Are any of you a part of a club that allows new or “young” hunters, no matter their age, the opportunity to kill a young buck? If so, how’s it worded in yer rules?

If the young kid has never killed a buck, it’s state law. Shoot a spike, 3pt 4pt whatever they want.

Worded that they can kill a buck of choice.

Not in a club, but both properties I hunt, young hunters can drop whatever they want legally. No dad holding the gun and the kid pulls the trigger crap either.

That kind of stuff irritates me to no end. I had a buddy ask me if he could bring his 4yo to my place so that he could hold the rifle and the kid pull the trigger so that he could get his "first deer". I told him absolutely not, that his kid wasn't allowed to pull the trigger on anything on my place until he could hold the gun, aim, and shoot well on his own. Why would someone even think that was a good idea?

IMO ill let you kill whatever you want for your first deer. my dad wouldn't let me kill a doe for my first deer and to be honest i dont remember wanting to. had to be a 6 point or better for me to kill. from that point forward each buck i killed had to be bigger than the previous

A young hunter hunting on my place can shoot whatever he wants .

I like eating deer too much to follow those rules.

I agree but they can count on 2 things:
1). I will put them in a spot that is as close to a sure thing as I can get.
2). It's not going to be a spot im serious about killing a mature deer.

At our place Alabama law applies to a hunter’s 1st deer. After that, all club rules apply.

I ask this because I hear a lot of "a young hunter can kill whatever he wants for his 1st deer". Well, what about his second deer? Also, what if you're taking a coworker to your club for his first hunt ever? Do you limit him to whatever you have to shoot? I'm asking this because of the Ted Nugent video in the other thread. I'm apart of a club that allows for young hunters to kill whatever they want. But, if they're dad is the club member then it counts as one his dad's three bucks. Same goes if the dad takes a guest and they kill a buck. Each member gets three bucks. I know that it probably depends on the deer population on your property and whether or not y'all have a lot of does to shoot, so instead you can offer up a doe to a guest I take a lot of first time adult hunters hunting. I typically take them to my personal property. What I'm getting at is how can we recruit more adult hunters without discouraging them with the 8pt or better rules that so many clubs have? It concerns me that I am seeing fewer young adults and kids at clubs I visit when 25 years ago you couldn't drive through the camp area without nearly running over one.

I don't have my own personal property, so I can only speak hypothetically......but, hypothetically if I had my own property and got to be supreme dictator of said property, a person's first deer would be any legal deer of choice, regardless of that hunter's age.

For deer after the first one, I'd just make that game-time decision on a case-by-case basis.

I can tell you this, if I took a relatively new hunter (kid, adult, whatever) that's maybe killed a few deer here and there but still get's a good case of buck fever and gets visibly excited when that little 4pt steps out, man blast away. Likewise, if I know that person isn't really excited about shooting a small(ish) deer and wouldn't really appreciate it for what it was, then I'd say they gotta wait for something bigger.

I get that we want to let deer mature as much as possible, but at the same time it's supposed to be fun. If it wasn't fun, what's the point?

Shoot legal deer, enjoy hunting. That's all I'd say.

I let all the kids shoot whatever they want..... it just comes off their Daddy's limit. And after they kill a couple they get to figure out what else they can do with their Saturday besides come back and shoot another and another and another, etc.......

If a kid shoots a spike who cares. We can probably all spare a couple. What they are going to be doing with their Saturdays in January is not really my concern. Maybe they can find somewhere else to hunt and shoot some more deer it just won't be the deer on my place.

Let any first time or young Hunter shoot what they want as long as it's legal that's how you keep people interested and invested in hunting the trophy hunting mentality or being more selective will come in time as they get a few under there belt and get older.we all piss and moan about the state this the state that making it harder to hunt or whatever and clubs do the same thing for new or young hunters. I fortunate enough that I have family land to hunt and don't hunt public or deal with clubs and I have self imposed limits on what I shoot and so does the neighbor feller but I don't dare put those on my wife or paw n law we talked about and I told them if they happy with pulling the trigger send it id rather them make a good shot on a spike as I had a bad shot on a 140.

I also think a rule for first time or young hunters should something like this
First year or deer anything that's legal.
Second year or deer 4 pt or better
And keep stepping it up to about 4 or 5 years or deer then slowly and gradually move them into the 15 in wide out past the ear 8 point or age class orwhatever else you come up with

Another tip on a small buck kill of a young hunter, if you can't find something good to say keep yo mouth shut. To him or her it's the biggest buck in the state , treat it as such. Tell them what a fine buck it is , brag on a well placed shot and such.

My son killed a smallish buck several years ago and while delivering it to the processor another feller brought in about a 120" buck. He told my son "if you'd let that one go he'd look like mine next year". My son told him , "you let that one go he'd made a 150". The laugh was on the feller with the 120. There was several other fellers there and they got a huge laugh out of it.

Any adult that says anything even remotely critical to a kid about a deer they killed deserves to have their teeth knocked down their throat. What an ass

I have taken a few kids hunting and I was surprised when they passed on small bucks. They said they wanted to wait for a trophy.

Kids shoot any legal deer at our place. Also if we have an adult guest that has never killed a deer before, they can shoot any legal deer.

My daughter passed deer for 5 years before she shot her 9pt. After that she only want to shoot mature does or a buck bigger than the one she killed. I told her if that’s what she wants I’m good with it.

We have no written rules since we hunt thanks to the generosity if the landowners, but their wishes on the subject are simple. Your first buck, especially a kid, can be one of your choice although we try to encourage it to be a racked buck but if they get excited over a spike, that is fine too. We are pretty laid back since all of the regular hunters have the same management goals. The only penalty for a guest violation is simply never being invited back.

This is what I have for our rules on First Bucks. It applies to any member or Family Member, not just children.

4. MEMBERS CHOICE / FIRST BUCK EVER: December 28-30, Members and Family Members are allowed to
take 1 Buck of Choice with no restrictions. If a Member or Family Member has never taken a buck, they are
allowed to take a BUCK OF CHOICE, at any time. If one is taken, then they will not allowed one 12/28-30.

I would place anyone who would criticize ANYONE'S first deer into the same category.

This

I'm fortunate to have been hunting on the same property that we have owned my whole life and only have a few family members and close buddies that hunt with us so it's not really a hunting club. But our rules are very simple on this stuff. 1 Have fun. 2 Shoot whatever legal deer you want to shoot . 3 Have fun. I've done the whole it has to be a certain size and age thing before and it's amazing how much more fun we have when it's if you like it and want to shoot it then shoot it. It's a lot easier and more enjoyable to me when everyone is laid back and not worrying about who shoots a certain deer or a deer that's " too small" or a deer that someone else has as their #1 hitlist buck. It's all supposed to be about having fun and enjoying God's Great Outdoors with your family and friends.

When my kids get into it they can shoot anything they want to! That’s what I was allowed to do and I loved it! I’ll still shoot a small one if I want to and never cared what anyone says about it. I still get excited when I see any deer and that’s what I enjoy about it

" First time Hunter or youth hunter who has never killed a deer can kill a doe or any buck allowable by state/county game regulations" .

^^^^^This all day! I tell my guests to shoot what makes them happy- if they kill a small buck im proud for them as long as they are excited. Hunting shouldn't be stressful because of the worrying involved in trying to meet someone else's expectations.

Truth!

We let kids shoot any first buck of their liking in our designated kid blocs on our property...and there is nothing but proudness of any deer that they kill.
At Birmingham country club you have to shoot an 80 to be able to play the west course as a kid, we use similar practices in our lease. Gives the youngns something to strive for.

Amen, man. Amen.

I agree with you to an extent but its easy to have that view when you still see plenty of deer. I grew up as a kid hunting land in Jackson Co where everyone blasted everything that walked. Just to actually see deer period was something special. Most hunts you didn’t see chit. Let me tell you….it wasn’t really that fun…..and that’s where there has to be some happy medium found. Shooting whatever you want if fun until there aint chit to shoot.

With that being said....I'm all for letting kids shoot whatever for their first deer.

We only try to shoot mature bucks sure mistakes happen no big deal. Mature deer is what my children will shoot or any guests children will shoot I would not change the rules for a group of hunters. I dont think the kids at age 5-10 really care if they get to shoot anything at all. From my experience they like going hunting and playing around camp and building fires etc the shooting seems to be secondary they just want to spend time with their dads.

On my place I don’t let my kids or their friends shoot spikes. We have enough bucks that they’ll be another opportunity soon enough. If the friends act right, they’ll be invited back. I can’t let them shoot a yearling spike. IMO

We have a size limit. You go under, cost a Franklin. Pops wants to pay it then so be it. Do it twice, you may not get to come back. But we usually have some that are big enough.

Thank God I'm not in a club. But on our family land that's the rule for everyone, younf and old.
Have fun, enjoy the hunt, be safe.

I guess I don't understand this logic. Unless you are hosting a bunch of kids, what does it hurt for a kid to take a spike as their first deer? I see young deer on the side of the road all the time. Not like there's a guarantee he's going to make it through the season.

My rules at the farm are simple. Kids, or anyone else for that matter, can shoot any legal deer for their first kill. Personally, I would rather see them shoot a spike than a 2-1/2 or 3-1/2 year old that has proven that he's smart enough to get across the road.

The spike is probably the lowest total impact to the overall herd, and the old dry doe is probably the absolute best deer to shoot.

My kids have never shot a bunch of small bucks and they have gotten along just fine. When I started taking them hunting they sat with me without a gun and watched at times up to 30+ deer in the fields and we would talk about them. We would talk about that's a little one and that one right there see it's got a short face and weighs 40lbs, that's what they look like... and that one over there.... he's maybe going to be a decent deer next year he's probably 2.5, etc.

I am sure it would be VERY hard to believe for some of y'all that they never got bored because they didn't pull the trigger.

So when they got bigger it came time for them to shoot their first buck... behold...... we actually hunted for one. What a foreign concept in Alabama. Just like we had been doing. And each shot a nice deer as their first.

The reason they got a nice deer as their first buck is because they had the opportunity to shoot a nice deer. The reason they had the opportunity to shoot a nice deer is because I taught them how to hunt and not how to blast spikes.

They are fired up about the upcoming deer season. They aren't talking about blasting does and heading back to the camp house to jaw jack with someone or get breakfast or hang out playing grabarse with someone back at the house. Which is what many "hunters" real focal point is.

My oldest is asking me to get him a new pair of merino wool underwear so that they can sit on stand longer on cold days waiting on a buck.

How could that possibly be? True Story.


Teach a kid to blast small bucks and they will get bored with deer hunting. They won't stick with it. And they will never have any patience. If they ever do shoot a good deer it will be blind arse luck.

Also a True Story.

Amen X4.

We do the exact same thing. So much more fun to celebrate the hunt with others. That's why I hunt, period.

And he did, except it was by a kid and all he had to do was use his words. Made the older guy look like an idot in front of everyone else.

I was talking first deer only, not shooting spikes forever.

Agreed.

Everyone has their opinion on what’s best, but even my kids understand the difference in shooting a baby 80-100 LB spike that won’t run off and getting to shoot a fork horn deer. We like shooting big does the best though!
My place, my rules......

it all depends on your oppertunity, example if your seeing 30+ deer in your field you can afford to trophey hunt. but if your lucky to see 1 deer a season they better shoot it.

The land owner on our lease sets the limits. Button bucks and spikes are not allowed to be killed. Dont matter if your a man, woman or child. His land his rules.

I agree with you about watching and learning deer behavior. I also agree with teaching them to be patient and hunt mature deer.

But

I also teach my kids and other young hunters to enjoy being in camp with friends/family and to get excited to go hang out with them. That’s the most important part of hunting to my family. None of us are hunting to survive. To many folks get hung up on the killing part or worrying that someone else is going to kill something instead of you. I want my kids to be excited when they hear a shot from another field. As a kid I didn’t care if I killed or not I just enjoyed the other part so much I always wanted to go back. I enjoy congratulating other people on their kills and I hope my kids follow suit. Don’t get me wrong everybody wants to kill a deer but don’t make your kids think that is all there is to hunting.