You said "bar"....not me.

The average range monkey isn't a trophy hunter.

Will- you are correct in the fact without estrous I would have to go looking, but where he has no pattern and has never been seen. I am in agreement with you on the principle of your thoughts...it is just hard to phathom not hunting the rut...


Duke...If you read my post again it says I hunt for "MY" trophy and that is a deer I would mount. I do not do the age thing..Mature or not. I shoot deer that I would pay someone to mount and put on my wall. In Georgia I have let several 120 ish and a few pushing 130 go. It did not strike me at the time as a deer I would mount...If you go online and check out Georgia Outdoor News you will see guys selling out for a 130" deer...spotlighting, baiting, tresspassing...that is why I stated deer they would sell their kids for...not to pose as a guy letting booners walk every other week. With all the knowledge you share on a regular basis the elitist attitude always keeps "me" from seeking advice.

If I owned 100 acres and had plenty of does hitting my feeders or food plots (i.e. bucks had no reason to leave the property), and If I had reason to believe my property held a good throphy buck (based on nightlytrail camera photos), and if I set out to kill that particular deer and no other deer (my goal for the season), and if I wanted to hunt him when he wasn't at his weakest, then why would I hunt him during the rut?

Chance encounters should be considered trophies to the true trophy hunter?

I understand the question absolutely....Im just admitting that the big bucks beat me more than I beat them....I don't care if it is the rut or not...they are still not easy to kill, if it were, then everybody would killing them...if someone is finding it that easy to kill big bucks in the rut, then I really do suck!!! Now, there are many days in the rut when the average dude picks up the ML and goes out and kills a monster without ever scouting or putting in the effort, I know it happens here every year...guys don't bowhunt much here, but oh boy do they ML hunt, and when asked why, they always say "it's the rut, the big boys dumb..."" So I can see what he's saying, but to kill em with a bow in the rut, is not that easy for me, a modern ML, maybe takes the edge off of the challenge b/c of the sheer distance of shooting range allowed....

I hear ya Michael! It would be like football without the superbowl at the end.

As would I.

I started this same thread about a month ago here:
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=3069889&mpage=1

but Iamnotyourhuckleberry so there weren't that many responses.

I'm with the guys who don't say in so many words that killing a mature buck outside of the rut would be more of a challenge thus trophy. But, that's just my opinion and is not intended to diminish the accomplishments of anyone who takes a mature buck within the confines of the rut.

Plain and simple, it's more difficult outside the rut. It's a fact just like gravity. If it weren't true, why do so many look forward to the rut?

Very good analogy Will...excellent post and a break from the norm...Oh the blasphomy of not hunting the rut[8D]

Will....

You're gonna have to deal with "chance encounters" next week....lol.

If I knew where a good buck lived...I don't have a darned clue how to hunt him, there, now.

We'll be hunting the girls....and the routes the boys take to find them, next week.

Hoyt,

Ever notice the number of deer going into the bag lately? Sorry, if I would have seen your earlier post, I would have not started this.

Jeff, Iamnotatrophyhunter, I'm ok with that!

I guess the same thinking should apply to guys that use guides.