What is a meat buck? Meat buck is a term used by many hunters every year who are in search of deer meat. But what exactly does it mean? There is a lot to unpack on the topic of meat bucks so let’s get started.

Here is a short answer:

A meat buck is a young buck that is a shot solely to provide meat. Meat bucks are shot for many reasons: To have fresh meat for deer camp, to fill the freezer when there is no more deer meat, or fill a tag when a hunt is coming to an end. 

But as I mentioned earlier, there is a lot to unpack on this topic so let’s take a deeper dive into the topic of meat bucks.

Why is it a meat buck and not meat doe? 

So why shoot a buck? Why not a doe. Well here is the main reasoning behind shooting a buck over a doe. 

When you see a buck, it is pretty easy to judge its age, even if you do not frequently see bucks, you know that a forky horn (a buck with two tines on each antler) will be a young buck. However, unless you look at a lot of deer, especially doe, it can be hard to tell how old a doe is. And it is generally accepted that young animals are more tender than old ones. So, therefore, you would want to shoot a young buck rather than risk shooting an old doe.

Does a young buck really taste better than an old one?

While many people say that young deer taste better than old ones, it is still up for debate.

I think that age does have a factor in the taste but not a huge one. Obviously, a young buck will be more tender but will most likely taste the same. The only big factor you can control is hitting a gland while processing the deer. If you hit a gland then and keep processing the deer it will often leave the meat with a strong taste. However, you could argue that a younger deer has fewer hormones and will therefore taste better.

Then again, the whole young buck vs old buck debate could be just been an excuse to shoot young deer to fill the freezer rather than burn a tag in search of a mature one. It really just depends on how you take care of the meat after shooting a deer and that is another article.

Meat bucks are easier to shoot

So we have answered why it’s a meat buck and why they taste good, but also worth talking about is that they are easier to shoot. 

While a young buck might not taste better than an old one, they are easier to shoot. Young deer are not as smart as old ones and if it’s the last day of a hunt it’s easier to get in range of a young deer than an old one. And young deer often follow the same pattern every day.

Why not to shoot meat bucks 

Now that we have cleared the air around meat bucks, let’s look at some reasons you would not want to shoot a meat buck.

There is really only one reason to not shoot meat bucks: You don’t see the deer’s full potential. If you were to shoot a forky or spike buck, you would never see whether or not it grows into a giant. Unless you want to grow trophy deer, there is nothing wrong with shooting a meat buck. In fact, recent studies are proving that shooting young bucks helps prevent CWD. At the end of the day, it’s up to you.

Conclusion 

A meat buck is a young buck that is shot to provide meat. At the end of the day, unless you want only giant deer, there is nothing wrong with shooting a meat buck for the freezer. But sometimes you want to shoot one for the wall more than the freezer
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