RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

Every year ;)

I mount all the bucks antlers I shoot one way or another........plaque, euro, etc. I olny have one full shoulder mount and truthfully don't think I want a whole house full. I keep the most recent in the house and the others get moved "down the bench" After awhile you start thinking "what the hell am I gonna do with these things?"

I killed 3 deer (2 bucks and 1 doe) 2 years ago and 4 deer (2 bucks and 2 does) this year and in between I had a horrible year last year where I saw very few deer in all seasons combined and only took 1 deer (The 13 pt I have mounted).

I will take a year like this one or two years ago any day over that miserable year with 1 good day and a "trophy".


I don't hunt land where I can afford to pass deer up............and I doubt I would even if I did. Antlers just don't mean THAT much to me. I like bucks as much as the next guy but antlers or not.........my freezer is getting filled ;)

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

where I hunt if you let a small buck pass the next guy won't so yes I'll shoot any legal deer (except button bucks ) but be it a spike or bigger I'll hang the rack somewhere

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

I agree with you if I'm in NC. I wouldn't shot one late in the season if I passed on it earlier. In Md the deer population is so out of control it's not an issue. I've hunted about a dozen times this year and have passed on 40+ bucks and countless Does. The only reason I wait to shoot something I wouldn't mount has to do with the odds of seeing a big deer. You don't get a very big window when the big deer will show themselves during the daytime unless there is very little preasure of someone or some thing kicks him up.

Last year I screwed up big time wasting my time on a pretty 10 point knowing I wouldn't mount him. To make a long story short I wasted all of my energy on him holding the bow back waiting for him to clear a tree. When a huge 8 point showed up 20 minutes later I was too worn out. I won't make that same mistake.

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

I try to wait for a muture buck or a doe, but I do have some exceptions. I will shoot a wounded deer even if it is a small buck. I will shoot inferior deer. This year I passed up over 10 bucks and shot a big bodied buck come by me that had four big points on one side and a 12" spike on the other side. I later had him aged at 3.5 years old, would he have ever had a normal rack? Who nows but I wasn't going to let him pass on those bad genes that he had. The next week I had a REALLY nice wide 8 pointer about 130 class come by me twice at 10 and 50 yards and all I could do was smile and I had no regrets.

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

Nope, I have no reason to. I'll shoot a doe first.

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

By mount I assume you mean full shoulder mounts.
Yes, I have a hard time getting my wife to allow me to hang the one shoulder mount I have in the house. I'm not saying that I wouldn't shoulder mount another but it would have the be a monster (over 150") . In Maine and New Hampshire we just don't see that many of those. I always keep the racks though and have quite a few on plaques.

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

As of the last 4 years I decided not to shoot any more small bucks, so the answer is no! I will only shoot bucks that are mountable! I don't understand meat hunters shooting small bucks. I go to the locker and see small racks laying all over. If your going to shoot a buck the least you can do is hang up the rack. Thats one way to give the animal the respect it deserves!

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

When I go hunting I am actually decorating. He doesn't get put on the ground if he isn't going on the wall. My personal threshhold is 140 for wall status. We don't have an overabundance of does or I would shoot a very mature one given the opportunity. The only exception to this rule is a wounded deer, they go down immediately. I hunt in a suburban area and don't want the bad press that a wounded deer brings coming down on me. Even if I didn't wound it.

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

Never had one mounted, probably never will. I do mount the pictures of the buck i kill in my hunting album. The only thing that is left on a mounted deer is its antlers, so why bother? I have plenty of wracks in the hunting room, i only shoot bucks that are a trophy in my eyes. I killed a 12pt and a 9pt, people say i should have had mounted, but i was just a teenager and didnt know any better, but i probably still wouldnt have them mounted.

RE: Do you shoot bucks you wouldn't have mounted?
 

I have the antlers of every buck I've killed mounted on the wall of my garage. Since shoulder mounts are so expensive, at this point only two heads grace the walls of the inside of our house. Both are P&Y bucks. One is an 11 point that I killed and the other is a very big 8 point that my oldest son killed when he was 14. Both bucks are bowkills.