That's a very good point you bring up. I never thought of it that way before. I surely have seen hundreds and hundreds of 1.5 year old bucks with 6 or 8 points brought in to be processed. And you are right.... "These are the deer that you want to keep in that gene pool"
A hunter brought us in a crotch horn with 23" inside spread to do a European skull mount. The sad part was, that was all the potential that that deer was going to produce. Although he was massive around the bases and had long main beams and incredible tine length, that was all he was ever gonna be.
Good post Scribe, I never thought of it that way, but very good point.