Previous thread and my current circumstances beg the question. Target deer you have had your sights set on since before season. Opportunity arises and the deer has broken up a bit, do you shoot and have the taxidermist fix it? Does it matter how broke or how big the deer is?

What are everyone’s thoughts?

Missing a piece or part of one point, I'm likely still letting lead fly, more than that, I'm looking for something else...

Similar line of thought to DQ. If it’s 4” of antler or less it’s easy for the taxi and pretty hard to distinguish when looking at the mount.

Up until a few years ago we used to have a condition that if a deer was 7.5 or older then we would shoot even with major damage as that is the natural point where we see a lot of mortality on our ranch. However, we’ve since shifted to letting them walk as we’ve allowed enough mature deer to age where we can shift focus to other targets and still are likely to have success and the payoff of seeing a super old familiar face next year beats killing him broken this year.

Example of minor damage:




Example of major damage that we used to take if 7.5 plus but now let walk:

I let the big ones walk if they bust something off. I’d rather someone tag the deer the following year with the rack intact than pay a taxidermist to turn it into a replica that is something more than it actually was when tagged.

If he's big, I'm not going to pass if he has broke a tine. I let the taxi fix it. He grew it, I can fix it. I have several on the wall that had broken brows and had the fixed.

I hate to see and kill a deer that’s broke. However, I have no problem getting them fixed if it’s easily doable. Everyone can be different on this but generally to me the mount is a display of the animal and what he was. If he grew it then I want to remember and honor him in that condition. Obituaries dont usually show pics of a bedridden and dying old person.

Had a busted up big bodied buck sitting in the field tending a doe and got within 45 yards, coulda put an arrow thru him if he was whole. His left side was busted up really bad. Dodnt think the taxi could make it work as much damage as he had.

Had he been whole i would have made a much stealthier stalk up to him rather than just walking up to them….

yeah and you never would've gotten that close

Of course everyone's different but I kinda like leaving them the way they are. I passed my trophy buck last year when he was whole, only to shoot him later when he was broke off.

I drove up to within 45 yards confirmed by rangefinder. And walked up to 25 yards to her. If i wanted to be more stealthy i could have crawled thru the tall grass and he wouldn’t have known any better. As it was it was just a “lets see how this goes”. If i really wanted him, i might have made it happen. Lots of ways to get there other than just walking in like i did.

Deer notice it when your “posture” changes. They know the look.

I never have and never will understand “fixing” broken antlers. I mount it the way it was when I shot it. How else makes sense? It’s like falling in love with a woman and spending a bunch of money in plastic surgery to make her something she never was, or something younger. Oh, you don’t like what she really is, suddenly, so you’re going to buy your way into something you couldn’t achieve, otherwise. While you’re “fixing” those antlers, why not add a few inches? Same concept, right? Fake is fake. Go for broke! At least that mount won’t leave you for another man when its antlers are “fixed.”

We do tend to think alike amigo, I agree.

Because you’re real. You’re genuine. Most people around here know that. That’s what I don’t understand about fake antlers and fake tits, in this place.

Real is real. Anything else is fake. Might sound dumb to the silicone and Apoxie Sculpt crowd, but really what else is there? If you’re going to fake it, why not fake it all the way? If you can fake a busted off 7” of antler, then why not fake another 10” of antler that never was? People are just so fake. I don’t get it. This shouldn’t even be a discussion. You killed what you killed. Leave it at that.

Interesting to see the different opinions, I passed on what would have been my biggest deer to date. Showed up missing about ten inches of G3 on his right side. Picture two days before he was intact. Hopefully I will have a chance at him next year.

I have an older Cousin that consistently kills bigger deer than I ever have and he gives two [censored] about the horns, he'll never get one mounted. Age & score means nothing, all about the memories & meat/cooking. If he don't cut the antlers up for something he'll just stick that big azz deer's head on a steel fence post out back and not care about it. They don't shoot does on their place, bucks only, and man they shoot some good ones. I've killed a lot of deer in my life but no "big ones" to really brag about. He kills bigger deer than me and don't care about the trophy one damn bit.

I had one come by Saturday evening with one side missing. I would have probably put him in the freezer, but I never had a shot that I was happy with. I did get to watch him for several minutes. He ran across a hay field to a ground scrape, and examined it for a few minutes before moving on.
My neighbor saw him again Monday.
My brother decided to change Tower Stands Sunday afternoon. While he was at the tower stand on the North East corner of the property, a buck made a ground scrape about 75 yards from his regular stand on the South East corner. Today is the last day of the Missouri Regular Firearms season. I have to work about three hours this morning to cover a doctors appointment. After I get home from work, I plan to spend the rest of the day in the South East Stand and see if I can see who made the scrape. I am betting on the buck with one antler broken off.

This has been one unusual deer season. I have not seen a single Tree Rub so far. Bucks are just now, "Last Week End" starting to make Ground Scrapes. We are seeing does everywhere, but bucks have been scarce.

Bob R

Wow. Comparing plastic surgery to change a person “FROM their original condition” to fixing antlers so they go “BACK TO” their original condition. Complete opposites!!
That’s got to be the most backward comparison I’ve ever heard.
No problem whatsoever when someone doesn’t want to return a buck to his original rack that he grew in all its glory.
If someone had a wreck and lost a limb I guess you would call it fake or not genuine if they wanted to replace it.
I can’t even believe I took time to point these obvious things out.
Fix or don’t fix but fixing isn’t changing what the buck grew.
I can’t even stop-is it fake to fix a fender bender on a car?

Well, isn’t the discussion is about trophy racks?

My old man found a way to shoot off 4 tines. I got them fixed for him. He was happy, and I realized he was no longer allow to use his sporterized 1903 and hunt by him self. I thought he was in a battle with the cartel.

I shoot a deer as part of the experience of the hunt and not to impress anyone else so I prefer to keep it exactly the condition it was in when I pulled the trigger. That’s just me so I won’t judge anyone else for what they do.

I would leave it as it is when it hits the ground. I am more in favor of the natural state. Deer live rough lives and they get banged up and that is part of their appeal for me.

This is a pretty good 8 pt from PA I shot when hunting with an old Navy buddy. For that area and at that time, this was considered a very good buck. He was a fighter and had a couple of points busted off.


In memory of a good hunt with a good friend I had the buck mounted as it was. I have never regretted that decision. When I look at that mount I see the deer that I killed and not a repair job. But to each his/her own.

I guess I don’t have a firm opinion on one side or the other. Only have one shoulder mount, may never get another, just not where it’s at for me. The mount I do have is the biggest buck I have shot. I shot him with 3 broken tines. Doesn’t bother me at all.