I have tried to understand why some people feel it is necessary to kill 6,8,10 or more deer each year and I just can not for the life of me understand it. I understand if there are only one or two people hunting a big piece of property and/or the deer have exceeded or is nearing the carrying capacity where you hunt you may have to kill that many. But if you are not hunting a area where there are to many deer why do some people feel the need to kill so many deer. I have never been that way even when I was young and I cant wrap my head around it. For the people on here that fall into that category what are your reasons for killing that many. Maybe you have a big family and can eat that many, or feel like you have to kill that many to get your monies worth from dues and such, or maybe you just like killing deer. Just trying to understand the reasons.

Some people just want to kill. No matter what size or how many.

Yep,


I'm not going to lie, when I was in my bloodthristy stage I killed a ton of deer. I killed 20+ two seasons in a row and in double digits several more of those years. I was shooting them and just giving them away to whoever would take them. As you mature and get a little wiser you realize that crap isn't necessary and that's what happened to me. I usually kill one or two deer a year now if that many just to have a little freezer meat. I don't get to horn hunt much anymore since I have three kids that are into it and I hunt with one of them most of the time. I personally don't care if I even kill a deer this season. I got to see my youngest son kill his first one ever a few weeks ago and that made my season.

Some kill deer, some make money, some do what ever. It all boils down to each their own.

I don't understand what you mean by that statement.

Between me and my boys I try to put 4 in the freezer for the year for us to eat and then if we still are seeing a lot of does and the rut is not on we kill one or two to donate to the hungry.

What's it to you if someone kills 10 deer? Maybe they eat a lot of 'em.

One or two deer will do me. I will kill more if someone ask for one. It doesn't bother me how many deer someone kills if it's legal and the meat isn't wasted. I knew a guy who had two freezers just for deer meat. His family ate it on pizza and anything else they could come up with.

My family of 3 eats 4-5.

His question was why do people kill so many? And if you fit into this category what is your reason for killing so many deer?
If they all get eaten that would be great.
But I agree that there are many guys that kill the first deer they see every hunt regardless of how many they have already killed. This is uneccessary especially in areas with lower deer densities. Some people are all about the numbers.
But I guess to each his own and if they are doing it legally let I wil let them be.

Because its their given right.

I haven't had this kind dof luck for quite a few years but a while back I would kill 6-10 per year. The whole intent, since I'm the only one in my family that likes venison, is to donate it to the local East Alabama Food Bank. I was talking to the food bank manager, asking if the the deer we donated really made a difference. She explained that every year they run short of meat and have an extremely difficult time providing all the meat that the is needed. She asked that I tell all my friends and fellow hunters to PLEASE keep donating to the food bank. Now I keep the first doe I shoot and donate everything else. We have a processor near my house that takes the deer, grinds every bit of it and delivers it to the food bank or Hunters for the Hungry.

Somthing to consider....

I enjoy the woods and I don't want to spend an enjoyable evening in the woods dragging a deer out, taking it to the processor, etc to spoil my fun. I wouldn't drag a doe out of the woods for it, but that is just me. I save the does for the "Little Ones". Maturity as a hunter means you no longer have to kill to seal the deal. I have already let two super nice deer walk because it was a work evening and I didn't want to be tied up with a deer that night. To each his own, but when you are good at what you are doing, people know it and you don't need alot of dead does laying around to prove the point. Here in North Alabama where I hunt, many people will hunt all year and only see a couple of deer. Many of those hunters are not able to harvest one at all. Hunters here have really knocked a dent in them along with the coyotes. I am not a hog, never have been, and never will be. Sounds like you are a man after my own heart Mike!

BTW-I have very thick skin when it comes to people killing 10+ does just to say they have killed alot of deer. I feel they are trying to say "Me Mighty Hunter", look at how many I killed this year.

One more comment on this thread before I quit reading it: This is directed to BhamFred, "What is your take on this Troy"?

I have been on here for years and if I had to identify the most successful hunter on here to whom I respect their opinion and ability it would be Troy. Hunting with a stick bow and making your own flint points, killing some of the huge deer he has killed, and pics of his wife with great deer also receives my admiration. I want to just hear what you have to say about this thread. That is all.

I killed 6 last year and my family of 5 ate em all. If can kill 16 thus year I will because I'll donating em to folks who need to eat.

Mike if its a club issue not sayin it is put a stop to it , we had the same issue a couple years ago so we made a change to 2 does only and state rule on bucks except we allow only 2 with a
rifle and 1 with a bow.

I fall into the category of more acres/hunter, so I don't have a choice but to kill more, or we wouldn't take enough deer. I can't pay our members to shoot what we need to, so I pick up the slack.

Besides that, I love hunting and killing deer. It has nothing to do with an arrogance or pride thing. Just simply enjoy killing deer. Just like Uncle Ted.

We eat a LOT of deer meat too. Steaks, fried, grilled, burger, chili, pastas and casseroles, and sausage.

I've gone very few years with less than 8-10 kills, mostly does. In Greene Co I hunted three properties totaling 10,000 acres. On two of the properties I was one of two hunters that would kill does, and I had a bunch of consecutive seasons of over 20 deer per season, over 30 three times. Half a dozen big bucks thrown in that pile of does.

The other property I rarely killed a doe as the population wasn't that high and I killed 2-3 bucks a season.

All I eat to this day is venison, I buy beef ribeyes maybe twice a year. We eat 8-10 deer a season. I have given some away, not to get rid of them, but to folks that really need the food. I don't kill to donate to Feed the Homeless.

I killed a 2000# buffalo two years ago and am still eating on it. I've killed four deer in the last three years because I didn't need the meat, and three of the deer were good bucks(all bow kills).

I feel that killing deer just to kill em and giving em away to whoever will take them is wrong, legal or not.

The two properties in Greene Co I hunted and killed a lot of does, I was allowed to hunt there for free if I would kill does the other members wouldn't shoot because they were buck hunting. I killed a few bucks on those properties but only older 4+ year olds. Some of the does were used by other members of the clubs, and a bunch were given to an old black woman named Estelle that lived in Hale Co and was raising eight children that weren't hers. Damn good woman.

I guess there's several reasons. But you want to exclude the large acreage, less hunter group. So I'm with BC, maturing as hunters. Deer hunters go through stages and I'll not get into them again as I posted a very long post on the subject some time back. Hunters start with "just let me kill one" and can progress to wanting to out smart/kill the oldest,smartest dominate buck in the area. Most settle somewhere in the middle. Many can never get past the numbers stage.

I know a man that has hunted 40 years in Northest Al. and Southern Tn. There may not be anyone that has spent more time deer hunting in the state. I can count on one hand the bucks I'd call above average for this area he's killed. But it would take more than one hand to count the dump truck loads of small bucks he's taken. There is no doubt if this fellow had progressed passed the numbers stage,he'd wouldn't have his own hunting show, he'd have a network!