So true.

So is the deer dead or not?

Some people make assumptions and have no idea what they are talking about.

I assure you that our young hunters are not mistreated or deprived. They have been key contributors for years, and all have nice 3yo skull mounts on the wall and are totally onboard with giving young bucks a pass to grow up. These boys run cameras, name deer, share pics, put up their own stands, choose where they hunt based on the wind, and they have an absolute ball. Honestly, they do most of the heavy lifting with planting, and bushhogging, and firewood cutting/splitting. They also do most of the doe whacking. They started at 6-8 years old, my two boys plus four more friends. They loved it, so now thise other two families are now a majority of the membership. They are now 16-21 years old but still “youth” to me.

We’re a no restriction/“shoot what makes you happy” club so I’ve never told any member or youth that they can’t shoot something. BUT, we all agree that we don’t want to shoot our 3yr olds so that’s what we try hard to do.

His text to me was “is this Tank?” With the attached pic. The deer was known, discussed, and 100% a shooter. He just wasn’t sure.

The deer being a shooter was never a question.

And, unfortunately he’s still a shooter, still alive and poking other bucks in the forehead with that pitiful rack.

So what was the “conundrum”? Sounds like you got it all under control.

I agree with you 100%. I encourage a youth to shoot any age deer for their first buck. After that, practice on does and shoot mature deer.

We host quite a few youth hunts on our farm. Our rule is each deer is better than the last on bucks. So if we have a young hunter that shoots a spike the next buck has to be better and so on. It has worked for us. They can stack up the does anytime.

The “Conundrum” is what allowed a mature buck to get a pass, standing in broad daylight in a food plot, by a young hunter. That’s all.

The hunter took a cool picture instead of a shot. Because he wants to do the right thing and help us manage our property. I thought it might be interesting for folks here to see a real example of how a mature buck might not compute with what you’d expect, particularly if you lean heavily on the horns… which we are probably all guilty of to some extent.

Didn’t expect it to turn into a “how to raise young hunters” discussion but it’s still been fun.