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To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and releas

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To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and releas

Postby Lefty » 12 05, 2017 •  [Post 1]

A PM from Timber got me thinking:

Rooster ring necks only, but we kill any grouse or partridge.
Some of us only hunt bulls, others, if its brown its down.
Management size and age.
Smaller as the season moves on.
Some fellows deer and elk needs to be branched antlers.
Others it needs to be any cow, a dry cow, bull , spike, branched antler, book, or 350.
Some days Ill shoot any duck. Other days drakes only. Or puddle ducks only, and never a coot or meganser.
In the field, on my hunts often all ducks get a pass.
I targeted male mink when I trapped.
I only shoot ganders (male) geese.
My wife grew up , with bucks "a bit wider than their ears" and 4x4's.
Is the ram full curl?
Is the lion 160 lbs
or the cat worth $500.00
Any coyote is a dead coyote.
Or only when the fur has value.
My buddy hunts an area for bear. Others haul home 4 1/2 foot bears.
A fellow at church said 5 footers are cheaper too have a full body mount and the rug size is more practical.
What is your choice?? oh and I was just messing with you about the geese. :P
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Tigger » 12 05, 2017 •  [Post 2]

There are sound biological reasons for not shooting hen pheasants and ducks. In general, the biology says the harvestable surplus is usually the older males in any population, thus trophy hunting is not as awful as some would make it out to be.

I like to shoot a mature male in most situations. When population control is needed, then it is time to fill the freezer with a female.

With grouse, partridge, geese and others, you cannot tell the males from the females, so now way to selectively harvest those.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Swede » 12 05, 2017 •  [Post 3]

I will shoot a coyote if I have a good shot opportunity and it is not going to mess up a potential opportunity at an elk. I will shoot a cougar if I get a chance. I even shot a squirrel from my tree stand. It kept on chattering for at least a half hour without shutting up, but for the most part I shoot only legal deer and elk. I don't care to shoot anything and everything wildlife that moves.
I do not hold out long for a trophy buck or bull either except in rare circumstances. Maybe I should say very rare circumstances. Oregon limits the number of elk by unit that will be allowed. They have management objectives for the bull/cow ratio, so I see no reason to not fill my tag with a cow if that is what is available.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Roosiebull » 12 05, 2017 •  [Post 4]

The only animal I will not take unless it's a mature male is bear, and that is for 2 reasons..

1. Big mature boars don't have cubs for sure.

2. Big mature boars have much higher meat recovery, small and average bear are all hide and fat, big boars put a dent in a freezer.

I do pass lots of game, but not on a conquest for a big one, it's means to extend my season. Old bucks and bulls eat fine, but not like a 2.5yr old buck or bull. 3.5 is perfect harvest age to me, good body size, some antlers, and still very good eating.

I always draw the late archery cow tag here, which extends the season if I don't kill a bull regular season, I only have hunted that tag once in the last 11 yrs, but I was proud of that cow, and happy for the meat (I shot the smallest one in front of me)

I hear people say the cows or does are the producers, but the same folks are chasing the most productive males, the big mature ones.

If studies show the big bulls are more productive breeders, it seems there would be a movement to leave them alone like they leave cows alone.

I just write it all off as our current hunting culture, we are moving more towards antlers, and further from meat and the experience (Not us here, but in general)

I have been moving away from antlers, the food is an awesome byproduct, but the hunt is the trophy. I see what antler addictions do to people and I want no part of that.

I'm not saying I will never single an animal out and hunt it, I likely will, it's fun and challenging, but I don't need everything I kill to make B&C
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Roosiebull » 12 05, 2017 •  [Post 5]

Btw, you spelled small wrong :lol:
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Tigger » 12 05, 2017 •  [Post 6]

I think you can harvest the mature males because in most species, the critters are polygamists. So a bull or buck will service many cows and does. It is pretty hard if not almost impossible to harvest so many males that the females don't get bred. Especially if the state game agency is doing their job (which most all of them do).

I will say this, when I walked up on the big whitetail I shot this year, I sure got excited! Way more so than if it was an average buck. I remember one time, I shot a nice buck and immediately called my wife to tell her. She asked me why I was so excited. What a stupid question! Because I just shot a nice buck, that is why!!! If I don't get excited, why be out here? I do not get anywhere near that level of excitement from a doe. That is just me I guess and I am fortunate that we always shoot plenty of deer so no need to worry about meat.

As for the meat, in 36 years of whitetail hunting, I can never remember deer meat that was better or worse than any other. That includes big and little bucks and big and little does. We process all of our own meat very carefully. That might have something to do with it.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Roosiebull » 12 05, 2017 •  [Post 7]

I process all of my own meat as well, flavor is equal across the board, but there is a substantial difference in a 3 yr old vs a 7yr old (at least blacktail and roosies) in toughness, my last 2 bulls, I have to tenderize back strap, that is something I never had to do, easier to dry steaks out too, have to be real careful not to overcook.

Blacktail are same, a 3 yr old 3 point eats better than the old bucks I have killed the past 3 years. All very edible, excellent actually, but there is a very big difference, all animals treated the same.

You can even see it while making steaks, way more connective tissue within the muscle.

We are all different, but if I decide to shoot, big or small, the excitement level is there. I have a couple good representatives of each of the animals I hunt, that's good enough for me, the hunt is as challenging as we make it, I like antlers like anyone else, but they sure aren't season defining for me anymore.

I go hunt, enjoy the heck out of it, I don't have any pressure to meet any criteria, and my goal is day by day. I don't know what it will take for me to shoot until I draw my bow....one day it may be a 6 point, then the situation changes, the next day I might shoot a spike...either would make me happy.

I think archery season 2018, I will be chasing a spike or rag bull, have plenty of time to decide, I know where a pig lives, I may kill a small one early and chase the big one with a good friend or my brother.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Lefty » 12 06, 2017 •  [Post 8]

Roosiebull wrote:Btw, you spelled small wrong :lol:

All the correct letters are there. My fingers were flying so fsat :o Im up to 30 words per minute.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Roosiebull » 12 06, 2017 •  [Post 9]

Lefty wrote:
Roosiebull wrote:Btw, you spelled small wrong :lol:

All the correct letters are there. My fingers were flying so fsat :o Im up to 30 words per minute.

Not bad :)
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby elkstalker » 12 06, 2017 •  [Post 10]

:lol: I was wondering, how the heck does he tell a male goose from a female goose???

I think some of it comes down to conservation, some to ethics, and some to preference. Most of the time I'm going for the biggest male I can find, unless I have an empty freezer... I typically won't shoot anything i'm not going to eat, so coots, mergansers, and most divers get a pass from me.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby saddlesore » 12 06, 2017 •  [Post 11]

I shoot mostly cow elk now. If I have an Either Sex tag in my pocket, I will not pass on a raghorn. Old stinky bulls are good for bragging ,but they eat poor, especially with store bought teeth..Good tasting, but you get to taste along time while chewing. My motto is never pass up a legal bull or cow.
I just got back from a white tail hunt in Nebraska. I killed a young buck and a mature ( very mature) doe, with my muzzle loader.Rut was over and big bucks were very scarce.

BTW. You know you have a good hunting buddy when he invites you to their land that has never permitted non family members to hunt ,you shoot a deer, him and his father drag it out of the corn field for you, then his brother in law then drives his truck down the side road and haul sit back to the house. I only had to gut it and then skin it. They really took care of this old duffer and I am very appreciative of that.Good people for sure.Many many thanks are in order.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Tigger » 12 07, 2017 •  [Post 12]

Saddlesore,
Good hunting buddies do not just show up and friendship is not a one-way street. Methinks you did something to deserve their friendship!
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby Swede » 12 07, 2017 •  [Post 13]

Saddlesore, I appreciate your attitude about hunting. You remind my of the way things were when I was a kid. We never even thought about B&C score or any such thing. We usually had to shoot bucks only. A three point was as good as it got. They were usually large enough to provide a lot of good meat, and tender enough to cut with a fork.
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Re: To big , too samll, young old, male female, catch and re

Postby saddlesore » 12 09, 2017 •  [Post 14]

When I was growing up in the 50's as a young starting hunter, small game was first. Limit was 4 rabbits, 2 pheasants. I was permitted to take 6 shotgun shells with with me when going hunting. I had best bring back either 6 kills or however many shotgun shells for anything less.

Squirrels were never shot with a shotgun, 22 RF with Longs were 45 cents a box and that was what we had to use. Our shooting skills were honed with 22 Shorts. I think they sold for less than 25 cents a box

At 14, I was permitted to go deer hunting. I either used a 32 -20 Remington pump or a .410 single shot Crescent Arms shot gun with either 45 colt ammo or a round ball. There were no rifled slugs back then.There weren't any poke and hope shots taken with them that's for sure.

We learned that if you went hunting, you were there to kill something for table fare. Any shots taken had best be a sure kill. I guess that has carried with me thru all these years
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