Don’t really care about antlers

[RCB]

I’m curious if anyone else feels the same. I’m new to hunting (two seasons, none of my family or friends hunted growing up), and so far I care very little about big antlers.

Don’t get me wrong: if I were to see two bucks next to each other, both giving a good shot angle, I’d shoot the one with bigger antlers, no doubt. But so far it’s not something I seek out. I watch a lot of hunting shows, and the goal is, of course, always to get the biggest trophy. Makes a lot of sense for very accomplished hunters, but doesn’t add much for me. And Whenever guys start talking about how a buck/bull “scores”, that’s when my eyes really glaze over. (Imagine my confusion the first time someone said they got a 300 inch bull. 300 inches is 25 feet...)

I’m sure part of the reason for this is that I find hunting to be challenging enough already that I don’t need to start passing animals up just yet. I suspect one day that will start to happen, but not yet.

Anyone else feel similar?

 

[KurtR]

I’m curious if anyone else feels the same. I’m new to hunting (two seasons, none of my family or friends hunted growing up), and so far I care very little about big antlers.

Don’t get me wrong: if I were to see two bucks next to each other, both giving a good shot angle, I’d shoot the one with bigger antlers, no doubt. But so far it’s not something I seek out. I watch a lot of hunting shows, and the goal is, of course, always to get the biggest trophy. Makes a lot of sense for very accomplished hunters, but doesn’t add much for me. And Whenever guys start talking about how a buck/bull “scores”, that’s when my eyes really glaze over. (Imagine my confusion the first time someone said they got a 300 inch bull. 300 inches is 25 feet...)

I’m sure part of the reason for this is that I find hunting to be challenging enough already that I don’t need to start passing animals up just yet. I suspect one day that will start to happen, but not yet.

Anyone else feel similar?

Ya from about 12 till 35ish then i got out of the kill the first thing i see phase for deer but for elk if its legal its getting killed on public land. Now if i was hunting a place i knew held alot of elk then i would hold off for a bigger one.

 

[zacattack]

I’m curious if anyone else feels the same. I’m new to hunting (two seasons, none of my family or friends hunted growing up), and so far I care very little about big antlers.

Don’t get me wrong: if I were to see two bucks next to each other, both giving a good shot angle, I’d shoot the one with bigger antlers, no doubt. But so far it’s not something I seek out. I watch a lot of hunting shows, and the goal is, of course, always to get the biggest trophy. Makes a lot of sense for very accomplished hunters, but doesn’t add much for me. And Whenever guys start talking about how a buck/bull “scores”, that’s when my eyes really glaze over. (Imagine my confusion the first time someone said they got a 300 inch bull. 300 inches is 25 feet...)

I’m sure part of the reason for this is that I find hunting to be challenging enough already that I don’t need to start passing animals up just yet. I suspect one day that will start to happen, but not yet.

Anyone else feel similar?

A wise Old man once told me that you can’t eat antlers or tracks. That wisdom has stuck with me for a long time.

 

[willfrye027]

Where I grew up i California, if you passed on a fork you would probably not fill your tag that year. Any legal buck was a trophy. Some of the out of state hunts, if you shot the first legal deer you saw the hunt would be over 5 minutes into opening day. So we hold out and enjoy the hunt looking for a big one. It’s all relative.

 

[RichP]

The wise old man is right. Here is my trophy room!

 

[WCB]

Used to be kinda like that when I first could legally hunt (12) to probably 18 or 19 at that point I started passing lots of deer looking for a bigger one than the last one I shot. I've mostly stuck with that mentality for the last 15 or 16 years. With that said I've shot small bucks or unique bucks. I still shoot does. The problem is if I just shot the first legal animal I had a chance at I would hunt very little because I would be done in a day most likely.

As far as score goes I do speak in score as a frame of reference for how big an animal I saw or shot is. I think it is funny when you ask someone how big of a buck they shot and they just say "10 pointer" or "huge buck it had 17 points" then you see a picture and it is like a 120 inch buck that just has a bunch of stickers. I will say that I can not stand people that carry a tape on them and before any pictures are taken they start measuring inches.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

Depends on my freezer status!!

 

[5MilesBack]

I care more about a bull's attitude than antler size, but from my experience they generally go hand in hand to some extent. I already know whether or not I'm going to shoot or not well before I even see him just based on his attitude and what he sounds like.

 

[camping1601]

I'm in the middle. I get a lot of time to hunt, and only so many tags, so I hold out for something that suits me.

 

[Poser]

I let a small, but legal bull walk this passed season and the. Killed a “big” bull 2 minutes later. It’s antlers are sitting in a pile of antlers in the garage.....

 

[OXN939]

I’m curious if anyone else feels the same. I’m new to hunting (two seasons, none of my family or friends hunted growing up), and so far I care very little about big antlers.

Don’t get me wrong: if I were to see two bucks next to each other, both giving a good shot angle, I’d shoot the one with bigger antlers, no doubt. But so far it’s not something I seek out. I watch a lot of hunting shows, and the goal is, of course, always to get the biggest trophy. Makes a lot of sense for very accomplished hunters, but doesn’t add much for me. And Whenever guys start talking about how a buck/bull “scores”, that’s when my eyes really glaze over. (Imagine my confusion the first time someone said they got a 300 inch bull. 300 inches is 25 feet...)

I’m sure part of the reason for this is that I find hunting to be challenging enough already that I don’t need to start passing animals up just yet. I suspect one day that will start to happen, but not yet.

Anyone else feel similar?

Agreed with this general sentiment- character and cool memories associated with a hunt have much more to do with how much of a "trophy" an animal is than inches of antler.

On the other hand, I'm not about killing spikes and forkies in most circumstances. Part of being a good steward of the resource is letting animals live a full life before you harvest them. Good foresters don't usually take sapling trees.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

ive Been on both sides of it, shoot a couple basket racks and tag out for the season and have two encounters with 140-150 class deer with no tags trying to fill a doe tag, or hold out for a giant and not fill a buck tag just antlerless tags. I’ve been happy with every deer I’ve killed big small or in between, being new I wouldn’t pass anything man.

 

[Dos Perros]

I haven't been doing this my whole life, but I've shot 4 bucks each bigger than the previous. Hope to do the same for elk or other species. I've eaten tags or tagged does along the way, depending on freezer status. I like to hunt and and I like to challenge myself.

 

[dirtytough]

I’m curious about the guys that say they don’t care about antlers. Do you only hunt does or cows out of state then to save money? Save money and the tags are easier to get usually so it’s a win win.

I’ve killed a few nice bulls. The biggest was on day 21 of the hunt. I’ve killed one cow and it was a fun hunt. For me it was fun because my little boy was with me the entire hunt. We saw 200+ elk in a day and a half. Most of the time it’s way way easier to kill an immature male or female of your target species.

 

[idahohikker]

I used to be a meat in the freezer guy. After shooting plenty of smaller animals for me, I've come to relish the challenge of targeting only the mature bucks and bulls.

 

[RCB]

I’m curious about the guys that say they don’t care about antlers. Do you only hunt does or cows out of state then to save money? Save money and the tags are easier to get usually so it’s a win win.

That's what I'm doing this year. Does and cows are cheaper and more available, so I can get more hunting experience that way. Also I got skunked in 2019 so I'm pretty desperate. That being said I'm probably going to build some out-of-state preference points for a bigger hunt in the future.

And, hell, maybe people will be more willing to share their honey holes with me if they know I'm not going for big bucks!

 

[brushape]

I just enjoy hunting and trophy size is all relative really to the specific hunt. Here in my local spots for blacktail I’m going to give it a solid 5 days or so before my trigger finger gets itchy for anything less than a solid mature buck. If I’m out of state and have money on the line with tags and other expenses I usually cover some ground looking at new areas and getting a baseline for what’s in the area before I really settle on a goal


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[RCB]

Follow up question: is "mature" or "old age-class" just a euphemism for "a buck with big antlers"? Let's say you have a (contrived) hypothetical scenario, where you somehow have the option to hunt either a 7 year-old buck with above-average antlers, but perhaps age is getting to him, or a 4 year-old buck that is just a genetic freak of nature. Which do you pick?

 

[Squamch]

I pick the bigger bodied deer.
Bigger bodied deer tend to have bigger antlers. A 4x4 is a rarity where I hunt, many deer never break past a fork. I can get 3 deer tags, and 2 bear tags a year, in my region, so I will shoot the first buck that has forked antlers, and a doe, then look for a big buck. Bears...I want a big one, but if I find an average size one in the middle of a berry patch...he may be in trouble.
Moose and elk...if it's legal I'll shoot.

 

[dirtytough]

Follow up question: is "mature" or "old age-class" just a euphemism for "a buck with big antlers"? Let's say you have a (contrived) hypothetical scenario, where you somehow have the option to hunt either a 7 year-old buck with above-average antlers, but perhaps age is getting to him, or a 4 year-old buck that is just a genetic freak of nature. Which do you pick?

My brother and I hunted archery elk together a few years ago. There were two really nice bulls. One a 7x7 and a bigger 7x8. I ran the numbers in my head when we saw them on the hoof. I figured score wise the 7x7 scored less then the 7x8. I still wanted the 7x7. My brother killed it. I killed the 7x8. My bull broke off one tine and an inch or two off a few others. My bull still scored more broken then my brothers bull. His was 14 years old mine was 7 years old.

A hunter is blessed if they have to make the decision which animal to take if they have multiple quality animals to decide between.