I watched this guy grow up. Tyhe first time I saw him, I dropped a pine cone on his head when he came by wearing his first rack. the second year, he was hard to pass but in year three, I had to drop the ol hammer. BTW, this spot is very near to a place open to public hunting and he had a fresh slug wound in his front leg when I took him.

I hope to watch this young buck on my trail cam grow a bit more before I let the air out of him

i disagree.
a dead forkhorn has great potential.
potential to be a successfull and gratifying hunt.
potential to be a memorable harvest
potential to be the best deer to walk by me all season
potential to be killed by someone else an hour after i see him, thus ruining potential for a big rack next year.
potential to taste amazing with some friend potatos.

I guess it is safe to assume that we all hunt for different reasons.

Some like to measure the rack after the kill.

Some are happy for any legal buck.

And some just love deer meat.

I like jerky, smoked hindquarter, slim jims, salami, butterfly chops, chili, and steaks, all, way too much to pass that buck up.

Yeah, the kids andI take a few does, but we go through a lot of deer meat. I also have family members that like it too but they don't hunt.

Just last year we ate 4 deer and we are just about out of the 247 pounds of moose meat.

To each his own.

You left out this line when you quoted me:


Once again, you attempt to hijack a thread and start a flame war. No wonder you were banned twice before here under two other aliases. anyone want to start a pool as to how long it takes this time?

Well, if you take my statements out of context you could write a novel of misstatements. Everyone knows I was speaking specifically of ANTLER potential.

Hey, every hunter would like to kill a big buck when they go hunting. the ones that say they don't are full of it. unless they never had opportunity at a really nice buck. But then most guys don't put the effort into it. so they take what they can get, which is fine, because hunting is not that easy to begin with. I think in many places if you have opportunity at a nice buck like the one you posted you better take it, because if you don't,
someone else will, It will get hit by a car or some one will poach it. That's just the plain truth. But then again you might get Lucky and get that slammer. Back to Topic. If i was in your shoes I would pass also.
But in my shoes I would kill it.

of course i understand that you were referring to antler potential. i was just pointing out that there are all sorts of "potentials" to take into account.

*note the "", lighten up a little bit.

That's a nice buck and he does have potential.However,no way is he only 1.5 years old.

The mass at the base of his antlers indicates to me that ne's not a1 1/2but the body size and short face say 1 1/2 to me. The oldest buck I've killed there was 3 1/2 and he's pictured in this thread. I've also killed 2 2 1/2 year olds on this property that had noticeably better racks.

Only one way to really tell....I'll have a look at his teeth when I poke a hole in him next year

I know, you're right, I really should....There I just did!
The whole subject is really too complex to argue. Everybody has their own expectation and reasons for what they do. There is envy, on the part of those that hunt heavily pressured public lands, placed on those with better prospects. Many hunters show up to hunt the same 150 acres of public land every year in some areas. Makes one think of the trout opener and it is somewhat sad. I will say that I have passed up quite a few legal six and eight point bucks on PUBLIC land. Partly because I would rather let them mature and partly because the gated roads make a small buck not worth the effort to get it back to the truck. The first guy to shoot a buck in our party must make the long walk out for the deer cart, when we hunt the mountains. Makes one very selective with the trigger.
To say that those of us that hunt private property don't have any competition, that is just plain silly. Where I hunt at home is private property, but is not posted, and gets hammered in gun season. Even if a guy has exclusive rights on a parcel does not mean he is guaranteed to get a buck he lets walk. Last I heard, a buck has a range of 2 or more square miles. This range will overlap many parcels of private property being hunted by many other people. I'm sure BTB knows all too well that letting this buck walk poses some risks. When the rut kicks in, getting hit by a car is probably the biggest risk. I've seen it happen before..to me.