Ya, that thread got a little out of hand for a minute.[&:]

I am another who cares what a buck scores. Its not for bragging rights, pats on the back or machoism. Its just another way to measure a deers size just like weight, spread or point count.

As was stated earlier for instance tell someone you shot a big 8 pointer. They may picture a 12 inch spread buck with moderate tine length, they have no clue what a "big 8 point" is to you, "big" is something totally different to different people. Now tell someone it was a 140 inch 8 point and it paints the picture more clearly.

Case in point Atlas's gun buck from last year. Atlas said that was a big buck for his area. Now if I were talking to Atlas and he told me about the big 13 point he shot, I definitely would not have pictured his buck in my head. I would have pictured something much bigger. Another case where "big" is so different between 2 people.

Now if Atlas said he shot a 120 class 13 point (I don't remember the score) I would have a much better understanding on the deers rack size.

I now for the past few years hunt exclusively for mature bucks. 3 1/2 years or older. Its not the final score as to what animal I choose to harvest. Its all about that deer. Take last years (2003) buck I arrowed for instance. A mature buck with a ton of character who didn't score high.

If there is a 160 class perfect 10 point and a 140 class gnarly racked buck with heavy mass hands down I would drop the string on the gnarly racked buck. It's just my preference.

So bigger score isn't necessarily better. Well to me at least.