Which whitetail to take on property?

[allank]

Apart from the obvious answer ("the first one you see!"), how do you select which whitetail to take when you are hunting? My trail cam shows that in my area I have multiple bucks and multiple does and family groups. Obviously some of these could be taken on adjacent properties. In the past I've just taken the first one I could get a clean shot at. Now with the additional information from the trail cam I'm wondering if I should be more selective.

What do you do?

 

[avan47]

What is your objective in hunting. If you are looking for a trophy to hang on the wall, you might want to wait. I hunt for meat. There are trophy hunters that hunt the ranch that I hunt on, so I am happy to shoot does. You need to do that to maintain a healthy population. I might occasionally shoot a cull buck, but I think the does tast better. We have a long hunting season here in Texas, and I can kill up to 5 whitetails. I usually don't shoot that many, because I can also shoot Axis deer, and I can do that any time of the year. I would rather hunt during the cooler months though. You should post some pics from your trail cam.

 

[allank]

Good point - I hunt for meat. Any trophy is a distant (but welcome) second. In my area I can take up to 3 deer because of the number of hunters. Last year I got a large buck, about 100lbs in the freezer.

Here is one of the bucks: http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=547226

Most of the does still seem to have this years fawns with them.

 

[1911 guy]

Personally, I'm a meat hunter. I don't look down on trophy hunters because I realize they have done a lot to support healthy deer herds in my state and elsewhere. My criteria are: Do I have a good shot? Is it big enough to be worth using a tag? If the answer to both questions is "Yes", then I take the shot.

 

[flipajig]

I am a meat hunter along with trying to help manage the heards in my areas that I hunt.
trying to manage a area with out high fence is almost impossible when there are several other hunters around what you let walk some one else will not. so it comes down to what do you want to take. Im also able to take 5 deer a year so I do try to fill my freezer with deer and pork. I am also seletive in what I take I have 3 areas that I hunt one is closed to allmost all does so its buck only there one area is over populated so im going to take 3 does and one spike off it. the other is verry oppen and alot of hunters there with a moderat population so im not going to shoot anything there. I think it depends on what your goles are and the other hunters in your area.

 

[Mudinyeri]

allank, if you're hunting for meat, I would suggest taking a younger doe or buck that's big enough to produce a decent amount of meat. Something that's about two and a half years old is usually pretty good eating where I'm from.

I passed on a fork-tine buck this year at nearly point-blank range (probably less than 40 yards) because I wanted more meat. A big rack is nice but it doesn't feed the family. I like my venison tender and tasty. I later shot a six-pointer that produced about 50 lbs of meat. Yesterday I got a doe that was two and a half years old and should produce about 60 lbs of meat.

I did get to see a nice eight point buck that was much bigger than my six pointer. The diameter of the eigh pointer's antlers was more than double that of the six pointer. I already had my buck, however, and he was 350 yards away into a 20 MPH+ wind.

 

[Captcurt]

This is the first year that I have tried a trailcam. I had 244 pix in a week with7 different bucks. A really nice 10 pt., an 8 and a couple of 7's that I would take without any hesitation, but they were all at night. I hunted 2 weeks with a bow and saw one of the sevens. Muzzelloading season opened and I shot a six point that I didn't have on film. Just because you have pixs doesn't mean that you will ever see those deer in the daytime.

So my answer to the OP is, if you want meat, shoot the first legal deer that comes thru. If you want a specific buck, go for it, but don't be surprised if you never get a shot at him. They don't get big by being dumb.

 

[Yarddog]

In FL you can harvest(2) bucks a day, I will drop first leagel deer, Get enoughf meat & fill
the frezer, Then trophy hunt SO I'm Trophy hunting now I carry my cam corder Catch &
Release ; )
Y/D PS Good Luck

 

[Jwbfx4]

I am more of a trophy hunter, if thats what you want to call it. They way I pick is I pass on young bucks 2.5 years and younger and I will shoot the does when I am in need of meat.

Which down here our season is a lot longer and we can take a lot of deer throughout the season (You can shoot 2 deer a day and only 3 can be bucks with the 3rd buck having an antler restriction.) So its easier to be more choosey.

 

[allank]

So the answer turned out to be the first one I could! On opening day I was about to leave at 10:45am (had appointment in pm I could not change) when a line of young does (maybe 2 to 3 years old) came into sight at 10:30am. So I took one. Since she was on the smaller side I'm going back out for a second whitetail over the weekend.