I drove slowly through the main road of the farm toward my blind. It was mid-afternoon and I couldn’t help but survey the tree lines and shady draws on the cool and comfortable November day. It was one of those days that just felt right. Having already dropped off my brother at his stand, I realized that my fascination with the landscape had me creeping along too slowly. I picked up the pace and soon arrived at my parking location and began my walk to the stand. As I opened the door, I heard the familiar boom resonate through the air. Though it mildly startled me, I knew what this was. It was in the days prior to decent cell phones and my 2-way radio beeped…
“I’ve got one down. Want to come see him?” This story had unfolded countless times. My brother had shot a buck within the first 10 minutes of his sit. I doubt he’d even finished the cookies he had jammed in his jacket only a few minutes prior. I was annoyed but just had to grin. This had become a rite of passage. My trigger-happy brother was what I call a results-oriented hunter. Not a hunter, but a “shooter”.
Years after this event, our family began participating in a state-sanctioned management program for hunting whitetails. This, among other things, meant harvesting only mature bucks. However, our resident efficient hunter continued with his itchy trigger finger. Though he became a little more discriminating with the age class of bucks he shot, healthy, albeit young whitetails continued to be commonplace in the skinning area. Sure, he shot some nice mature bucks, but along with that came a litany of 3 to 3.5-year old deer. “I thought it was bigger” or “he’s so swollen up from the rut that he looked huge!”. I used to worry that we would eventually be booted off the management program, but it never happened.
Meanwhile, my sometimes haughty attitude about deer aging practices left me with fewer nice bucks on the ground; especially when bowhunting. Though I’m okay with that, it often made me wonder about this quality deer management stuff. After all, with a good buck down early, John was the last guy standing at the fire and would often sleep in the next day. Poof, he became an afternoon-only hunter for the remainder of the season.
John has since passed away, but his strike early and often mentality was part of who he was – while I studiously studied game cam images and passed deer on the hoof I deemed to be “a year off”. Admittedly, I still painstakingly seek mature bucks and practice quality deer management. I would have it no other way. With that, I also pass a lot of bucks that get my heart pounding. Do I do it the right way? I can only say that it’s a sound approach with good reasoning behind it. On the other hand, it’s hard to deny the grin on my camo-clad, results-oriented brother’s face. Maybe he had it right the whole time. The piles of antlers he left in his wake seemingly suggest it.
