I don't care at all about score, I have never scored a deer, and never plan to. I just like to try and take out mature deer, or an unhealthy deer. I am more happy shooting a 6 year old spike than a 2 year old 10.

I assume the op is a coach, based on screen name. Not knowing what he coaches i have a question. When you put a team on the field or court, do you want them to win or lose? You determine your teams success in some way right? I know there is more than a teams record, that a coach uses to determine how successful his or her team was. But you do know if your team was successful or not with your own criteria.

BC is simply part of the criteria some or most people use

I agree

Thats what I'd say if my wife shot the biggest buck.

LMAO, that is low. But seriously, a nice deer is a nice deer. Whether it is boone and crockett, or not. Sure I would love to shoot a nice deer, but even if I shot a 200" whitetail I would not submit it to boone and crockett. It would be on my wall, for me to enjoy.

I'm happy I got the deer. Disappointed that I had to lower my self set standards to do it. And I wasn't giving you an opinion on the nephew thing. The post said they had to share tags and the one buck tag had been filled.

The score in my book should count near as much as the age of the buck. Age equals score. Some hunters enjoy being on a trophy lease. Some want to be on a meat lease. No point in one criticizing the other just find the lease that fits your needs and dont b1tch about what other guys are doing.

The reason people say, 'he would have been bigger in a couple years' is IF, big IF here, everybody was on the same page on letting deer get older, the average size of a harvested deer would get bigger. I don't tell people this because they get their panties in a bunch and take offense to it. People aren't telling you that to rain on your parade, they are trying to educate people. And lets face it, MOST people don't shoot bucks for meat. The only people who are shooting bucks for meat are the ones that are lucky enough to have a buck walk out before a doe, or they are filling all of their tags. Look how far we have came since the time when you couldn't shoot does, or when every lease had the 8 point or better rule. Let deer get older, their racks get bigger. Everybody benefits.

thats exactly how I feel

Amen!

B&C is just a scoring method. I have seen plenty of great 8 points that will score less than a 10 that is less impressive. The deal is to shoot mature deer. One of the best looking deer I have seen taken this year is a 7 point near Throckmorton. It is probably 120-125.( which is hard for a seven point) But the deer I would think is 6.5-7.5 years old. It should be a trophy in anybodys book. Shoot mature deer don't just fill a tag because you have it. Someone above mentions filling a tag as being part of the hunting experience. I would disagree. harvesting mature animals should be everyones goal. Not just filling a tag. Sometimes you may not shoot a deer. The picture shown above in this thread is a prime example of what is wrong with peoples mindset. Clearly its not from an AR county, its 2.5, what a waste. The guy who shot it is taking the potential from other guys he hunts with as well as himself. Guys who shoot deer like that will never figure it out. I'm sure it's not his first or his last. Get out the hammer and nail them horns to the garage door. probably had a doe standing around when he shot it.

This is one of the best posts in years.......

Another great post!!! I agree totally.

Look guys we have enough criticism from outside the hunting world. If it's legal, safe, and makes the legal safe hunter happy, we should be happy with him.

If you like trophy deer only, good for you. If you want meat for the freezer, good for you too. If you are like me, and want a balance (would love a bigger deer than the last one; but I aint going to pass on a big freezer filler), good for you too.

Both groups, meat or horny hunters, try to impose their views on each other, it won't work. Help him load that deer in the truck, high five each other, toast him if you want, but don't just bitchaboutit.

All that said, if your lease/group has set rules, then sure, they should abide by them. And they should know them up front.

We need to stick together. People from up north shouldn't gripe about our feeders, we shouldn't gripe about using dogs in Arkansas, or deer drives in PA.... we should all rejoice in it and be happy for the successful hunt, and time spent in the woods. "All glory is fleeting, all glory is fleeting...(repeated over and over by Ceasar's slave during parades and times of triumph)

Man you could not of said that any better, well said sir. People should leave other people alone about what there killing and what there letting walk Who cares what other hunters do I care about what me and family do as long as were having fun who cares!

Shoot it or don't shoot it let it walk or don't let it walk I DON'T CARE!

BTW I was a horny hunter back in the day and I actually found out that the one's with the most meat were always willing to impose there views and feeling toward you.

This post is about a trophy is I'm the eye of the beholder. You have read to many magazines and watched to many shows on the outdoor channel. We all know mature deer need to be shot over younger deer but telling someone the deer they shot was a waste is just wrong. You guys can talk till your blue in the face but people will continue to shoot what they want and we will continue to be happy for them.

Whiskey D

Don't know about magazines or shows. If you all know about shooting mature deer it would not be an issue. If you want to be happy about shooting immature deer then go ahead. Why not fawns shoot them as they nurse. And read the first part of my post. I referenced a 7 point as a trophy. Not because of score, because of age. It's not a book deer but it's a great deer. Going out and popping a young deer is more shooting in my book than hunting. Try having a little more pride in what you take from the land and a little less greed in just wanting to shoot something.

Well folks let me relay a scenerio that played out a few years back. We have been on a South Texas lease in the heart of big buck country for over 10 years. When we got on this place it was really shot out and we have managed this place for trophy whitetail according to the land owners rules and suggestions. The third year we started seeing some pretty nice deer, we had only shot culls and spikes the first couple of years. Anyway we started seeing this nice 3.5 year old 10 pointer, nice tall tines and great mass, but not much spread. We had video, pictures and they were shared with the hunters on the lease. During the rut that year, this deer was everywhere, spotted at different stands all over the 2500 acre lease, low fence by the way, and we had deemed this deer off limits to shoot. My mother in law oohed and ahhed over this deer and understood the program but shot the deer anyway. The deer scored scored 146, again it was a nice deer and her best by far. Some of the guys made comments about her shooting this deer and was pretty upset about it. Their reasoning is that we were all paying big bucks to hunt this lease and felt it was quite a setback to the quality of upcoming deer heard. Since then she has stopped hunting this lease. I felt bad about it but I understand the other hunters point. She did mount it and every time I see it, I think nice buck, second thought is, wow what would it have been in the years to come.
When there is the kind of money being spent, not only lease cost but feed and fuel and such, there needs to be a mutual responsibility to manage the heard for quality bucks, and we have done that, if it is family land or public land, things are different.
I hunted this past week and passed on several 130-150 class bucks, should have shot this one older 8 pointer, but maybe next time.
My point is there are different situations on every lease and one set of rules should not be used for every place.
I also hunt in the Post Oak region and all bets are off there, because of hunting pressure and genetics. I killed a 148 10 pointer that was only 3.5 years old but again it was a buck of a lifetime where I was hunting, I have been hunting there for 26 years and it is the best buck taken off this place by a long shot, but I would have let it walk in South Texas.
Sorry so long

I have 2 comments on this quote, although I AGREE with the whole thing..."you can't eat the horns"...I say that often, but I go the other direction with it. I refuse to shoot young deer for that reason, and tell my friends the same when they do...culls yeah, young bucks with potential, never. I have pulled the trigger on 1 buck in my 9 years on hunting on Fort Hood, and numerous does. I hunt public land and I do not shoot young deer. does that mean I'm better than anyone or bragging? NO, just stating. I also try to improve those areas I hunt on Ft Hood to indeed improve the deer herd, and now have 3 other guys on board with me that hunt the same area that we all do the same. sorry for being long winded, but just wanted to throw my .2 cents in. ALSO if anyone got offended by this post sorry it wasn't my intent...

While I agree I like to shoot older deer, I can't agree that someone is wrong if they think differently, that's trying to impose my ethos on them. And that's more wrong to me than shooting bambi's.

Two great points here.... not all leases and groups are the same; and not all genetics/populations statewide are the same...

Sig, Not trying to impose ethics and if someone thinks differently I understand. How many times have you seen a guy bring in a deer that really should not have been shot and everyone looks at it and says nothing. Nobody wants to hurt someone elses feelings. You think to yourself it can't be unshot so what is the point. The same people do it over and over. We gave a guy a pass after shooting a young deer last year. This year same guy does it again. This time worse. Biologist will have a fit when he sees what this guy shot. I am just throwing out another viewpoint. If is changes someones attitude about what to shoot then great if not thats ok to.

We had a guy shoot a young 7 pt that was just barely 13" wide (whew) and it would have been one I wouldn't even have looked twice at but it was his first buck with a bow. I'm happy as heck for him. (He has some nice gun kills on his wall too.) It's not going to devastate the herd taking one deer out of it. He wasn't the offspring of some super deer we bought for breeding. There is not any reason to be insulting or abusive about it and when I told him I wouldn't have shot it because it was too young/small it wasn't to insult him, it was to let him know why I passed up the twin to his buck. I have been fortunate enough to kill better ones but my first antlered buck with a bow was a 3 pt and I was happy as all get out.

Some of what we say here is opinion, some is fact. But in the end we individually make a choice.

It's not about stating things here to offend or not offend. And just because you choose to take offense doesn't mean it was said to offend. As long as we are respectful in what and how we put things the opinions here can help out someone. Maybe that guy that shoots that 3 yr old 135 class deer will learn that if he lets the next one grow another yr or 2 he may get to kill a "booner". If that's not what he wants then it's his choice to shoot it as a 3 yr old. I know I will never kill a great deer if my tag goes on a good deer or a small deer.

In the end we all end up at that choice. I choose not to shoot a young deer whether buck or doe. I also choose not to let your opinion of what I shot offend me. I will however listen to what you have to say and then decide if it has some value for me. If not I forget it. If so I thank you for helping me grow.

You are not getting the point, so I give up.