In terms of bone, what number starts to get your vested interest and blood pumping? For me, a mature buck 125" or better starts to gain my real attention. I often feel that a larger or older one may be close by when a nice buck is around. What say y'all?

Depends on the deer.

I have been fortunate and shot some decent deer in the panhandle. I will say a 140" 8 pointer, or a 150"+ deer of any number of points.

Yup, When I see a heavy (140ish) 8 pointer, I know I have a beast. I had a 150ish 8 pointer that I let walk this last year because he was just 4 1/2. I may regret it if he gets some scrawny 9th point. If not, I'll be posting one that will make my blood boil.

Any mature buck gets my heart pumping

That said, I'm fortunate to get to hunt in some great country where I see 150"-170" deer on the reg

I've never shot a 150 whitetail, but I've seen them on the wall and that seems to be where they cross over from nice to REALLY NICE!!!!

Depends on what part of the state im hunting. East 130 west 140 south 150 those are the numbers that blow my hair back .

Never hunted South Texas, but the other two are right on par for me.

Shoot, my blood pumps when a 4-6 point comes through, just enjoy it that much. Buck fever probably starts in around 130+, which hasn't been a whole lot of times, even in the Sterling lease we had .

I've never had "buck fever" while rifle hunting, but several times while up close and personal with a bow. The following is a east texas buck taken with my bow a few years back and I literally stopped breathing.

Maybe I'm the odd man out but I get pumped up shooting a doe with a rifle.

I've killed truckloads of deer and you hand me a rifle and put a doe in range and I'll get just as pumped as I did when I shot my first deer


Nothing I have ever found will do that to me like hunting will

A lot of it depends on the specific deer, but I'd say as far as antler size anything over 120" gets me excited and over 135" really gets the blood pumping. With that said, what really gets me fired up is seeing a big-bodied mature buck, the kind that looks like a year old grain-fed heifer, I don't care if its an 80" 6 pointer, a deer that big is something to get seriously excited about.

Same here

I was lucky enough to take a 201 book deer a few years ago and alot of friends told me that I would be ruined from then on because the chances of taking one bigger were slim. But that has not happened. I still get excited to see any mature deer - there was a day when anything 120 or over got me going but South Texas will spoil a person. Now days we let 170 inch deer walk on a regular basis if they are not old enough. I could not imagine doing that in my younger days.

I think it depends on where a person is hunting and what the top end deer is for that area. A 140 is a true trophy in Hill Country while in STex it may not get a second look. It is all relative.

A 130 makes me look twice.

I am at the point to where I can let 130" deer walk if they are not old enough. That being said, I have 3 solid 130" deer on my wall. I did shoot a 142" last year in KS. I should have him on the wall any day now.

So, in KS 140"+ gets me going. In TX, 131"+ gets me going.

I am like TT85 though, give me a rifle and let me shoot a doe and I lose all control, crazy heart beats, cant breathe...just excited. I love it.

I have been fortunate enough to hunt some of the best places in the world for WT and I have layed eyes on some book deer. I have hunted Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. I have seen at least 2 deer on the hoof over 200" both in Illinois. I have seen countless deer over 170". That caliber of deer will get you goign quick. With that being said, these are all low fence deer. Im not knocking HF deer, they just dont do it for me and I have hunted HF deer before. I dont get worked up inside of a pen.

Anything mature gets my attention and my heart beat gets up.

On our place a 140 buck will get my attention, younger deer with a lot of potential will just as quick though. A 6pt had my full attention a few years ago bc I though given time he could score well for number of pts. Mule deer it takes about a 180 to get me to really pay attention to it.

4-5yr old

I wonder if Marine Snipers get "buck fever" before shooting bad guys/gals?

Heck my heart rate feels up a little just walking to the stand knowing that we are looking to fill some doe tags instead of "buck hunting" as my dad calls it.

I haven't broken 140 yet but have two really nice bucks that are 138 and 139. I shot the 139 this past year and had a pretty good case of buck fever going. I hung the mount Sunday, and my dad keeps saying how great it looks, but then brought up the one they had on display at the feed store that was 208. So for me, apparently the number is 139; for my dad, 208.

44....D.... (sorry)

Seen so many deer now......Heart rate goes up when I see a coon, coyote or hogs while bow hunting!!!!