Do you REALLY care what a buck scores??
11-16-2004, 08:54 PM
#11
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 287
RE: Do you REALLY care what a buck scores??
I like the meat, but I hunt for the rack. It's kind of like going for a 6lb bass over a 1lb bass.
I enjoy the challenge of eluding the usually smarter, older trophy bucks.
.
It's not really disrespectfult because I only shoot what I plan to mount. I actually think it's more respectful because it'ds not the "it's brown it's down" theory.
I believe each persons ideal of a trophy is different. A new hunter may feel a doe is a trophy. The next year just getting anything with horns may be a trophy. Then a 16" may by a trophy and so on.
I am to the point where I won't shoot and arrow if it's under seventeen inches wide, but I certainly was just as excited shooting my first basket rack buck.
I just try to increase my personal best from season to season. I think we all do this weather it's a golf score, big fish, or bowling game, or whitetail hunting.
Cybersniper
I enjoy the challenge of eluding the usually smarter, older trophy bucks.
You are so correct. It is kind of disrespectful to the animal you just harvested
It's not really disrespectfult because I only shoot what I plan to mount. I actually think it's more respectful because it'ds not the "it's brown it's down" theory.
I believe each persons ideal of a trophy is different. A new hunter may feel a doe is a trophy. The next year just getting anything with horns may be a trophy. Then a 16" may by a trophy and so on.
I am to the point where I won't shoot and arrow if it's under seventeen inches wide, but I certainly was just as excited shooting my first basket rack buck.
I just try to increase my personal best from season to season. I think we all do this weather it's a golf score, big fish, or bowling game, or whitetail hunting.
Cybersniper
11-16-2004, 08:55 PM
#12
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 239
RE: Do you REALLY care what a buck scores??
I don't really care what he scores but its nice to have a common measuring stick to be able to talk to other hunters so they can get a better picture of what your saying etc. Thats prolly why gross is the more popular number, to talk about all the bone they grow, not what they don't grow symetrically. Besides, its fun too, you can bug your buddy....or he can bug you. My buddy arrowed a 3 point muley that grosses just under a 100" so we says it part of the spoon and cricket club...its fun.
B
B
11-17-2004, 05:28 AM
#16
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location:
Posts: 11,472
RE: Do you REALLY care what a buck scores??
I could care less about the actual # it scored. I do let a lot of the small guys walk in search of Mr. Big, but it's all about the hunt for me. This may sound strange, but to me a small buck that you harvested that gives you a great story or memory is much more of a trophy than a 160 class buck that comes down the trail stops 10 yards broadside and you kill it.
I have a small 6 pointer mounted (as well as some monsters
) that I only had mounted cause it was the best hunt of my life. To make a longgggggg story short....8 years ago I still hunted (ended up crawling on my belly) this guy all day. I saw where he bedded down and I crawled to about 50 yards of where he was laying and I myself laid there on my stomach allllll day long waiting for him to get up and browse so I could get a shot. He did NOT move until about 30 minutes before dark. Then finally he got up and came out behind the thick nasty crap and poked his vitals out into a shooting lane. 9 hours or so later I harvested him. Lot more to the story than that but that's the short version. Now that is what it's about for me.
Oh yeah I think he scored 85 1/8" or so.
I have a small 6 pointer mounted (as well as some monsters
) that I only had mounted cause it was the best hunt of my life. To make a longgggggg story short....8 years ago I still hunted (ended up crawling on my belly) this guy all day. I saw where he bedded down and I crawled to about 50 yards of where he was laying and I myself laid there on my stomach allllll day long waiting for him to get up and browse so I could get a shot. He did NOT move until about 30 minutes before dark. Then finally he got up and came out behind the thick nasty crap and poked his vitals out into a shooting lane. 9 hours or so later I harvested him. Lot more to the story than that but that's the short version. Now that is what it's about for me. Oh yeah I think he scored 85 1/8" or so.
11-17-2004, 06:26 AM
#17
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 7,208
RE: Do you REALLY care what a buck scores??
yes and no. I think being able to correlate the score to a known size in my head allows me to understand how big a deer someone shot. I just look at it as counting points. Its just a number that gives a description of the rack.
Now as far as what I will shoot, I don't care what it scores, just how it looks. If it is nice looking to me, I'll shoot it. I won't shoot something much smaller than what I already have, unless it has some sort of uniqueness to it, as in the case of my buck this year. I am also trying to shoot older bucks, regardless of rack size.
Now as far as what I will shoot, I don't care what it scores, just how it looks. If it is nice looking to me, I'll shoot it. I won't shoot something much smaller than what I already have, unless it has some sort of uniqueness to it, as in the case of my buck this year. I am also trying to shoot older bucks, regardless of rack size.
