cull buck?

[doecomander]

Will this buck always be without brow tines? Should it be culled from the herd or given another couple years?

If I don't shoot any doe I won't hesitate to shoot it late season, but usually I am lucky enough to fill the freezer with doe meat.

[chiefbkt]

Not sure where you are located but in my area that's a yearling buck. Pass on him this year and if he's without brows next year he probably won't have them. I wouldn't use the word cull...freezer filler sounds better.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Will this buck always be without brow tines? Should it be culled from the herd or given another couple years?

If I don't shoot any doe I won't hesitate to shoot it late season, but usually I am lucky enough to fill the freezer with doe meat.

Yup he looks like a yearling by the pic but a pretty nice one also. I myself would let that guy walk regardless of brow tines.but if the freezer is empty and deer numbers are up? Why not. 

 As far as brow tines, you really cant tell a deers future by his first rack. I have seen many with no brows at 1 but have them at 2yrs old!

[Hock3y24]

I saw a buck with antlers like this but twice the size, too far for an arrow but he sure looked cool! Biggest 4 point I'll ever see.

[phade]

Culling free range deer is like peeing into the wind. Cull is a term free range hunters use to kill deer with a rationalization that makes them sleep better at night for shooting a young deer before they would otherwise do so.

Nothing wrong with shooting a young deer at all. Just own it and dont hide behind genetics, or some other made up excuse to not make you feel bad about it in front of other people.

If he trips your trigger, thats all that matters.

[Doc]

Cull buck ..... sounds like a term some farmer would use when managing his sheep or goats. These are free range wild animals (I assume).

 

But anyway, the only question I ask myself is whether that is a buck that I want or not. I have no illusions that my choice will ever impact the genetics of the deer herd in general. Shoot that buck, and there are still his siblings, his mother, and his father all out there passing on the same genes (or worse). Keep it simple ..... do you want him or not?

[G-Man]

its a yearling buck, many do not have brows 1st year...if you can pass deer for 3-4 years getting the same deer on camera with exactly the same horns, then you could think about cull buck.. in nys 99% of all deer are killed before you can determine what they would grow into.. nothing should be culled per say before 3.5 or 4.5 ...

[landtracdeerhunter]

This is a decision, solely left on each hunters standards to which they hunt by. A deer like this one, may be harvest in ones early hunting career, but may walk by later, as the hunter matures.  The choice is in your court, on what to do, and it's your and only your call to make!

It doesn't matter what word is used. In the end, the final outcome is the only thing that matters!

Edited August 7, 2014 by landtracdeerhunter

[Four Season Whitetail's]

its a yearling buck, many do not have brows 1st year...if you can pass deer for 3-4 years getting the same deer on camera with exactly the same horns, then you could think about cull buck.. in nys 99% of all deer are killed before you can determine what they would grow into.. nothing should be culled per say before 3.5 or 4.5 ...

Which in turn would use the word Hunting better than the word Killing or culling. Many,many kill deer every year but to pick a buck or two out of your hunting area and go Hunt that single deer or two is called Hunting in my book.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

And in terms of him passing the "no brow genetics" on, remember that half of the genetic soup comes from the doe and there is now way to tell what she is bringing to the table.

[doecomander]

This deer will get the pass from me. Hopefully other hunters in the area do the same. Thanks for all the opinions and input.

[518BowSlayer]

This buck I shot last year has real small brow tines, just barely an inch, but he's still a trophy in my book. I'd consider him a trophy even if he didn't have them at all, but I hunt in the capital region and rarely see anything bigger than this.

[ATbuckhunter]

Looks like a pretty good yearling. Looks like hes going to be a big guy when he gets older. 

[sampotter]

Culling free range deer is like peeing into the wind. Cull is a term free range hunters use to kill deer with a rationalization that makes them sleep better at night for shooting a young deer before they would otherwise do so.

Nothing wrong with shooting a young deer at all. Just own it and dont hide behind genetics, or some other made up excuse to not make you feel bad about it in front of other people.

If he trips your trigger, thats all that matters.

 

To add to what Phade so eloquently said; there is no such thing as a cull buck unless you are hunting behind a fence. Consider these facts (some have already been mentioned)

 

* It is impossible to predict what a mature buck's antlers will look like based on his 1st or 2nd sets of antlers (a study was performed in Texas where they trapped and tagged spikes vs. 8 pt yearlings that showed no significant difference in B+C score at maturity, "once a spike, always a spike" is total BS)

 

* Most if not all yearling bucks disperse to new ranges other than where they were born (Mother Nature's anti-inbreeding defense plan), so that means that buck fawns born on your land will be someone else's mature bucks and vice versa.

 

* Does contribute 50% of the genes to the fawns (I always wonder if I am killing the mother of a future B+C buck every time I shoot a doe).

 

* The heritability of antler genetics are poorly understood, even by deer breeders. (It is unknown if lack of brow tines is a simple dominant/recessive gene or is influenced by multiple alleles.)

[wooly]

 I'll probably "cull" the first buck I see again this year... whether he's a no brow forkie, or a cactus racked, double dropper super freak!

[Larry]

First that's not a 1.5 year old deer that's 2.5 year old the pic was taken on 7/13.
next you are watching to many hunting shows. I like when there is a 150 8 or 9 pt. and they call it a cull or a management buck. It's up to you on weather you shoot it or not, it's not up to anyone of us, it's your choice not mine.  

[jjb4900]

I've been culling out the inferior bucks for years and never even realized it......

[Larry]

What makes a buck inferior?

[jjb4900]

What makes a buck inferior?

to me? absolutely nothing.

[ants]

What makes a buck inferior?

Other peoples opinion of what you decide to put on your tags.

[wooly]

What makes a buck inferior?

 

I can think of plenty of things that make a whitetail buck inferior amongst his herd.

What makes a buck inferior to any given hunter is open to his interpretation, based on his hunting grounds location, expectations, and observations.

The OP's buck would be a 1.5 yr old buck in my woods with no wiggle room for debate..

Edited August 9, 2014 by wooly