GREAT OUTDOORS: A dozen reasons to let bucks walk

I really enjoy the taste of venison, so I have never been dedicated to waiting on a buck to harvest during deer season. Putting a year's worth of steaks, roasts and burger into my freezer overrides an objective to collect antlers. When I first started hunting for deer, all were fair game. Over the past 40 years I have tagged several bucks, including some trophies, and dozens of does. For the past 20 years, I have passed up chances to shoot any buck not worthy of mounting. Instead I bring home 1-3 does per season from the Licking County farm where I hunt. After last season, I decided that there are at least a dozen reasons why it makes more sense for me not to kill any bucks, regardless of size. 1. Each year, I have fewer years left to enjoy them. After the age of 60, there are a lot more days in the rear-view mirror than ahead, so it makes little sense to collect more of anything. 2. My den walls are balanced with trophy deer mounts. My best non-typical (182 5/8" net) and typical (137" net) deer hang on opposite walls in my den. Another would disrupt the balance of the room and displace some of my mounted birds, fish or tanned furbearer pelts. 3. Taxidermy is expensive. The fee that good taxidermists charge for a deer mount runs more than $500 and takes months to get finished. 4. I do not have anything to prove to myself or feel the need to impress anyone else. I have shot one or more deer every season for decades, proving that I can succeed at deer hunting. 5. The glory only lasts a few days. A hunter that kills his or her first trophy buck will realize that within a few days that the back-slapping and high fives end. Unless it is a top scoring specimen, very few will remember the buck for long. 6. Big bucks are a limited commodity. I have all that I need, so why not let someone else have a chance by passing on any that come my way? 7. Killing a buck is more important to other hunters than to me. There are many hunters who gauge their deer season with a measuring tape or whether they were able to kill a specific buck that they named after seeing it on their trail camera. None of the does that I kill will dash the dreams of another hunter. 8. I would rather relinquish bucks to help retain newer hunters. If passing on any buck that I see allows a beginner to tag it later, I am willing to help stoke their enthusiasm for hunting. 9. Getting permission to hunt does is easier where others are hunting. I have been allowed to gun hunt on some private properties already occupied with bowhunters by agreeing not to shoot any bucks, which suits me fine. 10. Does are better eating than bucks. In general, I agree with the long-accepted belief that young does are usually better tasting than old bucks.However, by using thorough field dressing procedures, maintaining impeccable meat cleanliness, executing prompt cooling, allowing sufficient hanging time (aging) and carefully trimming away all visible fat impacts the tenderness and flavor more than gender. 11. Let them breed. Trophy bucks carry bloodlines of a trait that most hunters admire. By allowing them a chance to breed with additional does, they may produce offspring of similar stature. 12. I enjoy watching and photographing bucks up close while hunting, so instead of shooting bucks, now I just try to get photographs of each one, ideally while they are rubbing, scraping, depositing scent, licking, sniffing, sparring with each other or performing other mannerisms. I use the photos to learn how to tell them apart, use for future articles and share with the bow hunters who share the woods with me. P.S.: I drove to the Licking County farm Thursday and came home with a plump doe, chosen from a group of three does and a small buck.