X 2.

Are you saying it's ethically wrong to shoot a 2 year old deer?

Everyone wants to talk about shooting does instead. Where I'm hunting we have more bucks than does and our herd numbers are down. We need to keep the does to increase our herd. I would rather shoot some smaller bucks to fill my freezer in better interest of our lease needs.

What is ethical and what is legal often done coincide.

Personally, I'd shoot him if we needed meat but let him walk otherwise. It's really up to how you feel about it. You're the one who will have to live with whatever decision you make.

if you liek it shoot it!! end of discusion!!

You can call it ethics, you can call it being management minded. Whatever you want to call it, I don't shoot 2 year old bucks.

I call it personal choice. There's a huge difference in being management minded and being unethical. Nothing wrong with passing a buck because he's too young for your strategy but there's also nothing wrong with killing a young buck. The same people that preach not shooting young bucks will kill a yearling spike in a heartbeat. Why is it only bad to shoot young bucks but perfectly fine to shoot young does?

I'll be sure to check in with you before I shoot my next deer.

Sounds good Fowlplayr, I will look forward to it.

Well, I've only been allowed to shoot spikes and does until last year, when my new father-in-law got us permission to hunt the land around his house(he doesnt own it).Last year I passed on a 2 1/2 year old and didn't put much effort into getting on shot on two bigger bucks that were on the place. I didn't feel like a guest should be shooting the best deer there. I shot a doe and my wife shot a 7pt that would have been nice if he'd been an 8pt like we thought. This year I managed shoot a mule-deer as my first buck, so I'm not entirely opposed to not getting a buck WT. I think I'm gonna take the wife out in the morning and if she can land the 2 1/2 yr old eight great! If not I might do it later this week. One of us WILL knock out the spike I saw this morning. I'm thinking he looks 2 1/2. I have never seen a spike that old, but I know they're are out there.

Unless the 2.5 year old is hung in a fence and your debating wether it is ethical to shoot him in the fence or cut him loose and then shoot him this has absolutely nothing to do with ethics. I think the word ethics should be censored on all hunting websites. People do not know the meaning of the word but its cool now to pretend you care what other people think. To answer the question I'd shoot him in his 2.5 year old face.

You're really making me wish I'd shot him the first time I saw him. This morning he was heading in just a few minutes before legal hours . Sunday morning he walked to within 30yrds and begged me to shoot him.

CMC is right in some regards, Ethics can mean different things to different people. I think the "jist" of it in this context (and most times it's used) is in the realm of the topic, thread or industry/place it is being used. I think there is a "general" hunting ethic among all hunters, whether they all follow it or not is a whole new deal and obviously not all do.

I'll pose this question: If you're "ethic's", dictate that you only harvest a certain class of deer on you're place, be it you're property or a lease, is it a true "ethic" if when loosing the property, to cast away you're previous "ethics" and replace them with a new set??

If the rules for you can change like that, then there is no "ethics" involved....By the definition of "ethics", specifically "Applied ethics"

deer management is only worth anything if it takes place on a property where the property will still be there for the deer in the future. if the habitat is going to disappear, then this deer will be forced to move, or just get hit by a car. I'd say shooting anything and everything that you could legally harvest and or are interested in would be the ethical thing to do.

we hunted for a time on a piece of property that was destined to become a housing subdivision and eventually did. we didn't exterminate the deer and weren't trying to, but it was a known and obvious fact that this pocket of brush wasn't going to be there for a lot longer. if you've got the opportunity to harvest a deer and its legal to do so, might as well take him.

X3

You know in your heart what to do for you. Really not our call.

This subject brought to you by the same brainiacs who think antler restrictions are a good idea

If you feel good about taking the buck, then you should. If you would have regrets, then you shouldn't.