This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

This deer scores 124.. On Average... How does he rank for deer in your area, and would you shoot him or would you pass...

I want to know how our deer stand up to other deer...

We have harsh winters and no crops or food plots or anything like that.... so we can't grow BIG ones like Illinois and so on...

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Here

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

He's a dandy. That'd be about a 4 1/2 year old here in southwest Montana. I doubt I could pass him up, especially since my brain adds an exta 5-10 points to every buck anyway.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

That's a very nice whitetail. CONGRATS on a fine animal. Could you give us some more stats on 'em??? Weight, age...??? Thanks

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

182 lbs

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

He is average for a 2.5 year old buck here. I would pass him up only because I have shot a few of these boys in the past and some bigger and like to only hold out for the biggin's now. He would likely grow up to be a very nice buck in the midwest or if given proper nutrition even where you are at.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

That buck stacks up just fine! I don`t think i would have let him pass unless there was one bigger right behind him;)

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

A fine animal that could very well be a 2 1/2 from here in west-central IL. Still, he is a buck that the vast majority of folks even from this trophy area would be proud to take. Also, being as an IL resident can take 2 bucks most would gladly fill tag number 1 with 'em. Personally, I would enjoy watching the buck but would opt to wait for a slightly more mature animal. Especialy with this bucks 10 point frame, I would love to see him move into the next age class. A great bowkill regardless, congrats again.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

He would get shot real quick. THat is an excellent buck for my area, either being a huge 2.5 or an average 3.5.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

I am assuming he is a Michigan buck. I am also assuming that 124" is the gross score perhaps even a green score not a net score. He doesn't look like he carries much mass or tine length and a 124 score looks generous from my perspective but then again photos are often deceiving so don't take offence to my obsevations.

On the flip side if in fact he is a Michigan buck, he is way above average (as you know) for the State. It isn't that they can't grow big in Michigan, it is that with 700,000 hunters all wanting to kill a buck they don't very often get the opportunity to mature in most areas.

When some people hunt the midwest they expect to find a monster behind every tree (again a rhetorhical exaggeration). It just isn't so. Before there are any existing "monster bucks" (170 or greater) there has to be small bucks that can grow up to at least age 3 1/2 and beyond.

A trophy hunter here would in most cases pass on a buck that size in hopes that it would survive and get even bigger. But there are exceptions.

At any rate, that is a buck to be proud of from any area of the country, especially Michigan, congratulations!

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

his longest tine is 9 inches.. his brows are 6 and 4 1/2

and that was a green score

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

He is a beauty for sure!

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

He is about 2.5 -3.5 old in the residential areas. I see a lot like him and would let him walk. I'm really after much bigger. At the end of the season depending on the mode I have shoot them a time or too. I prefer to stick with bambi. I don't have any use for the racks other than feeding them to my dog.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

I wouldn't pass him up in OK! He is on the large size for this part of the country. Good looking deer>

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

I am only 15, so I would definately shoot that one. If that one walked out it would be my first buck. I hunt in LA (Louisiana), and we are on a VERY, VERY strict managment program. e have only shot two maybe three bucks on the land in about 4 years. If we shoot 'em we mount 'em. No questions asked. But for a first deer............I would love to see one like that walk out. Did you ever say how wide the inside and outside spread is???

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

inside spread is 16.5

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

It might be tough to let him go, but I think I would...yes. It's tough to gauge potenial rack growth because so much of it depends on genetics, food, hunter pressure and good old mother nature. That might as big as the boy gets. I guess you'll never know how big he'll get if you don't let him walk. That certainly doesn't mean I'm saying it was bad that you shot him Mathews. Not one bit. He's a very nice lookin buck. I also like to look at this way and I compare it to myself. You've shot something very nice at 124....now you have a standard to go by. Last season, I shot an 11 pt that scored 134 and some change. That's my standard now. Either it's a buck that's bigger than that or I'm taking a doe or two. By the time I'm 45, I'll have my sights out for a 170 class. Now there's a pipe dream!! :D :D

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

MATHEWS I WOULD HAVE SHOT THAT DEER IN A HEARTBEAT, MY NAME AINT JACKIE BUSHMAN, SO I TAKE WHAT I CAN GET I HUNT ALL PUBLIC SO I SHOOT ANYTHING THAT WALKS BY MY STAND TO FILL THE TAG, I THINK NO MATER WERE YOUR FROM THAT IS A NICE DEER,YES IF YOU WOULD LET HIM GET OLDER HE MIGHT HAVE GOT BIGGER THEN AGAIN I MIGHT HAVE KILLED HIM AND YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM AGAIN LOL IN ALL NICE BUCK



DR KILL

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

In most areas of Michigan I would shoot him. I have taken 3 that size on trips to the UP of Mich, However, I would not shoot that buck in My Wisconsin areas. I wouldn't dwell on what every one else would do though. Make your own decissions. I would base my decision on how many that size or bigger are already hanging on the wall, on what else your seeing, and definately not on what every body else thinks. If you think its a great buck, IT'S A GREAT BUCK!

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

The buck would be a real wall hanger where I hunt. Anyone who hunts where I do might as well find a new hobby if they'd pass him up, because they'd get skunked for life if they waited for something better.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

well what really sucks, is if I didnt shoot him, someone else would have shot him... I have people around me shooting spikes and forks.... So there was no way I was letting him go....

Its hard to get people up here to let the little ones go... and they say , i want meat....So I say, SHOOT A DOE...

but nuthing i can do if they shoot tiny ones....

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

JIMBO WERE YA FROM IN MD? IM FROM MD TO , MY AOL NAME IS CFSBULL IM ME TO CHAT , LOOKING FORWARD TO TALKING TO YA

JIM AKA DR KILL

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Nothing wrong with that deer Mathew'sboy ! I'd have to say he's a shooter here in Ontario as well. We definetly have a lot of bigger deer in the Northern part of Ont but he's pretty comparable to the one's we have in the southern end.

nubo

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

If i was hunting wisconsin with a rifle, I would take him, but maybe not opening morning.With a bow, i would hold out on shooting him until December or January if he's the only one i could get a shot at. he's a nice buck.

But in Iowa.....you probably wont get laughed at for shooting a little buck but you probably aint gonna get any double takes. 140" is about right fora 3 1/2 year in iowa, some bigger, some smaller. I had a shot at two bucks like him in iowa, one was 15 yards away upwind. had the crosshairs right on him but let him walk, even though it was the last day. No, i would let him grow two more years. with the high amount of Nutritional forage in Wisconsin and Iowa, he could have some potential.


Congrats on the kill BTW.

slayer

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

It all depends on what you want to do and what kind of bucks you have in the area. That is a great buck and you should be nothing but proud.;)

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

The bucks in my area would probably be violating his buckhood while saying..who's yer daddy!:D

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

He's better than average for our area... but a lot of them are taken every year.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

If your hunting in the Md-Atlantic area and don't see this everyday find a new spot to hunt. They are out there.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Nice buck ......Since I hunt heavily hunted areas....He 's a shooter....

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

That would be a real good one where I hunt. A good mature buck here avg's about 110"-115". I'd love to get a crack at one like that! :)

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

that is a shooter where i come from, very nice deer!

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Thwack!! Any questions?

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Bowkilled that's a good trophy for anyone. Some rich guys hunting with outfitted hunts would hold off.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Here it would be a good animal for a woodland deer but small for the farmyard animals.
In the timber hes all shooter. In the farm yard I'd pass hoping his dad would be around.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Where I live in florida they dont get that big , usealy . Ive never seen one shot that big , but I ve been caseing one for going on 3 years thats slightly bigger . In georga and Pa where I hunt thats a quality buck , but they shoot a couple bigger each year .

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Nice Deer nothing wrong with him.;)

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Better than average for my area. In a good year, I will have a chance or two to kill a buck like that.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

That is a real nice buck. I would consider him a 9 for my neck of the woods. I have seen some bigger but not many and not in any one season.

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

Thats a great buck - 3.5 yr old for around here , I would drop him in a heart beat on my first tag.

Congrats

RE: This buck versus the bucks in your area....
 

I would have definitely dropped the string on him. We have quite a few of those running aroud here in New Jersey. Yea I know, New Jersey. I am a transplant from South Carolina(long story, don't ask). We have been on a strict QDM program for the last 7-8 years, so we are starting to see really decent bucks. I took a 140 2 years ago, so we are seeing some bigger bucks that the one you harvested but I would not have thought twice about putting an arrow in his boiler room. GOOD JOB!