What's the smallest mule deer buck you would shoot?

[mtmuley]

Mule deer buck is pretty low on my list of table fare. I hunt horns. mtmuley

 

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Colorado says anything over a 5 inch spike is legal, some units I’d shoot a legal spike some units I’ll shoot a 4 or bigger, some others a 4 with brows or bigger.

 

[nickstevens2588]

Mule deer buck is pretty low on my list of table fare. I hunt horns. mtmuley

You got a point. Out of all in the western big game category they arent at the top of my list when it comes to being tastefull. Especially when they get to about 4-5yo.

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[jsb]

Mule deer buck is pretty low on my list of table fare. I hunt horns. mtmuley

Three year old muley buck from central Montana is pretty dang tasty IMO. In the mountains not so much.

 

[beardedbowhunter]

Mule deer buck is pretty low on my list of table fare. I hunt horns. mtmuley

Mine tastes pretty dang good. A lot like sirloin steak. It's all about field care and how you cook it.

 

[mtmuley]

little bucks might taste good. Not for me. mtmuley

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

First legal buck.

 

[30338]

I like plains whitetails better but high country bucks have been tasty too. I'd be trying for a 170" or better.

 

[drtonkin]

Headed back to SD on an OTC archery hunt. Came up empty handed last year, looking for the first legal mulie in range.


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[Gumbo]

I hunt MT public land so I set the bar at about 165 or a buck that I like. I've never shot a good one with a bow so this year I'm aiming for 165 with stick and string.

I guess I want to clarify why that score is what my baseline is. For me, I want an interesting set of antlers to add to my collection. I feel that 165 or so is where it all starts to come together in terms of a cool rack, it simply takes some inches for a deer to have at least one of the features I like, i.e. big forks, mass, NT points, bladed tines, gnarl. And it is a size range that is reasonable, but not common, where I hunt (there is no reason to set the bar so high it is essentially unachievable). The inches typically reflect age, which is what it takes for a deer to get unique characteristics, which makes me interested in adding it to my collection. I will make exceptions though, if I saw a giant 2x2, or a gnarly, heavy 150 3x3 I'd definitely shoot. I don't go by inches in hopes they will be added to my pecker, I cite them because that is where racks usually start to get interesting to me.

 

[juan trueno]

If it’s right I’ll shoot a 3.5 year old. I was hunting with a buddy I hadn’t seen in 3 years this year, and the way it went the buck I shot is 140 type. Crabby 4 point that’s nice and tall as wide as his ears.its The way we found him, how and where he was hiding etc made him the one I wanted to remember the Hunt by.

I really really want a mature (4.5 or older) forkie. 160-170, like mentioned above is where they can start looking pretty intriguing

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Be honest with ya, a cool stalk will do it for me.. there's just something about getting tha shakes that brings out the Wolf instinct to where's I can't not shoot.

Pure brain dead. Like this year i saw a honest 180 day before opener.. told myself I was as gonna chase it till the end of the season. Then his cousin jumped out of the sage 15 yards in front of me 4 hours into the opener and I just had to shoot. Ended up being a decent buck, but shoulda held out. There's next year yeah?

Not sure I'd ever shoot a forky, but if it started mean mugging me or my mind starting wandering back to the 'ol lady and her cooking I'd give him a dirt nap and point the truck home

 

[idahohikker]

I just wanted to say I enjoyed everything about this comment.

 

[4xlarsen]

I kinda see it as a case by case. Wa is a 3 pt min anyways, so for me most of the time, its first legal animal. Id like to get a big old mulie, but like its been said, you cant eat antlers.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Depends on when in the hunt and how its going. My #1 goal at the end of the day is fill the freezer, I hunt for food, all we eat at home for red meat is game that I've harvested. But I try to stack in some meat oriented hunts in the tag list so I have some flexibility when hunting antlered tags.

First 10min of a rifle hunt last year I let a big 3x and 2x walk right by at 150yd, I would have shot either the last day for the meat but I don't regret letting them walk at all because at that point it wasn't what I wanted for the hunt and knew there were some bigger deer around. I did find a nice mature deer but missed unfortunately. A bit later in the hunt I was 20yd from a smaller forkie with his head down and could have killed him with ease but let him go as that still wasn't what I wanted for my hunt, had a couple days left. Again though end of last day I'd have shot that deer. I left the hunt content that I got to find an pursue a nice deer, I blew it, that's on me. I knew I had other hunts coming up and was content. Once I got home the wife pointed out we only had a couple pounds of meat left which I didn't realize so I felt a little bad things didn't pan out and felt the pressure a bit more on the next hunt (which I did fill my tag on which gave some breathing room).

 

[Chad92]

With archery equipment nothing is safe.

 

[CJF]

 

[Rich M]

That lil girl sure looks happy!

 

[mcseal2]

I look for a mature animal. I've passed some really nice bucks that looked young to me. I like the idea of them getting older and getting to breed and spread those genetics. Out of state unless it's a special tag I'm not worried about much more than mature. That goal is hard enough for me to accomplish without adding any other limitations.

I would rather go home without filling a tag than shoot a young one personally. If I don't fill a tag but I gave it my all I get more of a feeling of accomplishment than if I settle on one at this point. I'd just rather keep searching for the big boy and get more hunting time in.

I didn't always feel that way, and I sure didn't before I had one under my belt. I shot a 3x3 on my first muley hunt that's sure no giant, but he was an older deer. I was ready to shoot a couple smaller ones that hunt but my buddy talked me into waiting for something better. Glad he did now, we got more days of hunting in and I learned more from him that way.

 

[Boxerboxer]

I have never had a mule deer tag before. There's no number in my head or concrete idea of exactly what I'm willing to shoot, but if I draw the ND archery tag this year I will try for an older deer, but probably shoot any legal deer unlucky enough to walk by in bow range.