I still tend to look at antlers more than age though I do appreciate a really old buck.

I also really like mass and symmetry so a heavy horned but "low" (relative term, I realize) scoring 8 point still gets me pumped though I might pass depending on how much time I have left to hunt.

BTW, I don't think there's a wrong answer to the question. I agree that beauty should be in the eye of the beholder, and I was just curious what other people react to.

Personally, I'm glad that I still get excited by 130 class deer (not that I have a problem with those who don't) since those tend to be on the larger size of what I usually see.

I'm not real inch crazy anymore. I've been fortunate enough to put some really nice deer on the wall. I don't feel I have to find one that beats the ones I have, I'm just looking for one I like. That being said unless it had something interesting about it, I'll leave a 10 under 160" for my buddies who haven't been as lucky as I have been, and 8's probably have to be over 145 if they are just slick 8's.

I just really like to get out and hunt, and see good deer...don't really need to get bloody anymore, until Walter shows up...

It take a 190"+ to get me excited jk anything over 125 is a good buck where I hunt. A real good buck

Where I hunt a 130 is a monster. My last two bucks were 124 and 128.

I only get jazzed about 300" deer and larger.

If it's a mature deer that gets my heart pumpin, I consider them big.

I'm on a new place this year that has some good ones so I'm holding out until Christmas week or until a no brainer walks out, Whichever comes first.

I am in the same boat. I was lucky enough to kill a 165 inch 10 point this year and i have a nine around 140. Still looking for that eight but itll have to be in the 140s for me to spend that 500 bucks on the mount.

I think the best answer to your question is: A bigger one than my last.

jazzed? how does getting jazzed feel? nevermind i dont want to know. LOL

I'll bet those guys that shot those bucks in the last two pictures had to listen to, "Just think what that buck would have looked like next year!"

it's similar to excited, but much cooler.

it's like when I shot this deer. his left G2 was pretty weak, but since it was split, I decided to go ahead and take him.....as a cull of course.

Right

Over 130 8 points on low fence places are still exciting to me......

Anything with horns is exciting in Red River County

Actually anything that has antlers outside the ears gets me excited, but that is because I hunt mainly in AR counties.

This thread reminds me of the guy that took his big buck into the taxidermist and after dropping off the deer asked the taxidermist to score his rack and be sure to take off the deductions.

The taxidermist then went to the back and was gone for a few minutes and returned with an evelope and handed it to the guy who asked, "what's this in the envelope?" The taxidermist answered back, "Those are your deductions that you asked me to take off!"

130 class deer are small to me so has to be over 130 where i hunt

They were package hunters and I knew the bucks were at least 7.5 years old. I would have posted the whole pictures but forgot to ask their permission to post them. I had been watching them for the last four years.

Funny you mention that because I was thinking about my change in perspective from another deer hunt I went on a couple of years ago.

On that hunt, 300 was good but not great. Of course, those deer were the elk variety and it was a limited entry unit. For that matter, I saw a handful that went that big and bigger but getting into bow range was a different matter altogether. Great memories though.

When it looks big without binoculars

So sick of BC score and think it has started to ruin hunting.

That's interesting...mind if I ask why? And just so there is no confusion, I'm not flaming, or degrading, or anything else negative, just curious.

Measuring deer, while not the end all be all, at least gives me a reference for discussion. Don't get me wrong, I don't do contests, and have never tried to get one in the "book", but I do like to measure them, with a tape on the ground, or with my eye on the hoof. The reference it provides allows me to answer questions like the one the OP posed. It's much harder and more ambiguous to say "a big framey deer with a lot of mass", than to give a range of measurements. More cold, but also easier to understand.

I still get excited when I see a doe! I just like watchin'em but it takes 140 to make me pick my gun up any more.(I'd probally miss him from shaking to much but I'd still throw lead.)

B&C has it's limitations as well. I have seen deer that score over 200" that just look like total [censored]. likewise, I have seen deer that score under 160" that look amazing. for me, I would take a 160" 8 point over a 230" freak non typical where you can barely tell it's a whitetail rack anyday of the week.

B&C score and getting license to breed whitetail. These two things have really screwed up the people that just want to go out hunting and take a deer that they think is good. I think it has really hurt a lot of "Outfitters" as to the amount of money it takes to get a deer to what is now considered a trophy. Hopefully it will all come to a head as I think there are a lot more hunters out there that just want to hunt than there are the ones with the fat wallets that can afford the "Trophies".

X2

Well, if I'm hunting on one of my two Hill Country places I get excited just to see a mature deer, regardless of it's antler size.

On my S. Tx. lease it's a whole other story. It's common to see deer in the 120's to 140's and don't do much for me. Of course I've seen what else is out there so I'd have to say anything over 150.

Although last weekend I spent 3 days at the lease and every hunt got to watch a really nice 4.5 yo 9pt that has an amazing rack. Over 20" wide, great mass and long main beams. If he only had about 3 more inches on his tine length. As he is he'll score in the mid 140's.

Trophy and measurements aren't near as linked as many think. I've guided lots of guys who weren't at all interested in measuring their deer, and it was a trophy to them. To me the measurements are just a metric that I can use to accurately describe the deer. It's a useful tool.

Yeah, useful in determining how much you gotta pay for that buck. LOL