Perhaps Jeff was referencing me, which is fine. We had a chat the other day about regional differences and I told him of howmany of usin Pa/Ohio were brought up. A buck was the goal to settle for less was in a word "wimpy". NOW before you jump me..let me say this is how we originally learned. Those of us that went beyond the poker table chats, with the elders, under a haze of cigarette smoke and the smell of whisky, learned much later that taking doe was neccesary for the good of the herd.
The newer generations (Not younger as a stereo type but rather newer folksto the hunting scene, be it age or when they took it up) and again not bashing anyone are very happy to take doe. So us older guys don't need to feel the burden of managing the "public" herd. Heck guys line up to do it for "us". So we don't need to change our beliefs.

Now years later we have killed our share of Spikes, 4-points 6-points etc..The joy and challenge is now in the chance to take a larger antlered deer. We pass on bucks, many folks, in the same region,think we are liars, or just plain loco, when we tell them that.

So to the question is killing a buck important, well prior to reading this thread I started one on Time vs goals. You can get my insight there.In summary, to me killing a buck is not important, but given the opportunity, it will be one i'm proud of be it horn porn, company, situation, uniqueness..etc