How many buttons shot during earn-a-buck?

[Rusty]

The goal for hunters during earn a buck is to kill an antlerless deer as quick as possible.

 

Button bucks are usually the first deer to come into a bait pile.

 

Logic would dictate that button bucks would make up a disproportionate part of the harvest during earn a buck.

 

Does anyone know how many button bucks are killed during earn a buck and/or what percentage of the kill they make up?

 

 

 

 

[Kype]

i would assume quite a few. i personally do not shoot button bucks. i did shoot one this season, but was shot not knowing it was a button. it was my first spot and stalk deer. i could not tell it was a button from my point of view. when i recovered it, i realized he was a button. i was a little disappointed because i thought i shot doe. but i knew all the meat was not going to waste. my finance and I enjoyed a back strap for dinner last night. 

 

there are signs to tell a difference between male and female deer without antlers. but in the moment, you heart is racing, your excited, you are not looking at that. especially if you are trying to earn your buck.

[3Blade]

I don't know, but I would bet more are shot during the gun season as they are bigger and shot at further distance, so it would make it harder to identify. I've shot a few through the years and ALWAYS felt bad when I did.

[Meshach]

quite a few....  quite a few shed heads in late season too....   both can be avoided for the most part

[Haskell_Hunter]

With the new check-in system I bet a lot are being recorded as does.  I had a buddy who called his in and asked the person on the phone if a button was recorded as a buck or antlerless.  Of course it's recorded as a buck.

 

Has anyone here ever been visited by a CO to verify their harvest?

[BowhunterNJ]

I agree Rusty. No doubt yearlings are the first to show and likely the first to get shot in high numbers.

[Hetley75]

Lots. I'm thankful everyone on my farm looks does up and down and side to side before releasing an arrow. sometimes though it happens

[Axiom]

Personally I couldn't care less.. If i'm meat hunt"n, if its brown its down... N the early bird gets the arrow... or buck shot...

[mikejd]

I almost hammered one this fall. Was a good size deer, Just as I was about to release he puts his head down and I caught the bumps. I saw him about 10 times so far. It was temping a few times.

[BowHunter]

i would imagine a whole bunch but you aren't going to have any hands raised haha

[NJBowman]

With the new call in system there is a serious problem with accurate numbers because.

1) Many buttons in early season and sheds and buttons in late season are called in as does(butchers only want confirmation number and license number past that they just cut the deer up)

2) in APR zones you protect the bucks for 4 months then it's open game when they shed, so how can you say APRs are not working with the flawed management.

3) Heard this just the other day at the butcher shop. 3 guys were talking how guy number one shot a doe kept head in cooler for the 48 hrs then passed it to guy number 2 then he did the same thing and passed it to guy 3. One doe 3 guys bad numbers. The state tinks they are getting antlerless killed but they really arent and still the number of deer sightings continue to decline especially on public land.

[GhostBear]

The goal for hunters during earn a buck is to kill an antlerless deer as quick as possible.

 

Button bucks are usually the first deer to come into a bait pile.

 

Logic would dictate that button bucks would make up a disproportionate part of the harvest during earn a buck.

 

Does anyone know how many button bucks are killed during earn a buck and/or what percentage of the kill they make up?

I checked into this very thing on the other site, and spoke at length with the deer project leader, las year Buttons made up just 10% of the total deer harvest that year, I think the number was about 50 somthing thousand deer, it's actually a very small percentage.

There is a way to track it since you are asked if its a button during check in.

[johnnyo8148]

I don't know, but I would bet more are shot during the gun season as they are bigger and shot at further distance, so it would make it harder to identify. I've shot a few through the years and ALWAYS felt bad when I did.

I agree 3 Blade. I hunted a WMA in Z35 last year and 3 (that I know of) buttons were taken during the permit shotgun season.

[GhostBear]

I guess I'm not as jaded as most on this thread seem to be, those same guys that are miss reporting did it when we had physical check ins, likly not even bothering to punch the tag. That said, I think for the most part folks are honest in thier reporting, I I don't think that buttons make up more that 10-15% of the total harvest, that's all seasons not just bow. Now as for me personally, I look to fill my freezer and can not care any less about antlers like most on these sites do, though I try to take a deer with a larger body size, so as to get more meat, but i am not above shooting the first legal deer that offers a shot, and I have shot buttons when the freezer is empty and it's been a while into the season, if I got a big doe in the freezer or a buck, I'm gonna pass on smallish deer. For my own use I like to have 3 deer a year so as not have to buy any meat.

 

As for deer numbers, are they lower? Yes no doubt, that's by design, also I've been patterned by the deer out of the tree I've hunted the last few years and not seeing any, so I scouted, and guess what? They were cutting off that corner. The trials I found looked like a cow path, this is in zones 2 and 5. Plus the with the historic mast crop this year deer need not move very far to find food, also contributing to fewer deer seen, this year we really need to hunt for them.

 

Bottom line, there are still plenty of deer to be had, you just have to hunt harder for them.

[Bucksnbows]

 

Logic would dictate that button bucks would make up a disproportionate part of the harvest during earn a buck.

 

 

 

Only during one of your cull hunts when I'm in the "really nice tree".