ORIGINAL: njbuck22
For those of you who are holding out for a "mature" deer, whatever mature might be in your book, if a mature buck walks by your stand but it has half its rack broken off, are you still pulling the trigger, afterall it is still a mature deer, or are you waiting for another mature deer with a nice rack???????
I had this exact scenario unfold on a huge 4x4 buck that I had watched one summer and finally got him into close bow range in November. At less than 20 yards he walked in and stood stone still below me scanning the creek bottom. I had just bout went to full draw when I noticed he was missing halfof his rack. I couldnt believe it. He was busted off right past his browtine on his left side. I thought about drawing for what seemed like an eternity (probably 2 full minutes.) I then figured, I needed to find the buck that broke his and I let him walk, hoping to get to hunt him again the following year if he made it.