Is This Guy A Shooter?

[Drop_Tine]

Originally Posted by Penner

What are your thoughts?

I cant believe you gotta ask that question !! ..... Shoot that SOB !!! Goood luck

[Redfrog]

Originally Posted by ishootbambi

ive never understood that remark. does the weapon somehow change the size of the deer?

op, what are you looking for? to me that deer appears a little young yet. id let him grow if i had a good look at him. of course i have killed the odd one like that when you kick them out of the weeds and they are jetting out giving you a fraction of a second to decide. i hate walking up to those ones. makes me wish i was better at first aid....

Bah Bam!! Nailed it!!

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by Penner

What are your thoughts?

Not for me for no good reason. He's a great looking buck.

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

Bang!

Let's get the work done and catch up with this guy, he's yours if you smarten up and don't let employment take such a high priority.

[GoneFishin']

I would say let it go another year if someone else didn't get him first..

[SportHuntingHelp]

If you do not want to shoot him I would be more than happy to. Than again I am a meat hunter.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by summit151

No it does not change the size of the deer. but why does pope and young have smaller sizes for entry then boone and crockett. It is more of a challenge with a bow. so i thing your definition of a trophy goes down.

Why does it take a book to decide if an animal is a trophy or not? A trophy should be an individual goal. If this buck makes you feel good about it and you want to display then take it. If not then leave it go and look for another that will satisfy your needs.
B&C and P&Y are just numbers, nothing really special, it is my own thought that these numbers are what may cause people to poach. There are somethings in this world that putting a number on makes a lot of sense, however scoring animal to decide whether or not it is a trophy for me isn't one of them.
I have never had an animal I have shot scored, however when I was hunting actively, I always tried to harvest an animal that was bigger then the last one. Not for trophy purposes but for the challenge of the hunt. There were many years that I never closed a tag on an animal but it was because I chose to do so.
Back to the OP's question if you think it's a trophy or big enough to be a shooter then harvest it without regret.

BW

[mule99]

If you are gonna be 100 % happy with him shoot him if there is any dought at all leave him for another year. He might make it through the season and he might not. But if you leave him and kill him next year you would be a very happy hunter.

[Jamie Black R/T]

no....he is not a shooter FOR ME.

10 years ago? hell yes i would have drilled him first chance i got.

everyone is different...this is like starting a thread asking what your favorite color should be....nobody can decide but you.

[ishootbambi]

there are some well spoken answers in this thread....and every one of them is correct. the question will be answered a little different by each person. i really do like this one though....

Originally Posted by Bigwoodsman

Why does it take a book to decide if an animal is a trophy or not? A trophy should be an individual goal. If this buck makes you feel good about it and you want to display then take it. If not then leave it go and look for another that will satisfy your needs.
B&C and P&Y are just numbers, BW

although i kinda do set a score in my head as a minimum that im looking for, it asnt a hard and fast rule. personally im looking for a big mature animal in his prime. score is not the primary goal.

Originally Posted by summit151

why does pope and young have smaller sizes for entry then boone and crockett..

my best guess would be that it was an organization started by americans who hunt most whitetails in places where they seldom grew to the sizes that we in alberta call an average deer. the 125 minimum for a whitetail to me personally is laughable. thats a deer i would really never call a trophy under pretty well any circumstances myself....but i know quite well how lucky i am to be an albertan.

[Thinlizzy]

Good post ISB!
I guess I am taking this thread another way but boys/girls what do you think this buck will score when he done growing? I love the scoring threads since I know I have a lot to learn about scoring deer on the hoof.
I will start I am thinking this buck will score in the high 140's to low 150's?
Also anybody else with pics of descent deer like this one put em up if you don't mind. I just put my cameras out last week. When I get pics in couple weeks I will post if I get any descent bucks. Of course if I get a monster I will share as well! Good luck to everyone this coming season. Bow season opens in my area Aug 25! Can't wait!

[top predator]

Originally Posted by sunsetrider2011

Id say let him grow another year

same

[newguy]

that deer has lots of growing to do!! come to think of it, so do i!!

i hunt for meat, not antlers.

everyone has their opinion.

[Sledhead71]

Cool looking Jumper, has some character. By the looks of it, some potential growth yet till he finishes.

As for being a shooter, well a trophy is represented in many different ways, field photo with a grin ear to ear is a trophy in my eyes.

Thanks for sharing !

[Penner]

I'm leaning on waiting one more year but if he walked into my sights it would take some will power to not pull the trigger. Have to keep an eye on him over the next few months to see how much more he grows.

Good input from all. Thanks.

[MK2750]

Originally Posted by Penner

I'm leaning on waiting one more year but if he walked into my sights it would take some will power to not pull the trigger. Have to keep an eye on him over the next few months to see how much more he grows.

Good input from all. Thanks.

I wouldn't get too caught up in "He's goin be this or that next year". He might get hit by a truck next week.

One thing to mention is the lack of comparison in a photo. We have to judge the body size first and then compare the antlers.

I notice a bit of a belly starting. Much like us old guys this takes time to develop. Two and three year old bucks are generally very lean. I would put him at least a 3/4 years old and probably older.

Also notice that his coat gives the impression of a younger deer as we subconsciously attach the reddish color and clean look to a young animal. Put him in his fall grey coat and he would look much different.

If you look at the left antler as compared to his left ear it looks to me to be at least a couple inches wider. A mature bucks ear spread is 15-17" so if the other side is similar you could be looking at 20+ inches of spread.

If you look at his face the color is greyer rather than the sharp whites of a young buck. Could be genetic but may suggest an older deer.

Now when you consider a couple more inches of growth, some major neck mass from the pre-rut/rut and you could be looking at a very impressive animal.

Unless you are shooting 160 class deer on a regular basis and have your heart set on something bigger OR if you are in an area where larger bucks are in abundance I wouldn't pass him up so quickly.

Get another look at him with some other deer. If he makes a big doe look small or a 2-3 year old buck look small you will know better what you are dealing with.

A buddy and I were looking at a doe feeding in a field and were thinking one for the freezer. It wasn't a really big doe but we were thinking 2-3 years and a good eater. Then a nice big doe 120-140 lbs walked out and we realized how wrong we were. It dwarfed the little guy. I have been looking at deer for 40 years or so and this circumstance just threw me off. The distance was a little farther, the light was behind her etc.

[gitrdun]

Originally Posted by ishootbambi

ok....then ill go ahead and assume that he is plenty big enough for you. thats alright...we all have different goals.

That's exactly what I meant ISB. I've never harvested such a nice WT, not for lack of trying though. I had a monster opportunity though, in the Marten Hills. He was rigt in the middle of the "unmaintained" road that I was travelling on, back to Fawcett Lake. As chance would have it, my hunting partner was one day late coming to the cabin that we had rented on the lake. Had I taken him (legally I migt add), my hunt would have been done and over with. So I decided to pass him up. Much to my chagrin, I saw nothing but does and little dink bucks for the rest of our hunting days on that trip. My partner on the other hand took a respectable buck on our last day, nothing close to the one that I passed up earlier though. Oh well, another day.

[Lefty-Canuck]

I have learned one thing....you have to be preapred to take as good a deer on your first day as you would take on your last....set your goal and stick to it

I have burned way too many white-tail tags waiting for "the one" BUT I am totally ok with that, that what hunting is all about when it come to deer for me. Moose and Elk are another different story though.

LC

[gitrdun]

well said LC. I could literally paint a Christmas tree orange witn my unused tags. But I don't care, t'was the memory of the chase that made it ever so special for me. I always have venison for the BBQ. And when my guests sink their teeth into the fine venison off the grill, none ever ask me what it scored.

[Dunezilla]

I am not a trophy hunter so I could say yes but I try to find one that has a large body, & I seen spiker's & 3 x 3's with larger bodies that some of the 4 x4 or 5 x 6. The meat is why I started hunting back 29 years ago.

That 285 lb White Tail helped that year I was unemployed, as did those 220 lb ones on a few occasions. I helped out a family in need last year with a 200lb one.

So yes I would shoot it.

[Kolt30]

i would shoot him on someone elses land, but if it were on my own i would let em grow another year or two... think of what he COULD look like?????

Thats probably why i havent filled a tag in a couple years....

[JTRED]

Yes, if that buck presented me with a decent shot I would shoot. He's not going to get any better tasting by letting him get older.

[wcbarker]

Originally Posted by Penner

What are your thoughts?

NOPE but tell me where he lives so I can take a pic.

LOL LOL LOL