New buck rule

[Dustin T Cummings]

I'm just curious to see what people think. I would like to see a new whitetail rule in affect for the near future. The rule would be that any deer shot in bow or rifle season,etc., that was a male deer should have to have a buck tag on it. I think people would start seeing bigger bucks in the woods within a couple years.  If the deer is male ,it is a buck,regaurdless of the points and lenght there for it should be tagged as a buck. Male -buck,female-doe its simple. By shooting a undersized buck now you can use a doe tag to tag it which is total bs. Hunters would have to look at the deer  a little bit better before shooting it,if they decide to. Maybe they would pass it up knowing that it was a small buck,alowing it to age more . Just a thought .

[rich valentine]

i like this idea, i look at every deer as best i can. i messed up one time and did shoot a buck fawn, but that was one in 25 years of hunting. not bad odds i think. most people say they dont have time to look ( if the deer is moving that fast, then you shouldnt shoot at it. ) but i think this would be a hard sell to the DNR.

[Aaron Thibault]

Interesting idea

[Dustin T Cummings]

Oh ,the dnr would never go for this . Every county in the state could have big bucks if more people could manage deer or atleast try to pass the little bucks up. The rule wouldn't work for the guys and girls that would rather shoot a spike or a fork buck than a doe. I also shot a nub buck in a field over two hundred yards away, I have not since then , it really upset me at the time because I am a firm believer of buck management. My group started doing this about seven years ago and now we regularly see bucks over 130 inches

[Jake Hinrichs]

I love it Dustin, This is exactly what needs to happen. Of course the amount of does killed would dramatically come down and the deer numbers would rise up through the rough. I think I will mention this to our group this fall. It would help us see more Bucks! Like Rich said, If you cant tell what it is, you shouldn't be shooting. I told my self a couple years ago I wouldn't shoot at a running deer anymore unless it was a deer I had already shot.

[Thad Joseph Wojcik]

just a thaught. wisconsin could try to enforce a law that is used in parts of missouri only shooting bucks with at least 4 points on one side.

[Steven M]

That is a great idea, i think that would make people look before they shoot not shoot and see what you got.

[Nick Johnson]

This is a solid idea, but I think it would cause a lot of problems. I feel that there would be hunters who would shoot a small buck or buck fawn and when they realized they'd have to waste their buck tag on it, they'd probably just leave it lay. I think that a better law would be to implement a regulation on what constitutes a legal buck. I believe in like Pennsylvania or something you cannot shoot a buck unless it has at least 4 points on one side. Meaning, no spikes, forks, or 3x3 six pointers can be killed legally. That would allow the bucks to grow up a lil better while also keeping the majority of the hunters happy.

[Dustin T Cummings]

I think that the true hunters would follow the rule, The others that didn't follow it or wouldn't tag there harvested deer would be called a violator. I wish wisconsin would go to a new rule like other states do,but you will always have those people that will shoot the small ones just to get a buck,which in my opinion is pathetic. Shooting imature animals happens , but it can be avoided by having point restrictions,or by calling a buck a buck regaurdless of it's size. Most states have the potential to have great deer,but I know in wisconsin were I hunt there are allot of surrounding neighbors that shoot everything. Hopefully Wisconsin will jump on board ,I know Minnesota started doing point restrictions in some parks to see the affect.

[rich valentine]

i think we all have valid( points ) lol. we just need others to go with it ( THE DNR ) and others to stick to it.

Dustin T Cummings said:

I think that the true hunters would follow the rule, The others that didn't follow it or wouldn't tag there harvested deer would be called a violator. I wish wisconsin would go to a new rule like other states do,but you will always have those people that will shoot the small ones just to get a buck,which in my opinion is pathetic. Shooting imature animals happens , but it can be avoided by having point restrictions,or by calling a buck a buck regaurdless of it's size. Most states have the potential to have great deer,but I know in wisconsin were I hunt there are allot of surrounding neighbors that shoot everything. Hopefully Wisconsin will jump on board ,I know Minnesota started doing point restrictions in some parks to see the affect.

[Nick Lucente]

I'm not disagreeing with the point restriction rule only because it wouldnt bother me. I think it would cause more problems than it would solve though. Like Nick said, they'll shoot them and leave them lay, or shoot them and bring them to the shed and process them without the tag. The other problem I see is not so much a legal issue but a tradition issue. Wisconsin hunters celebrate the deer season. Family comes together to hunt and have fun together. For some of those people its not so much the size of the deer that matters, but sharing the experience. Some of these people would be happy to shoot a small buck, they celebrate that deer as much as any other buck in the woods. Isnt that what its all about? I think the point restriction would take some of that tradition away....like it or not. Like I said before, I wouldnt shoot a little guy. But thats just me. I think we need to go to 1 either/or tag and a draw for bonus tag. Ultimately, if we limit the amount of deer we shoot each year.... we will end up with bigger bucks because the herd should get older. Its just a numbers game in my opinion. My 2 cents.

[Dustin T Cummings]

No matter what any of us think we are all hunters and sportsmen and women,ultimately the dnr tells us what to shoot when to shoot and why we should shoot and how many we should shoot,which is wrong. I would be all for just an either or tag and that's it,good comment Nick

[Jason D. Linder]

I like the idea, however thinking in terms of buck fawns, can you tell one from the other? I sadly shot a buck fawn during the gun season, 9 deer came in they were all walking away from me and I didnt see horns on any of them. I picked a spot in the woods and waited for one to move to that spot, I still saw no horns so I shot. I went up to my kill and damn, it was a buck fawn I would bet this happens all the time. You hear the expression alll the time (if its brown its down) I like the idea that I read that you cant shoot it unless it at least has 4 points but still you shoot a deer like that it is still a whole generation gone with only 1-2 years under its belt, and didnt breed any does. How many hunters in the woods when faced with what I did and probably many like me have done would put a buck tag on when all they would have to do is cut the nuts off and boom its a doe. Hard to enforce but good conversation, we need to think about ironing out the wrinkles before proposing, look at the #wardens to #hunters ratio.