that deer is 200. Id have it offically scored.. not Texas BG scorer scored… that guy is always easily 2” low

where is the elk?

Not going to have it officially scored and never had most of them officially scored(except 2 mule deer to verify my score and neither of them were 2" off). I scored that buck and happy with the score.... that is all that matters. Will never be an elk on my wall since I won't ever kill one.

My heart rate. I'm out there to kill a big bodied, mature, heavy horned buck with tall tines and a good spread. Each year it takes one a little bigger to get my heart rate up. The great memories, thrilling stories for me to retell, excitement to be relived, etc. comes from the good bucks, not from shooting does for food. I do sometimes shoot does for the freezer, but it does nothing for my hunting satisfaction.

Where are the stags? Btw, you should have a spotted pig up there.

Bunch of giants, STX. Curious how many of those are LF vs HF?

Now you got me curious as well.

I look at the antlers first try to determine how many points and how wide. Are the brow tines long, short or does the deer not have them. Age and size do come into play as well. Like most the antlers and size of the deer overall makes a difference as well. Having said that I have 2,10 pointers on the wall and an 8. The 8 pointer probably means more to me because of everything involved when I did get him.

Two different hunting criteria between WI and TX

In WI its all about winning the Big Buck Contest. Winners only, and that means something different every year.

In TX, I'm looking for certain stags that I'm tired of feeding. After stags, it's mature does with no fawns. To shoot a buck, it has to be special. Wide, tall and good mass, something that probably won't improve much more with age. Such a buck I have not found yet

We can all agree that STX Ranchman has a magnificent display of many trophies but let's bring this one back to topic, "do you have a mental checklist when decisioning to kill not harvest a whitetail buck" and what is on it and order of priority. What say THF???

I have shot five true trophies on my lease during the 17 previous seasons. One was somewhat of a consolation prize as he was the fourth best buck in the pasture that season. Sausage is sausage and we engage in a bottom up mentality with the intent on leaving the future to the better looking among the herd. Neither management "trophy" buck or taking a true trophy every year is just not my style.

I'd still like for him to answer DocHorton so we can fully understand his perspecitve. Of the mounts displayed, were all low fence?

Think we know what the answer likely is but who really cares...

Age is the utmost priority with me, especially on our MLD ground. I don't like shooting immature bucks, as I'll shoot a doe before doing that.

You may never be able to understand his perspective. Never have I seen such an experienced, focused and all consumed outdoorsman.

thats not perspective. He has two 200” LF Texas deer. One he passed as 4 year old and killed as 7 year old, thats a perspective.

That pronghorn on the wall, he passed 5 bucks to find right age, That was 5-6 year old pronghorn, which is decline for pronghorns, thats perspective.

His last mule deer was 187. He passed it two years in a row, thats perspective

Not to answer for him but the question both you are asking isn't about perspective in what he takes, he wont shot young and will eat tags. He drew the epicenter of Mule deer tags in TX and ate it because they didnt find a mature buck, they saw big 170 plus but not mature. Thats perspective

Ranchman's individual perspective is not what I was asking to, it's the THF's "mental checklist"......

Stxranchman I have been impressed over the years at the frequency that members have acknowledged your prowess in our outdoor passion and I must say these photos give credibility to their acknowledgement of your expertise!!!!

However I do question your engineering judgement as I believe a collection of this magnitude could seriously compromise the structural integrity of your home, I have attached a picture of my best where consideration for the safety of my family was a priority




All kidding aside you are an amazing dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And when provided, it's relevant if they are a breeder, high fence ranch manager, purist, meat hunter, or a mix. We talk about where we hunt, when we hunt, if we feed protein, cotton seed, bow, rifle, etc. Someone posts a target of a really tight group and willingly provides the range, rifle, load recipe and optic. A wall of trophy deer, HF/LF is a relevant question that shouldn't require an explanation or apology.

Of course it is. You aren't the arbiter of one's perspective.

Then don't answer for him.

Obviously he has a wealth of experience killing big deer. I'm sure there are others who are curious of the type of hunting he does and how he does it, if we are to learn something. It is relative to the discussion in this thread.

for bucks, age it as being fully mature, then determine whether it would be classified as a trophy or a cull by the antlers ... as my dad used to say, "you can't eat the horns" ... also depends on where I am hunting as I have a number of places I hunt from east to central to west TX, all have different categories and body size aging differences.

On my place it's all about age. I want them 6.5 or older. I did pass on a buck this year that met the age group but was lacking in antlers and I was lacking in give-a-dam on a cold wet day. If intact, he wouldn't have scored in my top 5, but would have been a pretty 13" wide 125" Mills county 10 with nice chocolate antlers. However, his right beam was broken just past his G3 (and later re-broken just above his dog catcher). He was with a doe and didn't notice me drive up for several minutes. I stared at him, he stared back. I had a rifle but not a knife in the truck and it was about 30 minutes to last light. I'm 95% sure if I'd had the knife, he wasn't broke up, and it wouldn't have been raining, I'd have shot him simply because he was a healthy, heavy, mature whitetail of which I'd have been proud.

Good news is he's still alive and is now in my top 2 known targets for next year.

For me

AGE
The Look of the rack - don't like too many stickers nor pencil horns; value symmetry overall
Body size
Total BC

ohhh so its not about his perspective its about yours…. he has never posted a perspective in picture or take, with preference to either. He is obviously indifferent which is no secert. That wall isnt weighted either way FWTW

so what does a fence have to do with his experience or perspective then? does it degrade the deer he has taken that dont fit your mold? Does it make his experience more or less note worthy? your point in bring it up is to do what to his perspective or preference?

Wrong. I know my perspective, it's interesting to know the perspective of others. Had his point of view been close to my own, I would find it more relevant to how I hunt. There's no need to defend him.

"There's no need to defend him." Yeppers, pretty spot on there.