as most have said here that they dont have a managment program in place due to size and other hunting leases around them. i hunt in runnels county where we dont have all the mess a restrictions. a persons trophy is just that one persons trophy. i have had some old wise does that i worked all season to get a shot on and when she went down i took a great pride in her just for the fact i work my butt off tring to get her. last weekend i passed on some small young bucks knowing that they will get bigger and i hope they will, but just because they have a big rack dont make them a trophy, i like to hunt becasue i like it, hunting lets me spend time with my friends and family in a diff. setting. i have given my stand up and hunted with some guys in order to help them just get a deer. last year one of the guys on the places has hunted for deer for the last 6 years and had yet to score. but last year he did it turned out to be a button buck but not one of the guys said anything bad about it, we were all happy that he had gotten one. he did feel bad about it being a button buck so we made him give up some back strap for dinner that night. when i sit in the stand and i see bucks running around i try and get a good guess as to thier age by size and over all look of the deer. not the horn size that a bad indicator. i have been guilty of shooting a young buck that i thought was older but in the time that he was around he did get to breed some, and knowing that i havnt shoot the biggest deer of the place and never will i know that hes still out there breeding. any animal we take should be a trophy to us and be thankful that we had the chance to get out there and just hunt if we get something or not, because so many people dont get this chance, for one reason or another.

If, and that is a big IF and the buck is only showing a single tine whether it's from fighting, getting caught in a fence, or whatever by normal everyday activities and not by busting it off with a hammer, shooting it off with your trusting deadeye rifle or other man-made devices, then YES, it would be a legal buck in those counties.

Game wardens and the biologists can tell if the antler has been broken off by humans or deer and most WILL NOT show pretty white antler at the break.

I totally agree with you CHC. I dont what to make myself look like an idiot but the only buck I have ever taken in the four years I have been deer hunting was a spike that I could not see at dusk. I have meat hunted for the last several years because I was a college student with out the time to hunt a buck. I personally enjoy shooting deer, doe or buck, because I like the hunt, the kill, and the grub. This year I bought my first buck tag and I look forward to harvesting a rack.

Question.

Is there a problem when the rack on the wall becomes more important than meat in the freezer?

Probably several people aren't going to agree with me here, and one of the things about The Forum is that people have the opportunity to agree or disagree, and as we have been told plenty of times by the Moderators, as long as it is done without cussin or calling names.

To answer your question, I feel that way too many people that are out there hunting, or are claiming to be hunters, are really putting way too much emphasis on B&C or Pope & Young, SCI, and all of the other supposed record keeping organizations out there. I mean they have even developed scoring systems for wild turkeys and feral hogs.

To me it seems that a lot of people in our modern society are so bereft of self worth, that they have to try to justify their existence by setting some kind of record.

Hunting is not supposed to be a COMPETITIVE sport. It is supposed to be a way of recapturing human qualities in our age of "Me First, At Any Cost."

I have no problem with people that want to only shoot 150 B&C bucks or bigger, I have a problem when these people think that EVERYBODY else should feel that way, and if you don't, then you aren't a REAL SPORTSMAN.

As I have stated on here several times, those big antlers really aren't going to mean a thing to anybody after the person that killed that animal is dead and buried. Because even if they were in the stand with the shooter, they really don't know what it actually meant to the shooter when they pulled the trigger.

That is one of the reasons why I think Javelina or Feral Hogs are a better first animal for a beginning hunter, because there aren't any antlers for the PEANUT GALLERY to make comments over, and as I have said, I haven't met a single person that isn't impressed with a Javelina's dental work.

Look at how many folks will gather up around the back of a pick-up and even if it is a persons first deer, say stuff like, "I've Let Bucks Twice That Big Walk." The person that says stuff like that has to be some of the sorriest trash there is in MY OPINION. If a person can't congratulate a hunter on their first deer, No Matter The Size, then they should keep their stupid mouth shut.

As usual, I have went off course, and to get back to your original question, if I can remember it, there are people out there that only worry about getting a bigger rack each year, and don't care about the meat. JMO, if you hadn't guessed.

A good ol' for you, CHC.