Well putif your after average bucks... When you have been in the woods for over forty years and have passed on large bucks most hunters never see in a life time, average bucks are a dime a dozen. They make mistakes that well seasoned bucks never make. If I wanted my season to end early I would shoot an average buck. For me that would be way to easy, the path of least resistance. I teach my kids to aim high, for mediocrity is the devils advocate. Welive or die by our choices.

If you consider deer hunting a true "sport," (your word,)you want to excel, improve and grow. You don't put the LA Lakers in the same class as the University of Kentucky, do you? I have hunted 40 years, trained up two sons in the hunting "sport""the way they should go" (if you will) and the higher caliber hunter you become the more narrow the focus on what you will actually take. It isn't all about the trophy (which I also enjoy) but the challenge and improving the skill. How much skill and challengedoes one have to have orexpress in the pursuit of an average buck? If I'm after the first buck that comes along, that doesn't allow much time to spend with family and friends in the great outdoors.

I average over 40 days in the woods huntin' the monster, I'm relentless but not at the cost of relationships. How many memories can you possibly have if you shoot an average buck that takes a day or two to hunt. Not very many days in the classroom of higher education...

You mentioned the word "sport." What "sport" isn't competitive. Somebody wins, somebody loses, unless your a spectator.

You are correct when you say it's not how big the bucks rack is, because it is all symbolic. I want a monster that has been on this earth for 5 or 6 years and has eluded hunters successfully year after year because 2 Poppa is willing to put the time in teaching his children and friends not to be average.

Greatness is the goal and my aim is true...