well we are sort of on the same page..... the way i do it is i hunt 5.5 year old deer... of course a 4.5 gets taken by mistake but its an honest mistake...... its funny how the horn thing works out only taking mature deer..... if it doesnt have the "quality"horns your looking for at 4 or 5.5 then it should be taken out of the herd anyway.... but usually a 5.5 "cull" is a dandy in anybodys book...
having said that i dont mount everything ..... i do put the horns on adisplay of some kindbut not nessarily a full mount...as far as meat goes does are the ticket...