Hunting Forum

I had a buck show up tonight with like 7 does and fawns.  Never seen him before,  he is 4 or 5 inches wider than his ears, and what I would call a 3x3.  he has velvet hanging off and has a reall red tint to him.  What i'm wondering is if he will be back and if so is he a shooter or do I let him go on the chance no one will find him.  Thanks for you input

Whether to take an animal or not is a personal choice.
Are you a trophy hunter only looking for something to hang on the wall, or someone who is hoping to get lucky enough to harvest an animal so you can put some meat in the freezer?
Are you hunting on private property with a lot of Deer, or public land with a lot of competition? Have you seen bigger deer in the area that you are hunting?
If it was me, hunting in the area where I hunt I would probably shoot it.

Odds are that if he's just shedding velvet, and he's with does and fawns, he's just a 1 1/2 year old deer. Probably one of the does is his momma, and she didn't get bred or either lost her fawn before she could run him off. When you say he's a 3x3, are you counting by Western count, and only counting the G2s. G3s. and the main frame on each side. or is that all he has? In other words, no brow tines, and no stickers or short points. If so, then down here we'd call that a 6 point, and unless you are a meat hunter like me, most folks would pass him up, if they know that there are larger deer in the area. I've been passing up some small bucks (after getting a meat deer back on the 21st of August), because I have pictures of some really nice deer, and I don't want to bugger up my hunting spots by popping caps at a small buck. I'm also holding off on does, until after the rut, so I'll have live buck bait. cshep probably made an excellent point with the different scenarios he portrayed, and you'll have to determine which one fit's your situation.