The discussions on judging the relative age (younger or older) of a buck paid off for me this morning when I made a good call on a buck that I would have otherwise taken and regretted doing it.

As some of you know, I've been hunting this older 8-point that I caught in a photo with my game camera. This morning while hunting the area, I saw a nice buck that I was sure was him at first until I noticed the body wasn't right for an older buck. This buck had a nice rack that drew a lot of attention, but the body is what tipped me off. The legs were just too long and thin, and the body just didn't carry that full look shown in the photo. Without the repeated discussion on focusing less on antlers and more of the body, I would have shot this buck and burned my tag on a buck that would not have been the one I'm after. I may never get him this season, but I still have a chance after making the right call today.

What example can you share where discussions in these forums have helped your game?

Good call Dan! I hope you get that big 8 you're after. I'm routing for you!

I had a nice 10 two years ago that I normally would have shot but decided to pass thinking he was only 3.5. The next year a member of the lease beside us got him. He was really nice that year. From looking at him he had grown a lot and would have been a helluva deer the next year. I'm glad I decided to pass him cause even at 4.5 he was a giant. The Hunter that took him was happy too and it was his personal best. I'm sure I miss judge sometimes when I'm hunting but I'm seeing some really nice up and comers on my personal land. I think being on here has helped me a bunch!

Not really. I’ll probably always be a “if you like him, shoot him” hunter. But as I get older I like older bigger bucks more. But I’ll always believe that you should never pass up on a “biggest buck ever” regardless of age.

As a rule I pretty much agree with this unless your hunting a lease with specific rules or if you're actually hunting on a lease that has better bucks on it than your "biggest buck ever".

I took a buck couple weeks ago while sitting a blind with my older'n me BinL. He's been bragging about how many deer they had, and this large buck slipped into one of the feeders and put his head down "hoovering" up the just dropped corn. Something spooked him a little and up pops the weirdest looking set of antlers I've ever seen. One side is a normal main beam with a couple small stickers and several knobs, and the other side is broke off in a thick stump about 3-4"s up, just below where the 1st tine should be. BinL start's whisper hissing at me to KILL that Freak Right NOW..but he keep moving around shooing the tiny unforked pencil headed guy following him off the corn...finally steps out from behind a feeder leg and Boom the 270 spoke to him. Did his death run for about 25-30 yards and BinL is yellig he's getting away when I could see blood on his near side streaming down his flank and piled up without a wiggle.

I missed the aiming point at the top of the crease by about an inch and 1/2 as he picked up speed cantering away, but it was a nice thru & thru that canceled his HVAC system.

We did not have a scale but that old guy even as beat up as he was took 3 trys to get him up off the ground and over the lip of the Mule's tail gate and was real LONG Bodied too, with his head, front legs and shoulders in the Mule's bed and his butt still on the ground. BinL est'd him at 150-160 lbs. Even his broke off stump had fight marks on the busted part and was broomed over from rubbing it on somebody or something and bigger around on top than it was down the shaft of the remaining antler ...really funny looking too...real gray up to his eyes with some scars on his muzzle and big roman nose, he looked like he'd lost more fights than any buck I ever saw, but no fresh wounds anywhere when we skinned him.

He eats good too! +1 on the leave'em on ice a few days and change out the bloody water about every 12 hours.

Told the BinL that he was NOT a freak, just tired and beat up after checking him out up close right after he went down...BinL sez we got the winners of those fights still walking around, load the rifle and get back in the blind...but all the rest of the crowd had already left town for that nite anyway. There were 15-20 deer in BinL's 5 acre yard when we pulled in though...all does and itty bitty chillrin's who calmly walked away but never jumped the fence and walked thru the front gate like they owned the place. Got one more hunt planned that last week of season ... here's hoping Mr Big or some of his bubba's show up.
Ron

Not me, personally.

But, due to the forums, I have come to detest certain buzz words or phrases:

- management buck
- cull
- score
- age
- give him another year
- why did you shoot that?
- diesel
- black rifle

I could go on and on...

Yes good point. I agree with that.

An honest response. A good discussion can be just as likely to turn you off to certain ideas and beliefs as it does to make you accept them.

I have found these discussions have provided me with many opportunities to see how other hunters view the knowledge I've picked up through other sources, mixed with a lot of personal experience. On a positive side, this has made me more aware of the need to help others enjoy the sport more by helping them as needed. IMO, nothing has "dumbed down" the average hunter any more than feeder watching. A lot of guys have no desire to learn more about the sport simply because they have no need for it. There are others, who like me, didn't have a parent who hunted and could teach them. These are the ones who want to learn all they can from anyone who can teach them. On the flip side, these discussions often bring to mind that many people just aren't into taking on a greater challenge, but simply want to relax and have fun.

I've learned too that deer hunting is something that guys will be very reluctant to say they don't know something or have a problem they don't know how to fix. The male ego takes over and they just refuse to ask for help and guidance. The best example of this for me personally is when a found that a friend of mine never knew that a deer hit with a lethal shot could run some distance before dropping. He believed that if a deer ran off after he shot it, it must have been a miss. When you found a deer that he had shot at after a rather brief search, he admitted he was sure he had left many deer in the woods that he had probably hit.

Nope, no forum or messaging board is going to make me radically change what I was taught in the field by my Dad nearly 40 years ago. I will however take bits and pieces from the forum "under advisement" for sure.

What about all the advances in hunting tools and technology that didn't exist 40 years ago?

Yeah, like all the mass produced and commercialized shows? The core things Iwas taught and have utilized, nope. Things like deer management, supplemental feeding and blinds and feeders, yes, yes.

Was taught blind, spot and stalk and rattling by the old man around age 8-10. For newer, lesser experienced hunters, I do think the THF is a valuable gold mine of knowledge and experiences shared, for sure.

Blind hunting

Also think it's a great place for us greybeards to share stories, experiences and generally the cammracammra and fellowship of hunting.

Camraderie

No for me. I enjoy the discussions on how old a deer might be, how much a deer might score, and CWD of course. But no ones opinion is going to change what I've learned in the field from my Dad, Grandad, and friends that I actually hunt with. As a rule, I always try to shoot older, more mature bucks, but if a younger big buck comes out and I like him, I'm going to shoot it. I really don't care what other people think about that because there's nothing ethically wrong, or illegal about it. Now I haven't done that in years, but I wouldn't think twice about doing it this afternoon when I take my 4 year old out on his very first hunt.

Texas Dan, I will concede that with the bulk of my 40+ years of hunting being Webb county, Zapata county and Starr county based, I have taken some bits and pieces here and there to better utilize in Northwest Texas. The two areas have proven to be significantly different hunting environments and what works well in one doesn't necessarily work well in the other. So, I guess I have changed in some respects.

[quote=jmh004]No for me. I enjoy the discussions on how old a deer might be, how much a deer might score, and CWD of course. But no ones opinion is going to change what I've learned in the field from my Dad, Grandad, and friends that I actually hunt with. As a rule, I always try to shoot older, more mature bucks, but if a younger big buck comes out and I like him, I'm going to shoot it. I really don't care what other people think about that because there's nothing ethically wrong, or illegal about it. Now I haven't done that in years, but I wouldn't think twice about doing it this afternoon when I take my 4 year old out on his very first hunt. [/quote

Hell yeah Jmh, good luck today and live it up with your 4 yr old. Great age to get going.

NO

No

Until some snot nosed kid tries to tell me I'm wrong....Get off my yard!

depends, acreage ect, neighbors ect, some counties have a no doe and 1 buck limit, so if its meat, SHOOT

Yes...and ...No

I've learned more from THF and other Forums about the hardware, modern innovations and how much of the new stuff is not really any better than the better old stuff...and some is light years ahead of what was available when I started hunting, EX: how much better bullets and powders are now, and more about the scientific side of game management instead of the old wives tales from the past that were taken as gospel when I started hunting in the '60's initially with my grandpop, who was born in 1890.

Case in point..when my almost 80 year old BinL saw that beatup old buck couple weeks ago, he was getting PO'd that I had no interest particularly in puttiong him down with "He's a Freak, put him down and get him outta the herd" when the old guy had had his butt beat really bad more than once apparently and his antlers were in tatters. When I said to BinL "You know next year that guy will have a decent rack and you are feeding some good stuff since you took over this tiny lease...and all I got back was "He's a freak shoot'em NOW and get those bloodlines cleaned up". Yes he was old but fat, and didn't have a great rack or much left of it from being broken off in several places...so the 270 took care of business as usual...and I am enjoying some superb venison.

Even though we are only about 6-7 years apart & from the same grade school & Jr Hi but different High Schools, that BinL, I have more than one , comes from a totally different era, lifestyle and income level that treasures how the early to mid 1950's were values wise and has been extrodinarliy successful financially but pales in comparison to his youngest son, and is still in his mind living in that malt shop world again he treasures.

Strokes and folks is OK with me as long as I am not held to the same value systems, as IMO I know lots more about life in general and the hardware side of hunting specifically than he ever will, as out of date as I am...ex: he is apparently unaware that Weatherby is not still made in Germany, and has a Japanese built Line of cheaper guns too. He's entitled to his lifestyle, he's earned it the old fashioned way, but is not happy when I don't accept everything he says as God's Honest Truth gospel lock stock and barrel.

Oh Well...he has some nice deer running around that need the herd trimmed, and I know just the guy to help him with that chore.
Ron

Got with a dame one time and it had a nice head, but when the bod was revealed it insured me that it was past its prime.