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Wish I'd never heard of scoring deer.

4K views 35 replies 31 participants last post by  longknife 
#1 ·
Why am I so hung up on deer scores now. When I hear of a 115 killed now I hardly even get excited. Growing up (I'm 40), when I heard of a buck killed and heard it was an 8 point I automatically thought MONSTER. An 80 inch 6 point my uncle had mounted was a beast when I saw it. Several years ago I mounted a 116 9 point because 1 he was the biggest deer I had ever seen. And 2 I was certain I'd never see another one bigger. Since then I skull mounted a 120. Shoulder mounted a 130. And last week killed a beautiful 125 8. Not rich and can't swing another mount so I'm skull mounting him too. I love hunting and the day I pass 120 in deer just cause they aren't big enough I may as well quit. Unless my 3 year old is hunting by then. It would be different if regularly saw more 120+ deer I reckon. I usually measure deer while he's still on wheeler. Have taken a tape hunting before too. FYI that's a jinx. Pity party over. I love to guess scores and see how close I am too. Freaking addicting.
 
#2 ·
I agree with man. I let those inches get me all wrapped up sometimes when I'm huntng in Illinois more so than back home. I passed a 140"ish deer earlier this year because I knew there was a giant 8pt walking in those woods. Well I never saw my big 8 or the 140 again. (side note - I'm going back after them when I get back to the states) The most feeling of accomplishment I've ever had from a deer was a 115" (maybe) 7 pt that I killed last year. It was my first buck from my own land and I doubt I ever get more excited about a buck in my life. At least until my little girl gets one.
The truth is though I'll still take to the woods looking for more inches.
 
#3 ·
I am glad you posted this. Too much is put on age and score. It takes all the enjoyment out of hunting for Most people, not all. I am lucky to get to kill a buck much less a 120" deer here in the south where we hunt. I see all of this RAGE about "Coast Hunters" Taking over all the National Forests, WMA's and such in the delta and it just burns me up. If I ever get to hunt up there, I will shoot the first LEGAl buck I see because it will be my biggest buck to date. I will enjoy it while I do it. People get too involved in HORN PORN that it is ruining the fun of hunting.
 
#5 ·
Couldn't agree with you more. In my opinion all the inches and trophy status has ruined the essence of deer hunting and started all this high fence and breeding crap to try and get a monster buck. It is so much more than that.
 
#6 ·
In my opinion, it is ruining this sport. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy killing nice deer. Notice I said nice because I can't seem to kill a "big" deer, despite having a 150" and two 140"s mounted. I also have a 125" 10 and a 130" 9 mounted, however, in the past several years, I have skull mounted several 130" deer and just finished a skull mount on a 140" that I killed with my bow. I refuse to do anymore shoulder mounts unless they are over 150". So I say all of that just to say that I have been both blessed, and ruined by horn porn. My 10 year old son killed a 125" 10 point last week and we are skull mounting him because he doesn't meet the "new" shoulder mount requirements (that I created). So I am as guilty as anyone BUT I am starting to realize how it is negatively affecting the sport. Don't know what to do to change it, so I'm going Duck hunting. No measurements there.
 
#7 ·
I hunt on a 400 dollar a yr. club . Over 32 YR. of coaching high school football(retired) I have taken deer from 27 counties . My best deer are a 141 , 133, 123 . As a rule of thumb I take one state legal buck , two does and then hunt horns . I have never owned a camera, or put out a feeder . I drive a school bus and was off last week (thanksgiving break) . I hunted 32 hrs. . and saw one doe ! there are many on this site that will never see a buck that will score 100 . For those that do , be thankful for the luxuries .I have coached kids that have taken five 150 class bucks before getting in to high school . they don't know what a scrape or rub is , much less how to dress a deer . Fame and fortune is a bad combination for the dumb and confused .LOL .Hope to get an 90 class buck this yr . , but it want be easy .
 
#8 ·
The difference is years ago we all hunted deer. If a big buck was killed you can rest assured that nobody had a clean shot at him in his life. These days most good bucks have been passed up lots of times, we've went more into deer farming than hunting.

That being said, I'm not saying it's easy to kill them, just saying we are raising a lot more of them and bigger ones also.
 
#12 ·
to me score is just a reference point to give an idea of the size of a rack. i too remember, and i'm not even 30, when any 8 pt killed may go on the wall. i have now tried to get into shooting more based on age and improving habitat on our place. and for me, i probably love the overall aspect of managing and hunting the deer more than i used to enjoy just the hunting. but the killing of just "any ol' deer" doesn't do it for me like it used to.
 
#13 ·
delmar said:
to me score is just a reference point to give an idea of the size of a rack. i too remember, and i'm not even 30, when any 8 pt killed may go on the wall. i have now tried to get into shooting more based on age and improving habitat on our place. and for me, i probably love the overall aspect of managing and hunting the deer more than i used to enjoy just the hunting. but the killing of just "any ol' deer" doesn't do it for me like it used to.
+1

Score is just a way to describe a rack but it doesn't always tell you everything....to me it's as much about the age and how big of a frame the rack carries....2 of the mounts I have aren't close to each other score-wise---one is 140" and one is 128" but the 128" is basically a giant 6 pt and the 140" is a straight 12 pt....the 6's frame absolutely dwarfs the 12....I love a buck with a big frame.
 
#14 ·
it sucks explaining to your kid that even though you would love to shoot it, show your pic at school and haul him around town, he just aint big enough so we can video it. [blush]

Then again, I ain't for shooting every young buck that walks by.

I sure don't have an answer, but I know I don't have as much fun as I used to. Guess I am too old to be fueling an ego. I was dang happy to kill a nice deer with my bow. It was nice to see one and just shoot it because it was nice. I had no idea he was as big as he was. I did not break the calculator out on him when I saw him. Just knew he better duck if he wanted to be around for Christmas.
 
#15 ·
I almost exactly parallel what EAGLE 1 wrote, except the coaching part. [biggrin] I haven't changed the way I hunt much in 35+ years. It's still extremely fun to me, whether I get a doe, buck or nothing at all, sometimes. Although some of the things that go along with scoring and "horn porn" bother me, I'm not gonna knock it (too much). However, it does bother me when I hear people admitting that it's taken some of the fun out of it for them. I do think it is hurting our youth hunters. The day that it's not fun for me any more is the day I quit...........and I pray to God, that day never comes. [crying]
 
#16 ·
shaneb said:
I am glad you posted this. Too much is put on age and score. It takes all the enjoyment out of hunting for Most people, not all. I am lucky to get to kill a buck much less a 120" deer here in the south where we hunt. I see all of this RAGE about "Coast Hunters" Taking over all the National Forests, WMA's and such in the delta and it just burns me up. If I ever get to hunt up there, I will shoot the first LEGAl buck I see because it will be my biggest buck to date. I will enjoy it while I do it. People get too involved in HORN PORN that it is ruining the fun of hunting.
. Horn porn is not ruining the dang sport. Why do y'all think that?? Just like the rest of world, things change with time and shooting deer that aren't mature or have reached their maximum potential is one of those things that has changed and it's changed for the better of our sport too. Let's put it in Laymans terms. A man wants to make as much money as he can working,and a deer hunter wants to kill the biggest deer he can while deer hunting. It's all relevant. For me, my enjoyment comes in watching my deer grow from year to year which includes feeding them, taking their pics and videoing them. I shoot about 15-20 does a year on several different DMAP tracts so I get my food from management. If I shot every buck I saw that met the minimum, I'd have a house full of horns and for me there is just no enjoyment in that. I guess it's just different strokes for different folks. Once you have a place to yourself that you can manage and reap the benefits, then you'll see my point.

Here is a prime example of a 3 yr old that got passed on thanksgiving. In 2 yrs, he will be a beast. Now if a kid wanted to shoot him on my place, then it would be a different ball game. Grown men on the other hand, should make a pass on this deer and give the animal and opportunity to reach full maturity

 
#17 ·
Deer scoring is what you make it. I personally like how things have kinda moved towards scoring. Back in the day if you saw a 18 inch deer you automatically pulled the trigger. These days a rack is looked over much harder than that as far as tine length and mass. Yes I do agree that some people look down on others as far a score but the oldest and smartest deer in your woods may be a 7 1/2 year old 8 point that will go 120. I look at score a lot but #1 on my list is a deers maturity and age.
 
#19 ·
Passing young bucks isn't something that started in the last couple years. I know folks that were letting small bucks walk 30 years ago.
Having said that, I don't pay much attention to the ones who are only hung up on "score". Those people usually don't know squat about deer anyway.
 
#20 ·
For me a score is for football , baseball, basketball , but that's just me. It's pretty neat to guess at the scores of deer , we don't get hung up on that. Not knocking anybody that does, that's their choice. First and foremost I want to have a good time in the field, I want to share and make memories with family and friends. If we kill a animal , great, if we don't that's ok to. In years past we have put pressure on ourselves to kill a good deer, not anymore if he breaks 85 great, if he don't that's great to, as long as he is legal. Enjoy reading the stories and seeing all the pictures no matter the size. It's suppose to be a good experience, make it fun , don't make it about the kill or the size of the rack. JMO
 
#21 ·
It has ruined me. During college I had a lot of time to hunt and killed multiple mature bucks over 120" and several more over 110". Well I have now transplanted to southeast MS and can't even get motivated to hunt... I know there is virtually zero chance of me even seeing a buck that comes close to what I have been accustomed to killing the past 7 years. I've already saw 3.5 and 4.5 year old bucks that have been killed on the public land around here that I would have passed up on my old stomping grounds. Heck, saw a jawbone the other day that had 5.5 written all over it and the dang buck only had a 12" spread and like ~16" beams.

Bring on turkey season!
 
#22 ·
deerhunt1988 said:
It has ruined me. During college I had a lot of time to hunt and killed multiple mature bucks over 120" and several more over 110". Well I have now transplanted to southeast MS and can't even get motivated to hunt... I know there is virtually zero chance of me even seeing a buck that comes close to what I have been accustomed to killing the past 7 years. I've already saw 3.5 and 4.5 year old bucks that have been killed on the public land around here that I would have passed up on my old stomping grounds. Heck, saw a jawbone the other day that had 5.5 written all over it and the dang buck only had a 12" spread and like ~16" beams.

Bring on turkey season!
Welcome to the dirty south end of the state! Folks wonder why we travel to the delta for a chance at a decent deer don't have a clue unless they've been down here to experience hunting the monarchs of pine COMB country. Sure, there's nice deer around every now and then but I can see more and bigger bucks in a week of delta hunting than I can a 4 month season down here.
 
#23 ·
Can't really debate on this much, but I will say one thing. I would rather kill a 6 year old 100" buck than a 150" 3 year old buck. To me it means more that I outsmarted a wise, old, knows every trick in the book buck than kill a buck that I can say scored xxx and have all the people that have no idea who I am say oh man you killed a hoss. I'm proud of every buck I kill regardless of score.
 
#24 ·
dublelung said:
Welcome to the dirty south end of the state! Folks wonder why we travel to the delta for a chance at a decent deer don't have a clue unless they've been down here to experience hunting the monarchs of pine COMB country. Sure, there's nice deer around every now and then but I can see more and bigger bucks in a week of delta hunting than I can a 4 month season down here.
They have no clue...I knew it wasn't too great down here, but had no clue it is as bad as it is.

I am guilty of knocking 'coast trash' on my old stomping grounds. Now I completely understand why they make the trip, as I will be making the same trip a couple times this month!
 
#25 ·
deerhunt1988 said:
It has ruined me. During college I had a lot of time to hunt and killed multiple mature bucks over 120" and several more over 110". Well I have now transplanted to southeast MS and can't even get motivated to hunt... I know there is virtually zero chance of me even seeing a buck that comes close to what I have been accustomed to killing the past 7 years. I've already saw 3.5 and 4.5 year old bucks that have been killed on the public land around here that I would have passed up on my old stomping grounds. Heck, saw a jawbone the other day that had 5.5 written all over it and the dang buck only had a 12" spread and like ~16" beams.

Bring on turkey season!
Turkey hunting sucks here too!!![rofl]
 
#26 ·
deerhunt1988 said:
It has ruined me. During college I had a lot of time to hunt and killed multiple mature bucks over 120" and several more over 110". Well I have now transplanted to southeast MS and can't even get motivated to hunt... I know there is virtually zero chance of me even seeing a buck that comes close to what I have been accustomed to killing the past 7 years. I've already saw 3.5 and 4.5 year old bucks that have been killed on the public land around here that I would have passed up on my old stomping grounds. Heck, saw a jawbone the other day that had 5.5 written all over it and the dang buck only had a 12" spread and like ~16" beams.

Bring on turkey season!
Might be time to go back and get a PhD.[biggrin]
 
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