Shooting Button Bucks

[Shawn Leonard]

Roger Norris has it right on the button!! No pun intended. After ya kill 10-15 deer than start worrying about being selective. Shawn

[Shawn Leonard]

I should add that a lot of guys who pass small bucks and such most likely did not always do that. I knnow a bunch of people, myself included that have got more selective but at one time when I was young I shot everything that came by. I also hate shooting a mature doe, she is most likely gonna have twins the following June and most likely one doe fawn and one buck fawn. If I shoot a big mature doe I just killed 3 deer as far as I am concerned one most likely a button in the spring. If I kill a doe fawn or a button I killed only one deer for the doe fawn may or most likely not get breed late this winter. Shawn

[BTH]

Would if I could. Can't so I won't. State law is forked horn or better.

[Widowbender]

Would I shoot a button buck on my next hunt, NO. Have I shot a button buck before, Yes. You have to learn how to kill a deer before you learn how to let them walk, in my opinion. Like others have said get the experience on several deer first, then you can be selective later, if you want...Then, you'll be ready when Mr. Big walks by, because you'll be able to say "Hey, I've made this shot before"...

David

[Daddy Bear]

Tim,

I'm of the opinion that you are best served by increasing your knowledge on the subject to help form your very own personal position. You must live with your actions and your best satisfaction is usually found when you follow your own built in moral/ethical compass and abide by your founded principles. This would apply whether your choice is to pass or your choice is to shoot.

The one point of view expressed in this thread that I personally have trouble getting behind is such:

A number of posters have repeated a theme of public land vs private land when it comes to making your decision. Let them pass for game management reasons on private land to better the quality of the deer but shoot them before someone else does on public land because one less would matter little as everyone else is shooting them. Yet, they follow this up by making a blanket statement to not worry about what others would do. I find this a troubling model to follow.

When you make your decision and set your compass to guide your personal choice, you should probably stick to it whether you are hunting on TV with thousands of viewers to witness, or whether you are miles from nowhere and all alone. You should never go against your carefully guided personal moral/ethical compass based out of concern that you better get it before someone else does. Doesn't this go fly in the face against the statement of not worrying about what others choose? One should not go against their personal values just because the odds are you will not be caught, one should not go against their personal values just to be first, and one should not be sorry for going against their personal values only after being caught.

If your personal choice is to let button bucks pass and the thought of knowingly taking such a deer bothers you, don't do it. I will add, if you have not found shot opportunities on deer you would feel comfortable to take after 14years of trying, going against your gut and taking a button will not change anything but make you feel guilty for going against your compass. I'd suggest you look elswhere to find the answers you need to harvest the deer you seek. Obviously the button bucks you see have buck dad's and doe mom's who survived the years to breed. They are there to be found and are clearly not where the botton bucks are when under your stand.

You can always change your techniques, tactics, and/or location to improve your odds. You can always actively hunt small game to improve your skills and vet your ability to arrow game. I lost count the number of squirrel, rabbit, and vermin I arrowed before I was allowed to loose an arrow on a deer. That was over three and a half decades ago and I continue the practice to this day.

If you choose to take button bucks, then be comfortable with this choice as you alone must live within your skin.

Good Luck,
Daddy Bear

[TSP]

From a management perspective there is absolutely nothing wrong with (and lots to gain by) taking doe fawns, buck fawns, yearlings and mature does, especially where the deer population is too high anyway.  Whether or not to shoot these deer is more of a personal choice based on the 'warm and fuzzy' (or maybe the ego-padding) aspect, but certainly not the management aspect.

I'd like to think that as ethical hunters who hunt primarily for challenge and sport rather than survival our concern would be MUCH more focused on taking and making good clean shots than on the rest of it.  Despite the lucrative opportunities offered by 'monster bucks'(see TV hunting shows and camo ads) antler and body size are nothing more than peripherals to the main effort.  Sure, we all enjoy the thrill of outwitting a big deer and to say otherwise would be (for most anyway) a lie.  But lets not make it more than what it is.  

So, don't feel bad about taking those smaller deer.  Rather, strive for and feel good about making a good shot on whatever deer you shoot.  And if it happens to be a smaller deer, feel good about helping the deer herd survive and the game managers do their job.

[Jon Stewart]

Tim, shoot and eat good and when you do score post a photo as I for one would love to see a photo of your first trad kill.  

My wifes first and only bow kill was a button. We were sky high with excitement.  I was so proud of her I would have had the dang thing mounted for her if she want it done.

[wollybear]

i to have never yet but i would when i get a chance  its good eating

[dc51]

If you haven't shot a deer with your bow in 14 seasons, shot the next one that comes along don't worry about the size and have fun.
Your next one can be bigger.

Don

[gatorgar]

My main goal right now is a spotted fawn that I been seeing lately.  Man they sure taste good.  Venison Veal...hard to beat.
I have yet to harvest a deer with trad and will not hesitate to shoot the first one that gives me the opportunity, so long as I do not arrow a doe with a dependent fawn, I will feel fine and be mighty proud of my first.  And the most tender meat is found on the young'uns.

[Brian Krebs]

I want to add something after reading gatorgars comment.

 I moved from Michigan to Idaho in 1985; and when I left - shooting a doe was just becoming the act of a 'real hunter'. It was the last gasps of the 'the best hunter gets a buck in the first light of opening day with one shot' era.

 The taking of antlerless deer has proven to be a biological nessesity for all deer herds. Button bucks are antlerless deer.

 In the fifties; sixties and seventies- the taking of an antlerless deer was something few ever dared try bragging about. But slowly that changed; as knowledge increased about proper wildlife management techniques and realities.

 Now some apologize for shooting antlerless deer- attributing their acts to 'game management'; 'QDA' manual stuff.

 I learned a long time ago that does can be really really hard to hunt; and taking any deer with a bow is a cool thing.

 So- I move to Idaho; and right off the bat I realize that everybody in every spectrum of society here had a taste in their mouth for calf elk. Shoot a bull - cool !  Shoot a calf; and people would huddle around the person with one hand out and big begging eyes.

 Elk calf taste like veal. They are so good its unreal.

 Button bucks and first year does taste better than any age the deer will be.

 Fear not to fling; the great feast awaits- let your arrow sing.
  ( through the air: you know...)   :D  

Gatorgar is right. They are made of meat; and complete the feat.
 ( of shooting a deer with your bow -you know?)

                 :rolleyes:        

[James Wrenn]

I guess it depends on where and why you hunt.In a place that only allows one deer a year I would hold out for something with more weight on it because I hunt for the meat.Like around here where I can shoot 6 or more deer in a season given the chance on public land I would shoot one.Not because of any chest thumping or anything but because they are the best eating deer and have a little more meat that a young doe.I see them as the tastiest deer you can put in a pot and that is why I deer hunt in the first place.If hunting someone else property I would shoot one only if they said it was ok because people get all uptight about deer at times and I would be a guest.You kill a button buck and there will be one less deer next year.You kill a doe and there will be 3 less deer next year.By shooting the little guy and spareing the doe you will have two more tender ones for next year and not impact the deer numbers.Lots of ways to look at things.  

[Arwin]

My first trad kill was a button buck and since then I have mistook one for a doe. No regrets and a pan full of yummy steak.  

[Wyatt Lane]

My first deer was a button buck and it was the only one.

[jonsimoneau]

Tim, if you have never taken a deer then my advice is to shoot whatever deer gives you an opportunity.  Don't watch hunting videos and buy into the whole theory that you HAVE to shoot only big bucks.  My first bow killed whitetail was a button buck, and I still remember it to this day.  I don't ever shoot them anymore, but at that time if someone complained to me about it I would have had words with them.  That being said, I live in an area where seeing deer while hunting is not an often occurence.  As an example: this season I have nearly 70 hours logged on stand and I have seen only 11 deer.  I hunt alot.  But if a guy living in my same area only got to hunt 35 hours a season and shot a button buck then good for him.  I have no problem with that.  What I do have a problem with are experienced deer hunters who shoot anyting and everything.  One of the best deer hunters I know shoots any deer that gives him a shot.  The guy has P&Y deer on his wall, yet he will take a button buck at every opportunity.  And if he runs out of tags?  Well his wife has some.  He keeps hunting.

[DRR324]

After 7 pages- I really want to chime in- so I will.  I've PM'd Tim with my thoughts after the first day I read this.  I too feel they are off limits even for a first deer, and I feel the same for doe fawns.  It has nothing to do with the Disney syndrome- it has more to do with trying to teach my children about hunting and ethics.  Yes- we are allowed to kill them by law, but, by personal standards- I wouldn't feel much pride by killing a fawn and taking it home for my family to eat.  Are they tasty- I'm not sure cause I've never killed one.  25 years ago my younger brother shot his first with a bow- a bb.  My older brother and I were excited for him- but that elation ran low when we found the button buck.  We have taken many deer, and for a few years- it was the meat that sustained our family.  But we have always felt that fawns were off limits- and held ourselves to letting them pass.  The majority of fawns are travelling with a mature doe- and she should be the true target of the hunt.  I don't buy into the theory that fawns won't survive the winter without a doe- I feel they join the first family group they happen upon, and survive just fine.  Personally- I usually pass on does that have fawns with them, just depends on how my freezer looks at the time.
So- to each their own- and I don't judge others- I just choose to pass the young of the year and let them grow......