very nice

Very special buck and thank you for the story . Congratulations .

Awesome buck and great story

Very enjoyable read! Congratulations and you certainly did the right thing taking that buck considering the circumstances with the neighbors. Those are beautiful mounts and good luck in the future! I am going to show my son this story because it is so instructive on how a deer's headgear can grow from year to year.

You are exactly right in that not every deer will get a lot bigger from age 4 on, but most certainly will not lose anything unless they get injured or it is simply a really bad year for groceries.
It is not that difficult for me to pass up even a great deer like he was at 4 as an upper 30s 8 because I have been blessed to already have two 8s on the wall bigger.
I've always lived by the rule if you have one bigger on the wall than the deer you are looking at and he is not fully mature, let em walk.

And absolutely there is a hell of a lot of luck involved in killing any mature buck, especially on a small place like ours.
I've been very blessed no doubt but please keep in mind that I've let many, many great young deer walk over the years only to have someone across the fence from the lease I was on kill them.....or a neighbor right down the road. So, I guess I've made enough 'deposits' that maybe I was able to enjoy a big 'dividend'. Either way, I'm certainly very, very thankful for sure.

Last.....I was not at all joking that if the circumstances hadn't have changed so drastically from the previous years, I damn sure wouldn't have pulled the trigger.

Thank you sir

Very much appreciated.

Teach that young man the value of letting em walk from an early age and you will not regret it.
My boy has really made me proud many times letting deer walk that many would have killed. He did it once on a public lands hunt on the Chap as a 15 year old when we had a 135-140" 10 point stroll past on the first day of the 3 1/2 day hunt. The deer was easily 5.5 years old and he put the rifle up on him and even clicked off the safety two different times. When I asked him why he didn't shoot he told me that we were on the Chap and he couldn't pull the trigger knowing there was even a small chance that the buck of a lifetime might show himself in the next couple of days!

Welcome back with a bang!!!

Congrats awesome deer

Thank you sir

Much appreciated

Exceptional buck, sir.

Nice!

Thanks for sharing a great story. Very nice buck!

Great story and pics!

Loved the story and pics too, CONGRATS!

No apology needed. That was a great read and a great deer. Love hearing stories like this.

x2 on not needing to apologize for the long read. Anybody that doesn't like to hear a good hunting story is probably on the wrong forum. Wish more guys would do it. They pay guys a lot of money to write hunting stories for hunting magazines. Cut my teeth back in the day reading stories in Outdoor Life and Field & Steam. This thread may keep going for awhile for several reasons. Showing the progression of his horn growth and the lesson it teaches about what happens when you let them grow up is awesome. And then you add the blow by blow of the hunt. Only down side, IMO, is it offers false hope for small acreage. Not to down grade what you did, but for MOST small small properties that's like catching lightning in a bottle. Congrats again on the accomplishment, showing the progression pics, and the story.

Great buck and excellent story.

Dang you did it again, heck of a buck! Hard to believe where he came from. Congrats

Awesome story and awesome buck!

Hell of a buck
Congrats

Cool that you got to watch him grow

Dang nice buck
Them mesquites in the last picture would sure be nice on the mill.

No kidding. I know the area pretty good. In laws live close by. Hope the smaller places don't mess up your future hunting. It will be interesting to see what effect this virus plays in commercial development. I'm hoping it slows down a tad but don't expect it too. That's the fastest growing part of the country.