Ryan, I didn't read the whole thread because...IT'S LONG!!

I too started out with the mindset of shoot any legal buck...shoot it now before someone else does.
Now I just like to interact with the most mature buck I can. Even if I don't shoot him. I get the same satisfaction out of just seeing and stalking or trying to shoot a nice mature buck. I tell the stories of the ones I've missed with the same fervor and enthusiasm than the bucks I've shot. I remember the days of having encounters with big bucks just as much if not more than the kills. The kill is almost unimportant in my gauge of satisfaction. Sure, I feel a high when I am successful, but it doesn't matter to me. When you hunt for your own reasons, your own enjoyment and peace, and not for the competitiveness and "something to prove", the baggage of all that falls away, and you almost become lost in the wild, and forget you are "civilized".
Being at close range of a mature buck is an experience like no other. They are so attuned, so suspicious, that the act of trying to make the shot is a tightrope walk. You know that one slip up, one eye blink at the wrong time, and the buck wins.
As far asI can tell, the more bone mass on his head, the higher the level of difficulty. The size seems to indicate experience and maturity. Knowing, Awareness, intellect.
I guess that's why big racks are sacred symbols of success to me.
A big rack is a sign of accomplishment, for both the buck, and the hunter.