I passed on a spike.. am I an idiot?

[chele]

My first deer was a spike buck ... on the last day of the season so I was quite motivated to get meat in the fridge. Lol

last year I passed on a spike early in the season. I saw him bedding for about 10 minutes. I got very close above him about 15ft away until it smelled me and took off. It was a good feeling passing on the buck and have the confidence of finding a bigger game. I got a bigger buck a couple of weeks later.

Keep on hunting and don’t forget to post the pictures of the four pointer!

[caddisguy]

Blacktail near Hope? Been trying to get a scope on one for 7 years. Well over 200 hunting days put in and have probably burned more calories than there are in 5 deer. I would have shot it

But that is just me and my rationalization.

You did what your gut told you. I wouldn't argue with that. Good on you!

[Wild one]

Blacktail near Hope? Been trying to get a scope on one for 7 years. Well over 200 hunting days put in and have probably burned more calories than there are in 5 deer. I would have shot it

But that is just me and my rationalization.

You did what your gut told you. I wouldn't argue with that. Good on you!

Your working way too hard

[Bubbacanuck]

You will question the decision until you actually clip your first tag. I would agree with everyone else here, that you will know when it's the right time and follow you gut (ethics). Personally, I would've taken the deer as spikes are great eating and that is all I am after...antlers mean nothing to me. Everyone has there logic and just follow your own. If it's legal and you want to harvest the animal, do it; if you want to pass, hopefully karma works out and you get another shot at one. Good luck!

[russm]

I’d shoot a spike on the first or last day of the season, I don’t eat antlers, I wouldn’t turn down a nice 4x4 but I don’t go out with huge expectations either, the first deer I shot was a 5x5 whitetail but that doesn’t mean I only want to shoot big bucks now.

[warnniklz]

Sounds like we got a trophy hunter

Just kidding... sort of, but that's a different discussion.

Nothing wrong with letting things walk. The Latvian Eagle of Meateater says, don't pass up on the first day with what you would be happy to have on the last day. However that kind of thinking has lead someone I know to pull the trigger and then regret his decision right after.

You're all good dude, just means you get to hunt some more.

[tigrr]

That animal would have netted you 45 to 55 pounds of meat. My spike netted me just under 50 pounds. Boneless except for the ribs. That's the only buck I have seen since Sept 10th. He hangs out in the same spot all the time, hint, hint.

[moosinaround]

Don't sweat it. You gonna starve to death if you don't shoot that buck? It's up to you, if it wasn't right, it wasn't right. Go find another, that's the fun of hunting anyways!! I've let small bucks walk like that, not because I was looking for bigger, but it was early in the season, and I was elk hunting, not deer hunting! Moosin

[The Hermit]

Just for me, having shot deer like on the side of the road and there is nothing wrong per se about road hunting, but my experience has been that it is WAY WAY MORE SATISFYING taking any legal animal when I've walked stalked crawled into position way-back off the road. I hope you get a chance on one after you have hiked in... I'm sure you will feel better about it.

[rocksteady]

Depends on what you want out of hunting
.. to me its meat, not antlers.. if you killed that spike you woukd have 70 lbs of tender sweet meat.. if you wait for a bigger one you may get more, but maybe not as delicious..

I always shoot the first buck i see.... bird in the hand theory.. spike tastes better than tag soup...