If and when do you lower your standards?

[no worries]

Just curious, taking both the kids hunting again this year and they are pretty stoked. Lots of pre hunt talk about what they would shoot and what they are going to pass up.

Seems like we start the hunt thinking we are passing up anything short of a monster buck and as we come to grips with reality we become less selective. ( Closing time syndrome. )

With kids, it's pretty hard to pass up a small buck and not fill their tag. What approach do you guys take? Has it worked?

[Tac]

meat in the freezer.

[W.O.T]

I let them choose.

 

They always start off thinking theyre gonna kill something bigger then last yr, so usually what happens is my kids end up shooting the next buck they see after passing the 1st buck It doesnt matter if either one are spikes... For some reason the next buck bites the dust & they are happy. Its funny when they pass a decent 2x2 and then settle on a spike.

[rossislider]

I think it depends on the hunt/unit/tag. How premium is the tag? I have always let my son decide on whether to shoot or pass, and I have always been proud of the choices he has made. He asks my opinion but he has always made he call. Either way it is always a valuable lesson. If they are really young, I would lean toward encouraging them to shoot the first legal animal, they will likely get lots more opportunity and there will be plenty of time to get selective as they get older. I hate for kids to eat tag soup.

[idgaf]

Let them decide. My daughter will shoot anything that has antlers,my nephew on the other hand, will only shoot the biggest animals in the unit.

[firstcoueswas80]

Yep, let them decide. I feel it's more important for a kid /new hunter to gain the experience and see what it feels like to put their own meat in the freezer over hunting for antlers.

[bgshooter]

With my very little experience, I will go for anything that has antlers on my first harvest. As I try for my second\third\fourth\etc...I believe I will be a little more picky.

 

And when my kids finally start to join me on deer hunts, I will let them decide on whether they want to harvest the animal or not. It will suck to eat tag soup but I've always taught them that failure is a part of life. Have to accept it and try harder next time.

[oz31p]

Easy I have no standards. I shoot what makes me happy in that moment.

[azelkhunter2]

First legal buck...

[elkaholic]

I was only the guy carring the pack / camp cook /glasser

 

- the hunt was always my son's decisions - what time to get up - which way to go - where /when to glass-- most every detail of the hunt itself.

 

it's his tag - if he wants to wait and pass on bucks the first few days - I say nothing -he passed a nice 70 class little basket 3 point only to go home with no deer tagged.

 

now he knows why I didn't always come home with a deer -

 

I usually pass on small/ young deer - hate the sinewy fibers of undeveloped muscle on those spikes / less meat for freezer- usually made for chewy burger

 

it seems to prepare them for a better life and the ups and downs of the decisions one makes along the way

[More D]

For my daughter her goal was to get the first big game animal under her belt so to speak.

She took it last October. We will see what the plan is next tag around. It is always her choice but I suspect she is going to be a meat hunter......at first.

She goes all out when hunt time comes around.

[Guest oneshot]

Just my opinion and what I have seen...

When a kids first hunt comes around and as a parent you set them up for the biggest critter you can find, and they kill it, you are setting them up for future failure and un-realistic expectations as to what Hunting is all about...

 

Sometimes, most times really, the animal "wins"...

[wbyfireman]

I usually say I'm not going to take anything smaller than what I got the prior season.... So now this season I'm at "it has to be over 100".....😁😁😁😁. Might have to ditch that philosophy with a leftover tag this season.... Anything that looks like a nice mature buck for the first 3-4 days.... After that I love the meat in the freezer so just like closing time at the bar--- my standards drop significantly!!! 😃

[wbyfireman]

I usually say I'm not going to take anything smaller than what I got the prior season.... So now this season I'm at "it has to be over 100".....😁😁😁😁. Might have to ditch that philosophy with a leftover tag this season....

 

Anything that looks like a nice mature buck for the first 3-4 days.... After that I love the meat in the freezer so just like closing time at the bar--- my standards drop significantly!!! 😃

[AverageJoe]

Teach them to take the first legal buck they can get. It will not spoil them for later years by thinking hunting is all about antlers (which it is not). They will have plenty of years afterwards to work towards a bigger buck if they choose that route.