what would you do, wait for the big one you have been seeing or blast what comes by!

[J.Williams]

Take the 1st decent doe that offers a shot.Youll have your 1st under your belt and it will give you some confidence to go after Mr.Big with.
I know how you feel though.I've seen an exceptional buck where I took a nice 10pt. last season and as much as I'd like to hold out for him there are other bucks roaming about the property I just couldn't pass on.Only you will know if you can hold out for the big guy.Good luck!

[lpcjon2]

Good things come to those who wait. that is in the early season, when mid November comes hunt for the meat.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Since I have yet to get a deer with a bow, I would shoot the first opportunity no matter what age or gender.

Given the amount of deer we see around here that may be your only opportunity for the year with a bow.

I have hunted many years for a big buck and have had several close calls and now look at me, I have been bow hunting 14 years and have yet to kill a deer with a bow. I have been able to touch more than I can remember and now I hunt 1000 miles east of there.

Get One and then think about the next!

I have a good feeling with a spot I found this year I will be on someones blood trail  

[ron w]

When it's right you'll know,if it's a buck or a doe you have to decide right then .....you'll know!!

[Red Tailed Hawk]

Im new to trad and although i like a nice rack. This year the first one i see gets it  

[jsweka]

I appreciate a big buck as much as the next guy, but like has been already said, with limited time, I'll drop the string on the first shot opportunity I get a legal deer.  

I've always thought a mature doe was just as hard to kill as mature buck.  She not only had to be smart enough to live through a couple seasons, but also had to be on the look out for her fawns as well.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Boils down to each his own.

 Before I married my wife all I ate was deer and had the attitude that horns just made good handles for dragging meat out. I was not picky at all and killed 5 or six a year. My kids will eat it but mama ain't cooking it and she definetley ain't eating it.

 I kill 2 a year. Give one to my wifes grandparents and put one in my freezer. So I am absolutlely not against taking the first thing that comes along. I did it for years. I'm just at a point in my path that being there is good enough wether I take one or not.

 I'm hunting with flint heads this year and very well may take the first one that comes along because I think that it would be awsome to take any deer with primitve equipment.
 
 Each hunter had to walk his own path and mine has taken a turn in the trail. My journey, not anyone elses. As long as you do it legal and ethical it's all your journey. You will know when the time comes.

 Any critter with trad gear is an accomplishment in it's own right.

 Stiks

[Mack Marine]

If salt an pepper are your two main seasons shoot a doe. I would have to wait for Mr. Big to show up...

[jim phenes]

I thought your answers would be similar to mine. Every year since 96 i have killed the first thing that walks by if it is mature doe or buck, it definatly takes the pressure off.

[Mike Vines]

I take whatever comes by.  You never know when, or if something else will come your way.

[warbird]

I sure do love my trophies, but everyone at my house loves the tablefare. Take what opportunities you are afforded and fill the freezer.

[Mojostick]

If it's your first with trad bows, you may want to shoot the first anything deer that presents a good shot. Buck, doe or fawn.

But after breaking that ice, here's a mere suggestion for "what to shoot".

Instead of focusing on one particular buck, another option is to focus on a particular class of buck.

It's the 10% rule. Focus on the top 10% of bucks in any given area. Age class will typically determine what is the top 10% in any given area.

Focusing on one lone buck can lead to undue disappointment if he's never seen and can lead to resentment if a neighbor kills him, when congratulations is the proper reaction.

I am a member or QDMA and try to employ much of methods into my hunts. Saying that, one shouldn't always confuse antler score with "maturity". Also consider body size and antler mass vs score. One could easily argue that a 250lb, 5.5 year old buck with a "small", 14" wide, stout, heavy beamed rack scoring 120 is a much more unique trophy than a 3.5 year old scoring 135.

More importantly, you need to think about your whole herd situation. How many doe's should you kill?

Every area is different in deer population, hunting pressure and available mature bucks. Some have few deer, some have just the right amount and some are polluted with deer. Some area's have ample 4.5 year old bucks and some have very few that make it past 2.5 years old.

My area still has too many deer per mile, roughly 40-45 per mile and the DNR goal is mid 30's per mile. My area also gets very heavy hunting pressure on bucks and tradtionally a 100 class 2.5 year old buck was "the buck of a lifetime".

Luckily that is changing since the mindset of never passing bucks is changing and we're seeing more 3.5 year old bucks. Plus we now have more food per deer since we've knocked down our local herd from roughly 60 deer per mile in the 1980's and 1990's to the low 40's per mile now.

Our camp policy is, fill every antlerless tag you have available on any doe or doe fawn that presents a good shot and then hunt the top 10% of bucks in that area.

For some area's with low hunting pressure, that may mean focusing on 4.5 year old bucks and older. In another area, that may mean looking for 2.5 year old bucks with a rack out to it's ears.

For my area, that means kill any female deer that presents a shot and look for good looking 2.5 year old bucks and up. If a fluke 4.5 year old buck shows up, by all means take a good shot. But I'd suggest you do that on any of the top 10% of bucks in your area.

One last thought, it's hard to "blast away", as you said in your post, with your longbow. LOL

[kbetts]

Same issue.  Last night I shot a doe and looked for a chance to shoot another.  Nothing gets you prepared like shootin' arrows at live animals.
Take a doe and learn from it.

[elknutz]

Well I passed on a small spike at 10 yards last week. He just didn't have enough meat on him yet.  It was an easy call, but his mama is lucky she didn't come by.  Its a personal preference thing.  I've passed on many cow elk simply because I hunt bulls.

[njloco]

dnovo X 2

[Izzy]

Simple choice, shoot the one you want.

[Shawn Leonard]

If you have multiple tags shoot whatever comes by, it will give ya confidence in your new equipment. I shoot mostly fawns early on as I hate to kill 3 deer by killing a bred doe and also ya shoot big does ya educate the herd quicker. Do what you feel in your heart is right!! Shawn

[rascal]

When I first started bow hunting I had a mind to take anything that came close enough, before I could manage that seemingly simple feat I had changed my mind and set about taking a buck.  I eventually decided I too needed to "put one in the pump house" and settled on a nice fat doe for my first bow killed deer.  I have encouraged my wife and my boys to get one under their belt so to speak by taking the first deer that presents an honest shot but all of them are dead set now that it will be better than the 110-120 inch 8 pointers that seem to be in abundance on my lease.  I guess I cant complain that they all seem set on some form of QDM and I think Im softening them to the idea of taking a nice fat doe as part of that program.  In my opinion it helps to get that first kill in, settles your nerves and lets that pessimist inside of us all that we can make the shot when the chips are down.  Im pretty picky these days concerning what I will shoot at but thats a product of many years of filling my tags.

I say get one out of the way now then you will know you can make it happen later.

[MnFn]

I passed on a nice 4X4 the first evening of hunting last year, because I knew there was a much bigger buck around. He came into and stood in one of my shooting lanes at 12 yards.  I never got that good of a chance again all year.

 DO I have regrets? Yes, sometimes. But I would have had no chance at the big boy then. And I have learned more about the movements of the deer on that farm. So I am comfortable passing up the first buck, and I think I would do it again. But then again maybe not, he was pretty nice. :-)
Good luck in YOUR future decisions.