What do you consider a trophy score?

[Kevin]

I read an article recently discussing the emphasis on antler scoring and deer management in today's hunting world. It mentioned the new thinking on what constitutes a "trophy buck" in most hunters' minds. For instance, a young hunter is going to be disappointed if his buck doesn't score well, even if it is a beautiful buck, one most would be proud of.

It got me wondering if the scoring systems and emphasis on buck management really are murdering the joy out of the sport.

For me personally, I could really care less about overall score as far as B&C and P&Y go. What do you guys think?

[ArkansasSloughboy]

I will admit that when I kill a nice buck I may smile a little bigger, brag a little harder, send pictures a little farther, but I am a deer hunter. Not a buck hunter.. a deer hunter.

[Wizard]

I will admit that when I kill a nice buck I may smile a little bigger, brag a little harder, send pictures a little farther, but I am a deer hunter. Not a buck hunter.. a deer hunter.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[DeerWoods26]

don't disagree with you guys but i am a horn hunter, always have been and always will be. i mean why kill a basket rack when you could let it grow into a mature buck. maybe it' s not so much that i love killing bick bucks, though i do, but it's that i hate seeing little bucks taken and they aren't even close to mature. i have no problem letting a nice buck walk if i think there is a chance he is going to be big daddy the next year or year after that. to me that is real hutning, not killing everything that walk by. having the patience and the will to let the animal walk is hunting in my book

[ArkansasSloughboy]

DeerWoods, you might need to change your signature. I wish I could let bucks walk and I have let some. I run on the four point rule, but I do kill some small eight points. Where I hunt it just doesn't pay off to let them walk. Someone else will just kill it tomorrow. I know that seems like a copout, but it is true where I hunt.

[Kevin]

yeah that quote must have been in the middle of a rough season, haha.

 

[DeerWoods26]

well actually that quote is in reference to people who won't kill a doe at all. don't get me wrong i don't kill small bucks but i'll take does all day. that is another thing with the scoring system/buck management, people go out and just ignore does because they don't have a good rack but what htey don't realize is if you don't thin them out then your buck population is going to suffer.

[DeerSlayer]

This is an argument my dad and I have every time we hunt together. I like to the let the smaller, younger bucks walk, he claims that if he doesn't kill them, "some other asshole will" haha.

Where he hunts, this is true. He has several spots he hunts that are private, but more like "public private," because a few different families have rights to hunt there as well, and they don't manage at all.

So basically if anything legal walks by, he takes it. I don't really get it because I know he isn't that pumped about killing it, so why not just take a doe??

I try to convince him that he isn't helping the cause because he is just as bad as the other people doing it. Somebody has to stop the chain. It's true that some he lets walk will probably be harvested by somebody else, but there is also a reasonably good chance that some he lets walk will survive to maturity. And who knows, maybe that good karma will bring it back around to him.

One thing is for sure, if he doesn't let it go, there is ZERO chance of that happening.

Just in my opinion if you're not a young hunter, you should let these little ones go (and maybe we should define "little" at some point in this thread) for the good of your deer herd. I know it's hard if everybody else around you isn't abiding by that rule, but what is it they say about jumping off a cliff......?

[TheHuntinHog]

yes, kill more doe. 

[Wizard]

don't disagree with you guys but i am a horn hunter, always have been and always will be. i mean why kill a basket rack when you could let it grow into a mature buck. maybe it' s not so much that i love killing bick bucks, though i do, but it's that i hate seeing little bucks taken and they aren't even close to mature. i have no problem letting a nice buck walk if i think there is a chance he is going to be big daddy the next year or year after that. to me that is real hutning, not killing everything that walk by. having the patience and the will to let the animal walk is hunting in my book

When I agreed on being a deer hunter and not a buck hunter, I meant that I don't have a problem with harvesting does.  In fact, I'd rather harvest a doe than a small buck.  I'm not a horn hunter, but I'll pass on a small buck just to give it the opportunity to live another season or two.

Does taste just as good as bucks.

[ArkansasSloughboy]

I'd have to say does taste better than bucks. So what are we talking about here? When is it big enough to shoot?

[Kevin]

While I don't care about score, I don't really believe in harvesting little bucks either. The hardest thing for me to do is pass up a really nice 6 point with like a 15 or 16 inch spread. But I just tell myself what that dude is going to look like next year .. if he makes it.

I'm not sure it is as simple as setting a certain size. Because for instance, I'm a lot more likely to take an 8 point with a crappy rack than I am a six point with a pretty one.

[buckaroo]

i remember before the 3 point rule came into law i killed the first spike that walked by my stand and that was a trophy just because it was a buck but the first morning with the new law i saw 2 nice spikes come by my stand  and killed a nice 8 point at 11:00 a.m. any year before i would have been back at camp skining one of those spikes but with age and time you change i let a 15 inch 8 point walk last year and i fill  my doe tags every year bacause i love back straps a trophy is what you think it is sometimes its a freak rack like double eye guards and sometimes it a 20 inch rack as long as you are within the law its all good.

[ArkansasSloughboy]

Yeah, I remember a long time ago I killed a 4 point and it was a trophy. Not only did I kill a deer, but it was a buck! Back then a 15" 8 point was something to really be proud of.

[NWAR HUNTER]

This is every hunters personal preference.  I will not shoot a buck unless I'm gonna mount it.  I've mounted 3 bucks in the last 5 yrs that went 135+ since I started hunting in NW AR.  I try to take 2-3 does every year for management reasons.  Now, I pass the smaller bucks for several reasons. 1. Let Go So They Can Grow. 2. I would rather see my 9 yr old take them(I get more enjoyment seeing him shoot them than if I shot a 170 class deer). 
But once again, I've hunting places in my past that had lots of deer and big deer and clubs that I was in at the time had rules in place that you had to follow or not get in the club at all.....When I first joined these type of clubs, I disagreed but after I saw the quality of deer they had and what they harvested by the type of deer management program they had in place---I became a believer. 
I think hunting is a right and people should be proud of whatever they harvest..

JS