Not everyone hunts on a well managed ranch...some simply can't afford it. A lot of guys are getting into hunting on their on because they never had a Dad to take them and they're learning as they go. I was one of those guys in my early twenties! My Dad never hunted and I never had a place. I started hunting on paper mill land in ETX and a few years later it became type II. When I hunted back then I was fortunate if I saw a buck or two the whole year hunting public land so if I saw one with any kind of antlers with the time, money and energy it required I shot it and was proud of it. My first shoulder mount was a beautiful two year old 8pt on public land. It was a Muy Grande to me but I can assure you it would get panned if I posted it on here and yet even today because of the way it was back then it's still one of my most prized trophies!!! Would I shoot that buck today? Absolutely not and have passed on quite a few better than him this year but that does not diminish what he was to me back then. And when you and others attack people on here without any knowledge of the hunters situation it causes them to leave and we are worse for it! Too many people on here make way too many assumptions without giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. Mom always said if you don't have something good to say don't say anything!

This...it's not unusual for me to see twenty deer in a sitting and yet I've seen only one "shooter" all year and have hunted more this year than any year in the last ten+ years. I'm beginning to regret not shooting him. He was a nice mature ten but...if he lives another year I might get a crack at a twelve and that's why I passed on him.

This ^^. I've killed some decent ones the last few years and my kids are always set on kill. I don't care to hear everyone's "expert" opinion so I don't post much anymore here or FB. We hunt for us not for opinions anyway.

We are all in different places in life. I got a buddy that is 30 years old and he shot his first buck this year over thanksgiving week. Who cares what it was. Yes if in an AR county you should abide by the rules.

I am bad about asking HF I guess. I don't look down upon it at all, just curiosity.

I think people are scared to post pics of young buck harvest because of being judged and critiqued.

Not scared to post them just don't care to. Smoked a 1.5 yr old 4 point 2 days ago just because I like deer meat and he looked delicious, but why post it and listen to the bs?

Did you not post because you didn't want to deal with it? Or just because you didn't care to post about a 4pt? or? Had it been a 150 inch 8 I bet you would have posted pictures even though you still just like deer meat.

More or less just don't care about others opinions. Was a time when I wanted everyone to know what I killed and now I've lost the desire to brag I guess. Might post a 150, but killed a 138 nine point last season and didn't post it here or FB. My bil saw the mount at thanksgiving and didn't even know I'd killed a decent buck last year.

Part of it is posts like tlk's 15 yr old buck. Everybody KNOWS they are right and refuse to believe otherwise, one of the reasons stx ain't here no more....if everybody knows everything they don't need to see my deer or hear what I think.

Reading through this thread, this really struck me. You're a better man than me. Who does that??? Men from all walks of life, and especially friends, used to know how to keep their mouths shut better than they do these days.

I would have shot that deer, just I would have tried to do it with less shots

Completely agree with this.

It takes as many as it takes

Creek, really didn’t bother me. They were happy for me but have killed more mule deer and better mule deer than I have. I shoot deer I like and have taken people to shoot deer that I wouldn’t shoot but thought they might like.

I had a guy on my lease get upset because he shot a deer I let walk with my bow. I had a picture of it from my tree with my cell phone. It was a great deer but he felt it was diminished or insulted because I didn’t shoot it.

I think it is the same when someone post a picture and someone else makes a comment. I do agree that some people need to learn to just keep their mouth shut

That’s the Internet, period. There isn’t one person, and especially the more vocal ones, that can’t be judged or critiqued. Someone always has bigger deer, better management, better culling criteria, more experience, better stories, better genetics, better feed, etc.

I just don’t care and can easily discount most our regular loud mouths and negative posters. I still enjoy sharing and really enjoy seeing other people’s deer, hear the stories and see if they do something different that might work for us.

Not all counties have AR and if he is leasing or hunting his own land he has every right to kill a small deer if he wants and those that have a problem with that should give them a break Odds are people on here killed a small deer when they took up hunting if they want to be a movie star so give them a break.

Overall it has been a really slow year for us this year. The only deer we have picked out to shoot this year are a few no brow's and does. Many I have talked to have said the same.

I have shot many a small deer in the past but its never been about being proud of it.I hunt for the meat not horns and i prefer to eat a young deer than one thats 5 yrs old. Now with ar in place the deer have bigger horns and bigger bodys but still cant eat them horns. Love seeing pics of the big bucks and maybe i will get one day to bragg about but my deer hunting days are probably over because of medical problems. This is the first year in over40yrs that i havent been able to hunt and i can tell u dont worry about a deers antler or body size but be glad u can still be out there hunting.

That post seems contradictory to me. You don't hunt for horns and prefer smaller young tender deer... but maybe one day you will get you a big one to brag about. So the horns do or don't matter? Sounds like they don't matter until you have the lucky day and the big one is in front of you.

I have killed a few bucks that were older but since i really enjoy eating em more when they are younger i prefer taking a younger one if possible or wait till doe days and get a doe. Never said i wouldnt take a big buck if i had the chance tho. lol

Well stated...I rarely ever post anything these days, I was never a real frequent poster at all. But I do miss seeing some of the folks who used to be regular contributors here. I think some of them probably got tired of the constant lunacy that some folks throw into every thread. For the life of me, I don't understand anyone degrading someone's post, UNLESS the OP asks for opinions. And even then, you don't have to be a jackwagon about it, but try to be constructive in your criticism. Be happy for the hunter or shut up and move along

I think people should show their kills proudly. If youre not proud of it, dont kill it.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Living in New Mexico I get to hunt whitetail once every 2 years or so. As a result I am proud of everyone I have killed. The last buck I killed was a mature native whitetail buck and I never scored him, but I proudly display him in my living room. When asked what he scored I say "don't know, don't care, he was a trophy to me".

We have ARs and have nothing to post. I have not seen a legal buck outside a spike this year. Our neighbors have shot some once in a lifetimes before rifle season but that was all we had legal on camera. Tons of doe and young bucks though but nothing legal. Only mature buck I saw so far ran younger bucks off and dissapeared to the woods in seconds. Won't even eat a grain of corn.

That being said, I go to a friends lease about 15 miles way from mine Sunday and see one of the biggest bucks I have seen outside S. Tex. But friend is 300 yards away looking at a feeder and I am on a wheat field to shoot a doe which I oblige. Luck of the draw. No one on the lease has seen that buck before.