I would shoot him. I am happy killing any deer. As long as I do it in a respectable, ethical, lawful way.

I'm in a different place now than I was a few years ago. I have antler points up to 14 and age class up to possibly 8 1/2. I go by what ever makes me happy. It could change from year to year. If I see a really nice 10 pointer that is 3 1/2, I'm shooting it, I don't have one of those. Who knows, next year I may decide to try for a 5 1/2 yo 7 pointer, if he survives until then. I don't have one of those either and I know he's there.

One thing I do know is that I want something at least 3 1/2 or older. Points are whatever makes me happy.

he is riding in the back of my truck!!!!!!!!! All the time and effort that i have been after this one or two bucks, it doesn't matter if he is broke off a few inches, he is riding in the back of Chris' truck period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its the Effort

Well, to be honest the only reason I would have taken the time to pattern the buck is because his antlers seemed good to me. IF I had the time to notice busted antlers, and the damage was significant, I'd probably pass. But I usually just get a glimpse of the antlers and the go light either goes off or not and then I'm getting into position and getting ready. I don't do mental tabulations in my head to figure if I shoot or not. I do like the beauty of a whole rack but a busted tine or two isn't going to stop me from shooting. I have a nice buck I shot with muzzleloader that I didn't know had a busted mainbeam, maybe 3-5" missing and busted browtines worn smooth and another tip missing. I didn't have time to notice all that. Now I will say I did a euro mount of him because I couldn't bring myself to spend $350 for a mount of a broken buck, maybe I should have, but hope springs eternal and I was sure I'd get a better one later that year. Didn't happen. I don't hunt for the record book. I do hunt for a beautiful set of antlers, and beauty has many meanings. I also don't shoot bucks unless they will go on my wall. That's just my personal standard. If I want meat I shoot a doe.

Neither...I just like to watch the squirrels and sitting up in the tree 18' off the ground for 4-5 hours at a time.

I just like being outdoors, and hunting whitetails is just a bigggggg bonus!

I get amped up over does!