Antler size or body weight?
 

What's your preference?

I hunt northern New England (Maine and New Hampshire) and we usually judge our deer by body weight. It's that big, old 200+ pound, dressed, buck that dreams are made of. Sure we appreciate a nice rack but most of the guys I hunt with would rather shoot a 180 pound 8 pointer than a 160 pound 10 pointer.

I am sure there are a lot of hunters, especially in the Mid-West, down South and even New England that look at a trophy buck by the number of points his rack will score, not the dressed weight.
I also understand that states that have 'smaller' deer will always prefer a big old rack.

If you hunt places where truly big bucks grow, what's your idea of a true trophy?

I use to go by antler size. But lately, we've been seeing some real cows so now body size is what I appreciate. Here are three bucks that are well over 200lbs.

Typically in our area of Indiana, rack size and weight go hand in hand. If you kill a 200lbs (dressed) you can just about put money on it that he will score 140+. But those heavy deer are largely shot in bow only (teh drop to 170-190 in rut). You get down into the 160-170 lbs range, those deer will almost always score inthe 110-120 range. 150lbs and under spindly 1.5 year old deer. Now as I said, this is EC Indiana bow season numbers.

In 25+ years of hunting EC Indiana, me, my dad, my brother, my uncle have yet to harvest a 200 lbs buck. Got lots of 170-190 lbs all sporting 125" of bone or better, but none over a duece. The biggest ones have always been killed in bow season.

Definitely antler size. I don't think I've ever looked at a mount and thought about a deers weight. But, it does seem that weight is viewed as a determining factor in what is considered a trophy. Without looking a deer, at 200lb 8pt. sounds better than a 160lb 8 pt. Also, I know a club that strictly determines the yearly trophy based on weight. So I guess it just depends...

Don't have any desire to mount a head and most likely never will.
Therefore - body wght.

When you see a 250lb buck on the wall it will impress you. Huge shoulders, thick neck. 3 times bigger than the average deer.

My preference is whatever offers the most successful shot. The rest is BS campfire stuff. You gotta eat that stuff one day, old bucks taste like schit.

Where I hunt, north central Louisiana, if I wait to kill bucks 200 lbs or larger, it's going to be a long, long time before I eat deer again. I would go by antler size anyway. A good deer down here will weigh 150-180. Just 100 miles to the east, deer over 200 lbs. are common. Antler size all the way.

A trophy to me is any deer that has made it through many seasons, has been educated to the ways of the human hunter and is 100% free range..... when I want meat I shoot a young doe.....

anter size and age! dont really care about body wieght unless its a doe