As most hunters already know you should only take mature bucks. Most hunters who have their own land already have a management plan, but little of them realize that they have no idea what they are doing. A lot of hunters think if they do not kill any does that they are doing the herd good, but they are allowing the buck to doe ratio to get out of control. You want your buck to doe ratio to be as close to 1 to 1 as possible. All the hunters that we talk to say that they wish they could take 150 inch class bucks. There is no reason to wish because most of them will never take a buck that big and it is their own fault. You can’t go into the woods every year and take the first buck that you see, you must wait for a mature buck. This might mean that you won’t get a buck at all this year. In order to take a big buck you must let the young bucks grow. There are also those hunters that think if they don’t shoot the young bucks they are going to pass into neighboring property and in the end some else is going to shoot them anyway. What to do? If you really want to get a large buck you must pass on the younger ones, also talk to your neighbors. They may be only shooting young bucks because they know if they don’t you will. You should only be taking bucks that are 4 ½ years old or older. How do you know if a buck is 4 years old or older? First you can’t look at its antler size, you must look at the body size. Old bucks look as if they are front heavy (meaning they are all neck and shoulders) and have short legs with very muscular bodies. Finally, you must remember in order to take a large buck, pass on those young ones and take more does. Written By: David Domka