Mule Deer Trophy
 

A comment was made about a deer with 'only' 4 points in another thread. I gather this has to do with the ongoing contests, but i don't know. At any rate, i thought i would mention, in my opinion, most trophy mule deer are 4 points. In all the years i have been spending time afield, the widest, tallest, and thickest mule deer antlers were mostly 4 points.







This 4 point just noticed wife and i in the garden.







This 4 point seems to have a fifth point on the one side.














This 4 point with the fifth point on one side during daylight.








Somehow in the past 4 year or so a 3 point has begun showing up around our place. I think this picture is not the big one, but it is the best we have right now. I was taken by this beauty when he was in velvet, but never was able to photograph him. Now all we have is photo of him facing away. To me, this is as good as it gets when it comes to mule deer, a rare 3 point trophy class buck.

I think that you need to put up a stand in your yard.....holy crap!

that big one is a 6x5

Ron,do you hunt the mule deer near your home? those are some very nice bucks!!

I've been on a good bit of hunts. I am not a 'trophy' hunter. Nor am I a meat hunter. I hunt for the enjoyment of the sport. And any animal I harvest is MY trophy.
I have no complaints about others hunting for big racks. I just don't appreciate anyone who wold put me down for shooting a lesser animal. If it's legal I may or may not shoot.

you can cook them antlers all day and the soup still taste bad and the antlers not tender. I am a meat hunter. If a trophy happens by with that meat.. so be it. Other wise if its legal its mine. Nice looking deer there!!

We live in the city. Only ones what can hunt here are lion, and swat. The swat thin the herd every now and again. Lion aren't so very welcome in town. Then to top it off, wife doesn't allow buck in the freezer. My only chance at these antler is by finding sheds; we have only found one. Seems it may be the 3 point when it was years younger.

Ron, Then its time to get your own freezer - wouldn't you agree?

In Montana, Wyoming, Western South Dakota, and most of Colorado, one doesn't count brow tines, and flash holes do erode. Basically that deer you are referring to is 4 point, with an odd point on the one side. Some might call it a 4X5, but i never have. You may call it what you wish, but please don't try to dictate how i describe a rack, in my world, and my thread. It seems we live in different worlds, and that is just fine with me. Er................maybe it would be nice to live in a world where things like flash hole didn't wear. If only, huh? Following is a photo of a small 4 point.

Now, that is an idea! However, then i would have to eat them nasty buck all by my lonesome. Am guessing i will leave things just the way they are.

Brow tines are counted as points in Colorado. Shows it in the book as well.

Ron, how about a nice young doe in the freezer?

When one puts a steak from a big ole mulie buck in a hot frying pan the steam that roils off smells like urine. It makes me grin just thinking about it. Years ago when we took weekend long steelhead fishing trips in the spring, we would eat our bucks. Dang, if they didn't somehow taste good. Perhaps cooking them outdoors, and a few beer helped.

One year i had great hunting, and had filled my elk tag, and my whitetail doe tag. Late in that season during the rut, a crazy mule deer spied me sneaking through the timber. He came closer, and closer trying to wind me, and satisfy his lust. I always tell everybody i killed him to keep him from mounting me. A week later our son, and i, eagerly awaited having his tenderloins for breakfast. They were inedible. We laugh every time we remember, and when we relate the tale.

One year a fella invited our son, and myself, to hunt deer on his place. I shot a small 4 point mule deer during the rut for some reason. His neck wasn't swollen at all. It was easily some of the best tasting/chewing deer i have ever eaten. It could be the surrounding grain fields had something to do with it. I always told everybody he was gay.

Like this one?

That's nice.

Haven't had bad deer meat yet. Buck or doe. Guess it just depends on how it was prepped at the kill site, at the cooling room and before cooking.

Making me hungry for my tender lil buck i got this year.

I have to agree with MD. Those deer are mostly 5x5's. No matter where you live or which state the deer came from, brow tines are scorible points. those 4x4's are 5x5's.

Most people in the western states do not count eye brow tines as points. i can also say i have never had bad tasting venison either.

Get your hands on a nice steak, some seasoning salt, some fresh ground black pepper and a hot skillet. 2 1/2 mins on each side. Add a baked potato with butter and enjoy. Some of the best eating you can get.

Brow tines count come measuring time, but for mule deer, if it's a "5x5" I usually say a 4x4 (or 4pt) WITH brow tines. Because it's not uncommon to have mule deer without brow tines, and when they do, they are often not significant..4pt designating it the classic double fork antlers. I'm bettin there's plenty of whitetail hunters who don't realize the difference in counts that mule deer hunters often use.

4 points do suck...


But 10 points are okay.


I'm just fine with decent deer. FWIW, I would rather whack a doe than a buck that isn't decent. I do like antlers, even though I shoot way more schlickheads.

My Buddies Nephue just got His Frst Deer with a Bow a few Days ago, it was 104lbs and to My Surprise was also in out Sports Page in todays Sunday Paper. Im a Trophy Hunter but I have Never put down anyone for anything they have Harvested that they or anyone else thinks is or is not a Trophy.
A Trophy is By in No Means Judged by the Size of the Animal but Mostly in the Memories of the Hunt. To those who think Size Matters More than the Hunt itself have lost the True meaning of Hunting.
Memories are the Biggest thing we bring Home from the Hunt, those are the True Trophies that we'll remember.

I could instantly tell you were from colorado or further north based on the fact that you were calling 8 and 10 pt deer, 4 pt deer. My grandpa is from colorado and he calls his nicest deer a 4pt and I consider it a very nice 10pt but he also calls cokes, pop or soda. Also what I call a mountain down here is a hill up there. And what is a ton of snow to me down here is a light snowfall for him.
I find it interesting the differences in cultures depending on where you are from. Everything from how many pts a deer has to what we call our soft drinks is different.
Just my .02 cents.

5x5 Colorado standard measurement :D

Then my trophy room is jam packed. Wow, only back for part of a day, and filling our forum with all kinda wisdom.

I have shot a large number of Whitetail deer. Both bucks and does. I would not think Mule Deer would be all that different. Maybe some year I will get out west and hunt Mule Deer.

I had only one buck that was just nasty to cook and eat. We turned the whole thing into sausage and brats. And the sausage and brats were excellent. Otherwise the sex of the deer does not seem to matter when it comes to eating here. I think it has more to do with the age of the animal, where it lives and especially eats, whether its rut season, what was the temperature when it was shot, how soon was it cooled, and very important.. did the person that field dressed the deer do a clean job. I have seen some real idiots when it comes to field dressing.

For instance, when I lived in the southern end of Wisconsin, the deer ate corn soybean, oats, hay, and basically better then a cow. And the meat reflected that. Up in the north here, other then bait piles of corn, the deer eat acorns, and forage in the woods, fields, lawns and marshes for what they find. They do taste different then those corn fed babies in the south. I hauled some venison south one thanksgiving to make a special roast I make, and while they ate it all, Dad did mention he could tell that was a northern buck.

Here is a photo of a thirsty 3 point taken from our dining room. Note the neck.

Yes MMm mouth watering.

Be careful with deer being that close to the house. I have a friend that used to feed them just off his patio. Until one season when rut was on and a buck came in for a snack, looked at the window and saw that reflection buck staring him down. Well you can guess what happened. After that he moved the feeders and such much further away from glass.

Wow, wouldn't that be a shock if a stinky big necked buck joined one at the dinner table.

We don't feed deer. We do provide water for the birds, but the deer seem to like the taste. There is a creek about 2 blocks away, but the deer seem to like our water. The covenants prohibit fences around our property.

One thing we have going for us is the glass on the opposite wall of the house beyond the dining room window gives a back light. Another would be the fact the deer have to kinda look up at the window glass, and so probably aren't so likely to see their reflection. What they should mostly see is a reflected sky.

We hope we never have a deer in our house.