What makes a buck a “Shooter” ?

I have been reading a lot here in the hunting side. I see the term “Shooter” quite a bit…

So my question is… What makes a buck a “Shooter”?

Thanks guys !!

Only you can decide that Dave. Some guys are out for meat, some out for a trophy set of antlers. My advice to you as a rookie bow hunter, have a plan when you get into the woods. Are you going to shoot anything? Only a mature deer, something over 2.5 years old?

The first time you draw back your bow, you are going to have a rush like crazy. It’s super important to have patience and wait for the right shot. Observe the deer and how they react to each other and the sounds of the woods.

Enjoy your time in the woods!!!

Well said kooty!

I also agree w/ kooty. Bow hunting allows you the opportunity to hunt till New Year’s Eve! I personally want to spend as much time in woods as possible. If you have the privilege to hunt area with bonus doe tags, better yet. I will take a mature doe asap to put meat in freezer. I say mature in that the amount of time for me to process, I want it worth it. As for bucks, my thrill is going after the legendary “turdy pointer”. That being said, I have just as much fun shooting young bucks w/ camcorder. Fun to get back and tell buddies I passed on young 10 pt. they say,”yeh right”, then get to show them footage. Though i do feel each hunter will know when its the right one. Like kooty said, have fun & enjoy each moment!

Its different for everyone. I think the more common thought is the selective harvest of the most mature buck in the area. Our goal for our property is to have 4 to 6 mature bucks that have the genes of producing nice even racks.

However, that’s not always true. When we bought our farm 20 years ago, we had tons of deer. The vast majority was does, bucks with morphodited racks, old bucks that were way past their prime, and only a handful of even typical racks. We spent the first 10 years taking the “lessor” bucks out of the gene pool. This meant passing up a lot of 2.5 to 4.5 year old bucks to leave as the studs in the breeding world.

We finally passed the peak of seeing the typical even racks as the majority and the morphodites as a very small percentage.

CWD didn’t help, as it opened the flood gates of all the neighbors shooting everything. So now the last few years has been a rebuilding stage for us. But it builds a level of excitement and keeps my daughters intrigued when we know we have a half dozen buck passing through our land that have the ability to fully mature in age and size. We don’t get many in our area that hit the 180’s plus. Our area produces a general average of 150-170 on a 5.5 year old buck. For us, that is perfectly fine and we satisfied if a buck can reach that level of maturity.

The first few pics are “shooters” that we wanted to take out of the breeding herd. The 1st trail cam pic is a offspring of a buck we call radio tower. This style of rack is becoming a frequent site now by us. Olivia’s buck is a morphodite and also carries a gene that stops the deer from growing past about 120# live weight. Also the little buck that I have is another one that has a “darf” gene. Somehow we got this one set of offspring that hits a about 120#’s and stops growing. They look weird when you see them amongst other deer. The last pic is a buck from about 2000 or 2001. That was the first year when it all came together and we finally had a good number of 4.5 to 6.5 yr old bucks running around.

Finally, that last thing I wanted to mention about letting the mid-aged deer go is the observation. Once we had a fair sized herd of 3.5 to 5.5 yr old deer with common sized racks, we noticed the level of sparring and fighting really increased. Now its common for me to watch bucks fighting 3 to 5 times a season. Stuff you just don’t get to see all the time.

BTW I’m holding his sheds from the year prior that I found while turkey hunting. Good example of what 1 additional year can do for growth.

Only you can decide that If you are happy with the buck you shoot it’s a shooter On the land we hunt we just say if he is a good adult ( not a young buck) shoot it … Plus we have a rule of if you shoot it you mount it ! Just what we do

To each their own. That being said if you shoot a buck and throw the horns in the corner of the garage in a box, shoot a doe instead and give that guy a chance to mature.

Many folks have forgotten how we have worked our way up the ladder, to say today that it has to be a 4 year old or a mature buck to be a shooter for example.

If the buck gets you all jacked up and excited and you know this is the one, take it. Nobody can take that away from you.

I remember as a kid I would dive through a barb wire fence to take a good shot at a small buck, but back then that was a buck of a lifetime monster that got my blood flowing. And in time I kept raising my bar trying to get a little bigger and bigger always looking to better my last.

When you get all excited and worked up that’s your buck and be proud.

Good Luck

WEll put explained perfect. Good job

So your saying…
When I get all jacked up.. the shakes.. breathing hard and almost ready to urine my self…

pull back and shoot ?

if it make YOU happy it’s a shooter. this is hard subject for me. Been doing QDM since 1992. Today my biggest buck is 137 7/8 with the bow or gun. I have let bucks walk that have been in the 150. There are days that i think i was crazy but i keep telling my self my day will come. Side note is i have be able to get on 3 buck now that have grossed over 200in. hunting small acres.
Now my shooter buck size have went down but i don’t hunt as much as i did back then. So when you see pics of me with small bucks i shot it because it made me happy. That’s a shooter for me.

We have a QDM guy in our family tree. Personally, he’s a nice guy, but his rendition of what makes a shooter has gotten kinda sickening. A shooter is what happens to be in front of you when that little guy who sits on your shoulder says to go ahead, take the shot. It may end up not being “worthy” in the eyes of some QDM people because it’s not big enough (in their opinion), but it’s not their’s to shoot, nor should they trash your decision to harvest whatever kind of deer you take. It’s your hunt, your decision, you’ll feel it when it comes along.

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Many folks have forgotten how we have worked our way up the ladder, to say today that it has to be a 4 year old or a mature buck to be a shooter for example.

If the buck gets you all jacked up and excited and you know this is the one, take it. Nobody can take that away from you.

I remember as a kid I would dive through a barb wire fence to take a good shot at a small buck, but back then that was a buck of a lifetime monster that got my blood flowing. And in time I kept raising my bar trying to get a little bigger and bigger always looking to better my last.

When you get all excited and worked up that’s your buck and be proud.

Good Luck

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I got a buddy who always goes by the “holy crap” factor…if your first instinct is “HOLY CRAP!” then its a shooter no matter how many inches it is.