,I like a nice long break before gun .

[grampy]

The old saying, a buck on the ground is worth two in the bush......or something like that. Is true.

I've held out for a particular buck. Passed up a couple nice ones. Ate tag soup. One of my best seasons ever.

[SportsmanNH]

After careful thought and debate for about 0.013 seconds my decision would be to :  SEND IT !!!  

[Moho81]

First shooter in range gets an arrow 

[Robhuntandfish]

I send it. Then I use the great option we have of a second buck tag and hunt the northern zone rifle for a buck.  This is always my backup option and I also enjoy still hunting the big woods.  And I tend not to do this very much if still after a bow buck on our property. 

In the last few years I have enjoyed trying to hold out for a big buck.  For multiple reasons.  I get to hunt longer, I like the challenge, I've got more options to fill the freezer with more deer now on our property.  In the view that trophy hunting gets a bad wrap at the same time it gives you more hunting time which is the true reason I hunt, the hunting itself. I've shot bucks early then sit out the rut and I feel like I've missed out on the best time in the woods.  

That being said meat is still #1.  If given a choice that I had to leave meat or horns in the woods, the meat comes out every time.  But being confident these days that I can fill the freezer one way or the other i tend to hunt for a bigger buck. And that doesn't always mean more horns.  My #1 for 3 years has been a 6 pt.  But anything that trips my trigger I will send it.  And if it's the #2 buck on the property I certainly do.  Then I hunt for any buck in the dacks til gun season opens in southern tier.  

Gotta love that about NY. I have a couple of spots in Northern and the best one is an hour and a half drive but that's still feasible.  I used to live on a road where behind my house was southern and across the road was northern.  That was pretty neat. 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Robhuntandfish

[BowmanMike]

I would shoot no.2 as well and figure out afterwards what to to with the rest of my season. I do like shooting does with the bow as well,so that would keep me in the woods. 

[GreeneHunter]

For me the first week of Crossbow Season " Brown is Down " ... Period !

[Chef]

I would shoot it, I have run far less cams this year for that reason. Having killed a "target buck" that I hunted for two years last season. This year I am going with the shoot what you feel attitude. I have a general idea of what is around but I will draw on the first buck that gets my attention.  I will say shooting a buck on 10/15 last year was great. However I had some great encounters during the rut that were painful. 

[G-man]

If any of my top 4  bucks  come by 1st day it gets  shot.   Shot my number 4  last year oct 5th  and then had  2 and 3  innfront of me a week later sparing...  they got older ans bigger so hope they show again  this year.

[crappyice]

Thankfully in 3S I can take both...on October 1!

I let  a beauty walk one year since I already shot two does prior to his arrival...while I regret it, my back doesn't...although my back sucks anyway so I guess I regret not shooting! I've since stopped hunting that property and a poacher raped it cleaning out good bucks. I'm guessing "my buck" was taken by him two years after I left him go. 

[Caveman]

Easy answer, I don't have a list of shooters with corresponding rankings. I go and hunt, and if I see something that makes me excited to kill it, I kill it. If it doesn't get me excited, I pass.

 

Thankfully, I am still at a point in my hunting career where it doesn't take much to get my heart pumping. 

[Larry]

I would shoot then hunt does and go duck hunting. I never pass up a shot on a good deer. I always try to put one on the ground then relax and then I will pass on deer. 

[SilentStalker]

Sometimes how the hunt itself unfolds dictates what I decide to shoot or pass. Hard to not shoot the #2 for your area though. 

Not to derail, but I've only ever hunted a particular deer once and that lasted three years. I had three encounters with him during that time and several cam pics. Where I hunted was more or less a doe area that bucks would start showing up to late October and generally make rounds to for the following three-four weeks.

2019 - I never knew he existed until Halloween the first year. He pops out at 3pm on a super windy day, almost got out of the white pine several times before he showed. It was my first year bowhunting and I miscalculated the quartering away angle and grazed him at 25yards (not the first deer you want popping out as a newbie lol). Had negligible blood and tracked that evening until dark and all day the next. He went about a mile in all before the blood just dried up after he bedded for the night. Two weeks later he shows up on the cams chasing does and the wound didn't seem to be holding him up. That helped me sleep a little better. Saw him once more that year at a distance and he wanted nothing to do with my efforts to bring him into range.

2020 - The next year, I caught him on the cams on the first snow/cold front (also around Halloween) harrassing a couple does. I hunted hard through Veterans week knowing he was around, but he was allusive until that third week in November. I went out for a quick morning sit before work and he came through right at legal (still was old law then), but he presented no shot as he walked through at 25-30 yards. I was so po'd at myself for not moving my stand as my encounters with other deer told me I needed to move 20 feet. I opted not to as I didnt want to "blow up the woods". Bad choice, but I learned to make moves these day when needed. I saw him one other time a week later aggressively after a doe and i had no chance.

2021- The last year i was able to hunt the property, I never got a pic or a sighting of him, but I also tagged out on a buck early in bow. (This was abow only zone so I had my regular buck tag which i hoped would be for Crabby). But if he was around, I think i would have gotten him on cams because I had learned a little bit about where he lived, travelled and when he came to the property I hunted. I passed numerous deer that I would have been proud of hunting him. Although I never connected, it was my most memorable time hutning in the three years I was after him so I don't regret holding out. My only hope is that someone in my area connected, but most were tight lipped around there. 

The first pic is before I knew of him. The second is post wound as you can see and the third was the following year. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by SilentStalker