ORIGINAL: Rory/MO
ORIGINAL: GregH
ORIGINAL: Rory/MO
I don't see how you can pass up a deer that would meet your "criteria", just because he broke off a g2. Aren't you "supposed" to hold off for 4.5 year olds?
I've never shot a clean 5x5, a 10 pointer. I passed on one this year because he had a snapped off g-2. He would have grossed about 133". In my mind he wasn't "clean" anymore. He wasn't what I had in mind. It is my choice isn't it? I decided to wait for something else. No problem with that is there?
Greg, would you have shot him, if he had that g2?
I see your point...but to play Devil's Advocate...He doesnt have that g2. Would you have shot that 80" 2.5 if he was a 125" instead? Well of course, but it doesn't.
Some guys are on the age trip, some on the antlers trip, and some are both. They recognize and respect how older bucks are smarter and wiser, yet they want to take them out on top...to them, it would be kind of a shame to Kill the buck when he wasn't on his prime (antler speaking) But Im like you, barely busted up, Im droppin the hammer.....It may come with success, ifI killed a mature deer year in and year out, I too would start looking to fill some other criteria...just the nature of things.
To take it to the extreme though for those stating age is the only thing that matters. Say you have seen an absolute monarch of a buck with a noticeable scar one time feeding over the summer...The next time you see him is November 23. He is missing his complete left side, and the right side busted off only 3 inches from the bottom...not even the brow tine remains...you recognize him from the scar...would you shoot this buck based on body size alone, or would you let him pass a year finding ita shame to kill a 160 class deer when he only had 3" of horn on his head? Again, no right or wrong...this just highlights how there is another side to it.