And a great thread it is! It took me about 3 years of seeing mature bucks to realize I had a major genetics problem as far as brow tines go. Rest of the rack you couldn't ask for better genes. Tall, wide and very massive. I have a 4 1/2 8pt. that nets 139" and some change and only 7" of that is G-1 score. I shot a 3 1/2 out of there in '02 that scored 151 3/8" as a 10pt. His brow tines were only 3" a piece. But, he had great tine lenth a 21" inside spread on both main beams are over 23". This is a very good thread indeed!

it seems in my immediate area, bucks allowed to reach full maturity usually make it to the perfect typical 10 stage. tall tined, wide, heavy horned monarchs. There are some that never make it past an 8 too though. I have seen some absolute pigs in the area, just never had one within bowrange. Last year was a complete bust, the deer just weren't in there like years past...but they were back this year. Next year should be the best yet.

I shot 2 bucks in Minn. that are almost exactly the same right down to the start of a fifth point on both right sides. These deer were shot about 4-5 miles apart. I wondered if they were poss. brothers.
I bow hunted a place in Wis. where the bucks had much longer then normal brow tines.
I firmly believe thatdifferent areas have different genetic traits.
Some of these could be due to the type of area they live in such as dense thick woods would suit bucks with narrow spreads and shorter tines.

145 - 150"9 pt

2nd buck is 160 1/8"

Tim

Hey Tim, that buck looks familiar! Did you push pause and then take the picture?

where i hunt we have two distinct characteristics. One they usually bladed brow tines, and two they usually have a strong side meaning one side of the rack is always taller. Almost every buck is that way.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/crenshawjohnson/brian.jpg

deer up close is perfect example, he has bladed brows and the right side is bigger then left.

There absolutely are common 'styles/shapes' of racks. Around here I don't know of any real theme, I've seen a lot of different shapes.

There was about a 4 year run a short while back, where I, guys in my group, and some neighbors that I'd talk to in maybe a 3-4 sq. mile area, were killing a lot of bucks with kickers on the G2's. I killed several with kickers on both G2's as well.

It seems like all I see around here are basket racked 6pts.[:@]

Our bucks are usually typical 8pts. We've only ever takenthree 9's, and never a 10 - in over 20yrs on the same farm. We have alot of bucks that either don't have brows....or only one. This year ironically, we tookfour8pts, and all had both brows. Go figure. Widest one we ever took has been 18", haven't seen many much wider than that.

Edit: I should say....our good 2.5, and our 3.5 and up bucks are typical 8pts. Most of our 1.5's and alot of 2.5's are spikes and forks, with the occassional nicer one showing up.

bucks in my region are generally 15-18inches wide and have relatively short brow times, there are occasional high racked deer seen but I haven't gotten one yet