NOT worst pull ever

[Ski]

I am not a fan of shooting a buck, just because he is a "nice buck", sawing his antlers off, and throwing them in a pile.

100%. I'd assume not kill a buck at all as to do that. Buck hunting is how I exercise my inner serial killer lol. The fun of it for me is theorizing why they do what they do and then putting the theory to test. They are such complex creatures and older bucks become almost cognizant, as if they have learned critical thinking. I love everything from the habitat work to scouting to building a file on a particular over the span of years, before I even begin to hunt him. There's so much more to it than antlers. Yes I love big antlers but without the story behind them they mean nothing to me.

 

[BSK]

For me, I am not a fan of shooting a buck, just because he is a "nice buck", sawing his antlers off, and throwing them in a pile.

I guess I've just never done that. Every buck we've ever killed (all 101) has been either shoulder mounted or European mounted and are hanging on the wall. Proud of every one of them, including all the little spike, fork, and 6-point yearlings we killed back in the late 80s and early 90s.

 

[Andy S.]

^^^ Impressive skull and shoulder mount collection, looks like 50 or more in the pics. Where do y'all hang the other half?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Same here. I scratch my "killing itch" shooting 3-5 does every fall, and I hold off on the bucks until it is a buck I really want (usually 4.5+ and 130"). Due to this, some seasons I do not shoot a buck, like last year. But I did watch three 125" 3 year old bucks walk by to live another day. I shot them with my iPhone video to share with others. For me, I am not a fan of shooting a buck, just because he is a "nice buck", sawing his antlers off, and throwing them in a pile. I did that for 15 years in TN and the pile of 2.5/3.5 year old 90-120" antlers are just a lot of potential that I removed from the local herd at that point in time. My .02

Spot on with my way of thinking

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I guess I've just never done that. Every buck we've ever killed (all 101) has been either shoulder mounted or European mounted and are hanging on the wall. Proud of every one of them, including all the little spike, fork, and 6-point yearlings we killed back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Nice!!! I don't know if we have a single shoulder mount in our cabin of a buck killed there. Skull mounts for sure. We simply don't have any room for them anyways. We have elk, moose, caribou, bear, turkey, muleys, antelope, fish, and several deer. My deer are at my house and others take them home as well. Fine by me

 

[BSK]

^^^ Impressive skull and shoulder mount collection, looks like 50 or more in the pics. Where do y'all hang the other half?

At our houses. Every hunter has several of their best bucks hanging up at home.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

There was another deer walking that he had his ears laid back for. Do you know what the other deer was?

 

[BSK]

There was another deer walking that he had his ears laid back for. Do you know what the other deer was?

He was part of an 8-buck bachelor group. They came through multiple times over 5 days. But this was the guy he has his ears laid back about. If you look close in the second picture, the buck is missing his right eye. I think this buck is older than the big 10.

 

[Bell3wv]

And he's no older than 3.

Oh, wow!

 

[RS]

Fortunately or unfortunately, we do not have the excess does to kill for meat, yet. But that day will come back. Although I dread the days of processing 5 or 6 does in a single day. That was not fun.

Heck, just gutting 5 or 6 does in a single day is a chore (3 of those were mine and 3 my daughter's). Plus she killed a really nice buck and two does the next day. I gutted 9 deer in two days and processed 3 of them. The rest we gave to Hunters for the Hungry.

 

[BSK]

That's some serious killing RS!

Our record was butchering 7 deer in one day, from 7 full deer hanging in the cooler to all deer cut into roasts, steaks and ground meat and in the freezer. That was NOT fun and I hope to never do it again! Took about 13 hours start to finish.

 

[Andy S.]

I think this buck is older than the big 10.

Guaranteed! Has an impressive body in July, can't imagine what it will be first of November.

 

[Terrier]

Heck, just gutting 5 or 6 does in a single day is a chore (3 of those were mine and 3 my daughter's). Plus she killed a really nice buck and two does the next day. I gutted 9 deer in two days and processed 3 of them. The rest we gave to Hunters for the Hungry.
View attachment 188133

The first year we had the "3 does per day" limit, I did it once. Never again! Dang, that was a lot of work. I was glad my back made it through without permanent damage…

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Guaranteed! Has an impressive body in July, can't imagine what it will be first of November.

Agreed

 

[camoman270]

As I've said many times, the range of scores for a single age-class on a single property will easily exceed 100 gross inches top to bottom. For every 3 1/2 like the ones pictured above, I'm going to have a 3 1/2 like the one pictured below. Except for his lame attempt at browtines, he's basically a forkhorn. He was a forkhorn at 2 1/2 as well, only smaller.

Yes, BSK we have seen many of those same ones in Wayne County lease over the years. The rack in many cases stays very similar in size each year and seems to just get a little bit larger, but immature looking. Is that genetic?

 

[BSK]

Yes, BSK we have seen many of those same ones in Wayne County lease over the years. The rack in many cases stays very similar in size each year and seems to just get a little bit larger, but immature looking. Is that genetic?

Yes. And it is a buck like that - in a club setting - that I will put on a "management buck" list. As long as the property has an adequate number of 3 1/2 year-old bucks, a forkhorn 3 1/2 is just a buck eating up resources that will probably never become what most hunters are looking for (a high-scoring, or even average-scoring, mature buck).

 

[megalomaniac]

It happens... got one that is 2.5 or 3.5 on my place now. Mainframe 10, 12pt if you count the kicker off the base and the sticker past the g3 on left.

It's not often I put a buck on the 'do not kill' list. But this young fellow is off limits even to the kids

 

[Ski]

It happens... got one that is 2.5 or 3.5 on my place now. Mainframe 10, 12pt if you count the kicker off the base and the sticker past the g3 on left.

It's not often I put a buck on the 'do not kill' list. But this young fellow is off limits even to the kids

That there is gona be a star someday!

 

[BSK]

It happens... got one that is 2.5 or 3.5 on my place now. Mainframe 10, 12pt if you count the kicker off the base and the sticker past the g3 on left.

It's not often I put a buck on the 'do not kill' list. But this young fellow is off limits even to the kids

That's going to be dandy at 4 1/2!

 

[Wildcat]

Hope you can get him and he doesn't go roming the country side.