You should not have said that cause now you have awakened this.....

You know me. Some times things need to be stirred up. Only problem is that I was serious.

LOL! Better step your game up Stxranchman and get on the right level

No doubt! STX I am sure would love to break the 120" mark he just aint got the patience to let them grow old.

I miss understood you. I hope I didn't come off as a pot stirrer. I do hate when people get criticized for trying to do right the right thing. I felt he was trying to help out. I agree cause I see it here in Wimberley our deer are bigger then usual due to a few years of lots and lots of rain. I now understand what your saying. A big bodied mature looking deer is what we are after. We are not looking at deer and knowing exactly how old the are and passing them cause they are not 8.5 years old. Sorry if I came off wrong.

Yeah you're probably right! After a while I'll for sure want to get a big mature deer. I do have a few this year running around that I would consider a trophy in my eyes and hopefully they will show themselves. Seeing as I'm fairly new hunting I'm content with what I can get for now.

Yeah that's why I said "whatever floats your boat". Perfectly happy with whatever criteria a hunter uses to determine which deer they kill (on their own place of course).

Since there have been several (and are always several) "age this deer" threads, it seems that there are several folks who want to let deer reach older ages.

It ain't gonna be easy to this year is my only point. I'm looking at deer I know are 2 and 3 with sway backs, pot bellies and fat azzes. Strangest thing I've seen in some time, in fact I can't ever remember seeing it. I've got basket racked deer in my improved herd that look like they're mature/post mature.

In Hopkins County, your lucky to see a mature deer. All the poaching in our area make it tough to even see a legal buck sometimes.

There are still a lot of places that just don't have a heavy deer population. I have hunted where if you did not take the first buck, you might not get another shot.
Do agree that many will reach a point to where they want to shoot more than the 120 deer. I have not filled all my tags in years and there were times when that was not by choice.

Deer are fat and body sizes are huge this year. There will be a lot of 3-4 year old deer shot by folks thinking they are 5.

then that just makes for a lot more sausage!

Well I am glad the deer are fat, and I hope they are sporting a lot of inches!

I'm with ya there. Hopkins County is a rough county to hunt. WAY to many does!

Cueman we have the problem of very few deer and the does have got killed off. i have hunted my land for 35 yrs and its got worse every year since the new bag limits were set. Last year i saw one buck and one doe all year. The only good thing is the buck was the best i have ever taken.

depends on how hungry I am

My boy is after his first deer this year. If it's legal and big bodied I don't think I'll stop him from shooting even if it's a young deer.

And that's perfectly fine. Nowhere did I say or imply that it wasn't. There are some though who want to manage for age as part of their management plan.

This will be a very difficult year to do that if you don't have identifiers other than body and antler size.

I have a house pet deer that was a scrawny 6 point yearling last year that is an ~150" 12 point this year. If I didn't know for a fact that he's 2 now I'd bet money he's 3 or older based on body and antlers.

Where you been?

He was done with patience after Indiana jones relieved him of guarding the holy grail

Once those young bucks start chasing those does the weight will come off with all that exercise they'll be getting.

Shoot what you choose and be happy with it as long as it's legal. I like to take a mature buck but if its late in the season and I don't have meat in the freezer then I so that I can and

As long as the buck meets AR of course.

I'm after a goal post spike, turns out he's a 4 pt. He looks pretty thick and I thought he was 4.5 either way he's on my list.