Shoot one if you want to. If not, dont.

 

Nope, no regrets. If I decide not to shoot for whatever reason, then so be it. My decision was made and I'll stick to it.

Unless I score with a buck or doe tomorrow, there will be no venison in the freezer. I let a small doe walk on Monday. I cold have hit her with a rock, but she was not a deer I was looking for. No regrets on my part.

 

Never did.

 

I am this year because I can make so many meals from one deer and now haven't gotten one hoping tom I strike pay dirt

 

<span style='font-family: Arial Black'>Personal choice.....

If you made the choice not to, you had good reasoning for doing so....

I have allot of respect for people that make a choice, then stand behind it 100%....</span>

 

I've only ever regretted shooting one, never letting 1 go. Like this year I shot a small 7pt that I'm fairly certain is a deer I passed in archery. Saw a stud today and regretted not having a buck tag.

 

Last year i did regret it but had a good reason. Earlier that day I shot a doe and came up on a huge 8 point would have been my biggest ever. However I hit the doe too far back and let her lay for 4 hours. I did find her but didnt feel right about shooting at the buck when I was still tracking the doe.

 

Every shot is a personal choice.Not a right or wrong decision.Way to go all!!!

 

I dont regret passing on all of the bucks this year in archery. I do however, regret telling the wife and showing her pics of the deer that I passed.

She keeps bugging me about still going hunting when all of my tags could have been filled in October.

 

No regretes. I have to the last day of flintlock to shoot a big rack. I know they are out there my trail cameras proves it every winter

 

I dont regret passing on all of the bucks this year in archery. I do however, regret telling the wife and showing her pics of the deer that I passed.

She keeps bugging me about still going hunting when all of my tags could have been filled in October.

I hear that. I make the mistake of sharing stories like that with my wife from time to time. I hear about it later in the season!!

 

pamusky - you're still just a young-buck compared to me, I got five years on ya and I feel the opposite, my best hunting years are right in front of me. I've been at my job now for 25 years so I've earned five weeks vacation. My kids are nearly grown so the school sports and activities are winding down. I've got more time, resources, and most of all experience on my side.

To paraphrase Tim McGraw, "Lord have mercy on my next 30 deers....."

I keep a "lessons learned" section in my journal, on each day's hunt I have a what-went-wrong section and what-should-I-learn. One of my key lessons from a couple years ago was to define my shooting standards prior to the season, and live with that decision.

It works both ways. Sometimes depending on what you see or what your camera is telling you, in any given year your options might be limited. This year I put a certain buck on my "hit list" not because of his antler size, but because of circumstance, location, and a little history with this buck. I said before hand under certain specific circumstances I would try to take this deer, and lo and behold, I did exactly that. Couldn't believe it as it unfolded, almost like I rehearsed in my mind.

I'll spare the details but I fooled him with my best mock scrape ever, and I watched him fall. Not quite as big as some of my others, but every bit as special, because I feel that in a little way, part of it was on "my" terms as the hunter, if that's the right way to say it.

Shoot/Don't Shoot doesn't always have to be about big, bigger, and biggest. You can fall into the trap of hunting ghosts that will never show in daylight. The lesson I took away this year was about persistence, effort, patience, and knowledge, I used all of it to set a realistic standard for ME (not anyone else), and I look back on the season and smile.

 

Only once, kinda. A few years ago, on a hot day in archery that I let a shooter 8 walk. If I would've taken him, he would've went straight down a steep embankment. I gambled, thinking it's early in archery, there are bigger deer here, and it's only going to get better. Needless to say, I struck out that season. But, it's not like I lose sleep over it. It's no big deal....

 

I've never let a buck I was sure of being legal walk, because you never know.

I have let big doe walk with multiple tags in possession (DMAP and WMU's) early in the season with hopes a buck may be lurking nearby and had to shoot a smaller one later in the season for venison.

 

Have never regretted. I left the deer walk for a reason. First day of archery reasons stick for the last day of season.

Have questioned a few, but no regret

 

Never regreted letting one walk or shooting one.

 

Ive never regretted not shooting a buck or letting any deer walk for that matter. I actually take pride in it. I dont always shoot a monster, but i try to get nice ones. I couldnt even tell you how many 6's i passed on last year in archery, two of them were about 13" spreads to with no brows. I finally settled on a high and tight racked 7 point on the last archery tuesday. That buck had only about a ten inch spread, but was fairly high and had some decent mass to it, but i didnt care, it was honestly the best buck i had seen all year except for those two 6 points on the farm i hunt. We try to manage that farm for bigger deer though. I quit hunting does for 7 years up until last year and this year. I passed a small 8, 7, 6, and 5 this year. I shot my 15" 8 point on the last minute of the last day. Not my biggest buck, but definately not one that id feel comfortable letting walk, which is why i shot it. To each their own. I just dont like guys that shoot more than one buck.

 

Back before AR, I left a legal spike walk, and I heard it was later shot by a guy who killed his first buck in 19 years of hunting. Frankly, it felt pretty good to let that one go.

 

nope never

 

haven't let a legal deer pass me yet and i don't plan on starting, unless its walking towards my boy. we hunt private land open to hunting and there are tons of people.

 

Passed on 3 doe yesterday, and 4 today. Absolutely no regrets at all.

 

I let all button bucks walk if I know they are button buck, not hard to tell with a scope and I won't shoot a deer of the year unless it is the last day of the season and I have not scored. My choice so why should I have regrets.

 

nope, never regretted it. theres a deer just around the next tree when i wanna shoot.

 

I never regret letting any deer walk. Just great being in the field

 

Nice opinions guys! Thanks for the responses! As I said earlier:No right or wrong answers in this thread,I just was thinking about it yesterday while hunting.