Ok I have been hunting since i was like 7 and havent ever hunted great places except when i was 12-13 in S Texas. I must admit i passed on 2-3 very nice bucks when i was younger due to wanting spread even though that isnt the best scoring guide.

Ok i am 28 now and dont have much to show. I missed a damn nice12 pt 20 plus in'. out of all my shots at mature deer. Well all I have to show is an 8 with a 21.5 in spread, and 8 with an 18 in spread pretty tall 140 class and a few cull deer biggest being 5 pt with 23 inch spd.

Well over the years i havent had the desire to hunt as much and have put in only a small 4-6 weeks ot of hunting season. Well this yr have been twice (gun season) and seen several 8 wth 14-16. 2 weeks ago i saw my first non-typical. He was prob 3&1/2 basic 7 pt with 2 split brows an a 6 in drop and 15-16 inside spread (making him 10pts) Anywas i havecontinued ot take my share of mgmt spikes and does. It just doesnt seem like i can get exctied about better than average deer. i keep waiting on trophys otherwise the excitment isnt there. SUre i love being in the field but do any of u hold out for someting bigger

I really like venison. I shoot the first two mature doe that comes by and any buck that is decent (big 6 or 8 point) to fill the freezer. Then, with one buck tag left, I will hold off for a bigger deer.

For me, honestly it doesn't really matter. We aren't allowed very many tags here in Nebraska, unless you have a rifle, bow and muzzleloader. Then you can have three tags. Unfortunately, I only have a rifle, so I can only harvest one deer. I usually take the first big bodied deer that I see so that I can at least have meat in my freezer. If the season was longer than 9 days and we could buy more than 1 tag, I think that I would be pickier than I am.

A trophy to me is a deer that is above average for the area that I am hunting. It is not tied to a hard and fast measurement. Don't concentrate on the kill just enjoy being outside away from work and all of the stress of out daily lives. I use to share some of your feeling but as I get older I find that just being out in the field is the attraction more then just killing a good one.

Good Luck.

-john

WHEN I HUNT IN TEXAS I USUALLY HOLD OUT FOR THE BIGGER BUCKS CAUSE IM IN A ONE BUCK COUNTY AND YALL HAVE SUCH A LONG SEASON. BUT IN OKLAHOMA I WILL GO FOR THE SIGHTLY SMALLER BUCKS CAUSE I DONT HUNT IN OK SO MUCH EVEN THOUGH I LIVE THERE. I USUALLY TAKE A TRIP TO MY GRANDPAWS FARM IN MISSISSIPPI AND TRY TO JUST KILL A GOOD BUCK.

Wouldn't it be nice shoot a few does, and pass on every young buckuntill a 150 comes by for a perfect shot, and connect, every single year?

truth is that doesn't happen for just everybody. When you make the decision towait for big horns, you must also accept the possibility of an empty freezer every once in a while.

I hunt fairly small piece of ground that borders other small properties with different owners, and alot of pressure. If I always waited for a 4.5 yr old deer I might as well stay home, cuz a chance like that will happen maybe once every few years. I'm more for the pride of scouting an area an putting a few on the ground than I am for holding out for an oldbuck with good G3's.

tx only you can answer the question of "what constitutes a trophy too you"? No one can give you that answer because obviously the quality of the animal is different in anothers eyes. Are you hunting by your own prarameters or someone elses? That has ALOT to do with it.

Do you feel the need (or simple desire) to blast the first thing with a rack that you see? If so that's fine, but it sounds like you are on a club/ranch/farm that has regulations and minimums. You might need to hunt somewhere else that isn't managed and kill several more bucks before you get that out of your system. It's not something to be ashamed of, we ALL go through it, it is part of the natural progression of a trophy hunter. Most of us didn't all growup shooting 150inch bucks. On most places that takes time, money, patiene and ALOT of hard work to get sizeable numbers of those into the herd.

Is it the act of simply killing deer that you need or the desire to kill bucks? I ask because many are simply content to shoot does each season to thirst their desire to "draw blood". At least that breaks up the lack of action of just watching and not shooting something day after day. I have hunted on a famous ranch in south TX a couple of times and it was LOADED with 140-150inch bucks. I wouldn't have been on a hunt 15 minuties if I had pulled the trigger on the first good buck to pop out. But I realized the pleasure and learning experience of watching mature animals and that helped us to push our place in TN to become what it has become.

And in all honesty not everyone can become a "mature buck hunter". Some guys never develope the patience, have the desire to or hunt in places where realistic chances at such animals are a reasonable proposition. For them the enjoyment of the hunt is found in many other parts of the hunt. That non-typ you saw wasn't really a non-typ it was a typical with forked G1s and some drop tines. Labeling him as a non-typ isn't reason enough to shoot him if he otherwise doesn't meet the criteria setup and agreed upon about what constitutes a trophy on your land. BUT I suspect you have feelings that you really wish you could've taken him? Then again I think you need to hunt somewhere else and kill several more bucks and get that out of your system, or you are only gonna experience continual depression or exasperation about your current lot.

Good luck and really do some soul searching,
RA

hunting is about much more than just killing something.

I'm enjoying my deer hunting more these days due to my progressing to a "trophy hunter"! I've killed a bunch of deer over the 20+ years of my hunting career and just in the past 3-4 years have become a trophy hunter. I can say that if I have'nt seen mature, quality bucks, I would've become dejected but some of the bucks I have been seeing have made me shiver in my long johns! I'm having a great time trying to figure them out and get close enough, and sooner or later, it will happen. I haven't killed a buck in 4 years now, and have passed on many, but I'm getting closer and it will happen!

IT all depends on the area you hunt. If there are tonnes of deer and shooting a small buck is nothing than why not wait for a big one. If you hunt were it's hard to find any buck then I'd shoot the first one that walked out.

This past weekend my brother in law (a devoted trophy hunter) passed on a nice 8 point one the first morning of the weekend hunt. Turns out we didn't so much as see another buck and only 1 doe. At first it was too small and he didn't want to shoot, at the end of the weekend he said that he should have shot it.

Point is, it depends on the conditions and your chances of shooting more bigger ones.



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