To echo and emphasize what SKI said, we all go through a journey as deer hunters. What we might shoot when we start out and what we might shoot today can be very different for different reasons. Just have fun and do what makes you happy.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a pic of my first buck and my biggest buck, side by side. I hunted 5 years before ever killing my first deer and to say I was proud of that deer would be an understatement. And as you can see, I had that first one mounted! I only have a few mounted, but I have a tub of racks from small bucks that I killed in my early years and don't regret any of them. I've become much more selective, but that doesn't diminish my first deer in any way.
It's also worth noting, both are middle TN deer. My first deer was killed on private, largest on public.
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