I had 7 deer in the freezer from last year (Kansas & Alabama). I am down to just a few packs of ground meat and a couple of sausage. We eat it for everything you would Hamburger..

Venison is just about the only red meat I'll eat. It is leaner and healthier to eat than beef. We use it in everything you would normally use Ground Beef.

If I don't get on the ball I'll be running out of deer meat early, due to the lack of deer killing this year........

you didn't read all the posts. There are reasons to kill more than you can use. The properties I hunted were badly overpopulated and needed thinning, but most of the hunters there wouldn't shoot does, so I was asked to. Is this above yer limited thinking or do you need me to explain further??

So you ate them all. Got it.
BTW, Mike excluded the large property,limited hunting reason.

Thanks for the comments! No one on here could not have stated that better. I'm ready to learn your secrets on killing mature bucks now.

As for Mike35549 if you don't understand my post then why would you start a topic you can't wrap you mind around. Everybody does things for different reasons. No one wants to be like everyone else because they loose thier personal ID. To each thier own!

I just like to watch stuff die...keep one for my famiily and give the rest away to non-hunters at work that want the meat...usually kill around 10 deer/year.

I didn't "exclude" large properties, limited doe killers because I was PART of my answer. Circumstances change over time. Right now I have a friend with the large prop/limited hunter circumstance that will give me all the meat I need. So for now I don't kill 8-10 deer a year but I CAN put that many in the freezer still. I'll get some donated meat this year and spend my time hunting old bucks, win/win for me. Getting donated, gutted, skinned, hung and aged meat beats the snot out of dragging does.....and I still hunt the same amount of time, just don't KILL as much.

If I can kill a 5+ year old buck two out of three seasons I'm satisfied, one every year is great.

I personally like to kill as many as I can because I like it. I like the rush and all the work that goes with killing em. My family eats 3 or 4 a year. The rest goes to older family members that don't hunt or can't hunt due to disabilities.

It is not a club issue. We do have 2 or 3 guys that will kill between 6 and 10 but it is legal and not against any rules so to each there own I guess. I have asked them why they kill so many and the answer I got was because somebody has to so I just let it go. I am truly just trying to find out what the reasons are that people kill that many I have never killed more than 2 in one year. Now I am thinking I missd out by not killing all I could for a few year. I think next year I am gonna try and kill between 25-30 and see if it is as much fun for me as it is other folks.

I am just as guilty as the next man for over killing deer just to be killing,but it didn't start out that way for me,as a child my family was dirt poor,and hunting was a way to put food on the table.Hunting then became an obsession,as I got older the numbers game came into play,I was so proud of myself for being the only one I knew who could consistently kill 20+ bucks a year,after a while of this crap I did start feeling guilty,then one day I ran into JUGHEADS dad and he made me feel like an idiot,for killing the deer I had killed that year,so I first decided to just not tell anyone about my deer,then it hit me.If I don't want people to know then whats the use of killing them,so I decided to start passing small bucks,the first one I passed was hard until he got out of sight,then it became apparent to me just how rewarding it is to let them go.Now I have made a few mistakes and shot deer in the last few years that I shouldnt have shot,but it's not normal practice,I am now more than ever proud of the number of bucks I pass, than I ever was of the number I killed.if I had it to do over it would surely be different,but I dont,can only move forward.I do however still shoot does and that number usually outnumbers the bucks I kill.last year 4 does 2 bucks.this year so far 4 does.

I am fairly confident from your post on this subject you are not intelligent enough to have a conversation about this subject and subsequently any other subject so I will iqnore all your post from now on. You have a nice day.

I have around 1300 acres to hunt total over 5 different properties, I mainly bowhunt and kill around 10-15 a year, I put up 2 for myself and give the rest away.

Super post! This ^^^ is maturing and progressing as a deer hunter. to ya.

It's amazing what a man( or woman ) can learn by passing small bucks. After I let some small ones walk and then later that day killed ol' Mossy a couple times, a 1000 watt light bulb went off! Sure am glad my thinking wasn't limited on that one. I had people call me a liar in the early 80s when I'd tell of passing small bucks. Now it's cool, my how times have changed.

I kill quiet a few deer, but I also hunt several different properties. My family eats tons of deer, and I give it to other family members. I'm a big management guy so I am careful how many deer are killed on each property and I only shoot 4 yr old or older bucks. One of my properties is way over populated so it's where most of my numbers come from.

Making the "I don't understand why you need ..." posts is akin to:

-- I don't understand why you need more than one gun.

-- I don't understand why anyone needs a gun.

-- I don't understand why you need to kill deer when you can shop at Publix.

-- I don't understand why you need a bow when you have a gun.

-- I don't understand why you need three deer when one big one is about 40-50 pounds of meat.

-- I don't understand why you need 500 acres privately when so many people in need could use some of that land.

-- I don't understand why you need to be able to buy a gun, much less more than one.

-- I don't understand why anyone needs to have large amounts of ammunition in their home.

-- I don't understand why anyone needs to go to more than one expensive football game a season when they could donate that money to the homeless shelter or women's rape crisis center.


And on, and on. Could come up with these all day long, and typically the response to any of these or others is "What business is it of yours?"

Personally, I don't understand why anyone worries about someone killing five or 10 deer if they or someone else is eating them and the land (or lands) carrying capacity can handle it. If you eat two and that's all you want, does or bucks and within regulations set forth by the state you're hunting in, so be it.

First of all I didn't say anything about need. I just asked why. The question had nothing to do with need. Maybe you should have read the question a little better before you answered. And if why you do is none of anyones else business you could just have said it is no ones business why I kill so many deer. Maybe you just like to see stuff die hey that's ok by me if that is your thing. Maybe some folks like to kill them and leave them in the woods for the coyotes to eat cause they love coyotes if so kill a 100 of them if you like it aint against no law. I was just asking a question. And some folks get all defensive like you are asking to see there bank account information geez.

I'm not defensive. Need or why are virtually interchangeable.

What you're asking offers a glimpse of what anti-hunters ask: why do you want/need to do something? Slippery slope when you start questioning why someone wants or needs to do something that's legal if the supply will support it.

State laws and club rules are the way I hunt. State says three bucks only then when the third buck hits the dirt I don't shoot anymore bucks. Club rule says six point or better then even if he has 5 and 7/8 of a point I let him walk.

Why?

1. Venison, prepared correctly, is the most delicious, nutritious, protein on the planet.
2. I'm 6'5", 220 lbs and I lift weights three times a week. I eat a minimum of two pounds of meat per day. I would love to eat venison for half of that. Thats 365 pounds of meat a year. So I NEED to kill 9-12 deer per year just to feed myself. This assumes also that i do a decent job of fishing in the off season.
3. Deer densities in my area are high and other members on the 3300 acres I hunt will never kill the amount of deer that need to be.
4. I'd rather eat venison that i killed, butchered, and prepeared for the table than I would buy some government subsidized corn-fed confined cattle or piggy.
5. I love to give venison to people because it is a rare treat for anyone who doesn't hunt.
6. I'm reward oriented and i want something to show for the hours, money, labor, sweat, and blood that i give every year so I can have the priveledge of hunting deer.
7. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush that comes when you are no longer just a passive observer in the circle of life, but an active participant.

Yep, thats all the reasons.