Nice buck! Did he need another year? There’s no reason to say that. Photo by Steve Sorensen

“He needed another year!” might be the most oft-repeated remark hunters hear come deer season. It might be most common on social media. I’ve long wondered why we say it. Is the person who says it kidding around, or is he intending a put-down? Is the person implying he is a more expert hunter? Is he saying he won’t stoop to shooting anything less than some arbitrary standard he has set not just for himself, but for other hunters as well?

The sentence “He needed another year” is worn out, and it’s time we retire it. It says nothing constructive. It’s not relevant to the point of the harvest, and it might even be harmful. Let’s just stop saying it.

Maybe when the very first guy said, “He needed another year,” he was taking about a buck on a private penned preserve where deer were managed individually for antler size. In that case, the buck in question is not a free-ranging animal held in public trust by a state wildlife department. It’s someone’s personal possession. It can be killed when its owner or property manager thinks it should be killed. And it’s a private matter.

Or maybe the buck is a six-year-old free-ranging deer as big as it will ever get, and the comment is clearly a joke. Or maybe jealousy motivates the guy saying it. We can have all kinds of reasons to say, “He needed another year,” but I haven’t thought of a good one.

The truth is that the commenter seldom knows anything about the buck, its habitat, or the hunter. His opinion is irrelevant to the hunter’s satisfaction. Maybe it would be better just to be happy that the hunter is happy.

What prompts my rant here? Recently my friend and well-respected outdoor writer Tom, a southeastern Pennsylvania hunter, posted a photo to social media of a beautiful buck he passed up. The buck was well above legal standards, he was mature (not as mature as he will get), and Tom said he was pursuing a bigger one.

Someone might say, “That’s the point! We need to let bucks get fully mature before we harvest them!” Yes, maturity is important, but it’s also relative, and most hunters have never seen a buck that is as mature as it will get.

Is it a question of whether this buck has passed along his genes? No, the buck has accomplished that mission for at least three years now. Is he ready to be harvested?

My social media reply to Tom was this: “He’s ready for someone to take him. If you don’t want him, someone else does. Nothing’s wrong with that, either way. If you get what you want, that will be great. If you don’t, I think you’ll still be satisfied. And that’s the way it should be. All the best in your pursuit, both in hunting and in life.” Tom’s positive reply, “That’s how I look at it.”

Hunting is about a lot of things, and one of those things is the individual hunter’s satisfaction. No deer hunter should ever be found singing “I can’t get no satisfaction.” A hunter can find satisfaction even in coming home empty handed and dead-dog tired, and even with that tag still in his pocket at the end of the season. Deer hunting is about a lot more than killing, but it’s never about meeting some other guy’s standards or setting standards for another hunter.

I don’t suppose my opinion will change many minds. Only a small minority of hunters will read this. And yes, I might draw mockery or cause someone to continue making this comment.

I’m not trying to control what anyone says. I may be guilty of saying it myself. I’m only hoping to get us to think about what we say and the impact it has. If you must say it, say it about a deer you might hope to get next year or the year after. Don’t say it about someone else’s harvest.

Let’s avoid saying things that rob another hunter of his satisfaction. It lacks respect. When we show a lack of respect FOR other hunters, we diminish the respect we get FROM other hunters. And that’s bad for hunting.

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When “The Everyday Hunter” isn’t hunting, he’s thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting. If you want to tell Steve exactly where your favorite hunting spot is, contact him through his website, www.EverydayHunter.com. He writes for top outdoor magazines, and won the 2015, 2018, and 2023 national “Pinnacle Award” for outdoor writing.