Here are pictures of some of the bucks we are going to pass on for a couple of more years. I hope they make it!

Good potential hope they make it a few more yrs.

The coons or the deer??

Nice 8 pointers!

Really nice 8's.

The future looks great.

-john

Hope they do make it but I doubt they will. Unless you have a big place the hood rats will get them for you and maybe even tell you thanks!!

Nice to see another management minded hunter.

Thanks. Letting deer like this pass by for 2-4 more years is the only way we will ever have some mature 10 pointers. Fortunately the neighbors are hunting 10 pointers too, so they also have an incentive to let the 8s, 9s, and small 10s go, especialy after the huge 10 point one of them shot last year. However, there is always the mentality/reality that if I don't shoot him the neighbors will. This happened to me four years ago. I saw the deer the season before, missed the shot because I didn't take into account how very close he was (could have easily hit him with a rock), and got another chance the next season during the first week of December. He was a nice 4.5 year old 10 point, but I didn't chance letting him go another year or two. I don't regret my decision. Just wish we had no one hunting nearby so that he could have reached his potential. I tried that on an 11 point the next season who was still alive in February, but I never saw him again even though he had been a regular deer on the place for several years. I figure the neighbors got him during bow season, even though no one owned up to shooting him.

I think these bucks have at least a 50% chance of surviving if we let them pass. All we can do is try. Since I already have three beautiful bucks that I shot during the past six seasons and had shoulder mounted, I will just wait until that next special buck comes along. It may be a long wait, but I am patient. In the meantime, I will enjoy the outdoors, watching and videoing the deer, and looking for hogs and wily coyotes.

why let them go? Kill them, cook them, eat them