Something to think about (I almost lived this last year with my quality deer tag).
I have killed a lot of deer over the years, however I had never really had the opportunity to hunt trophy mule deer in the rut. I told myself I would not kill anything less than a 160" buck. I scouted my but off and saw quite a few really nice deer and a few that were true trophies. I was hunting with a muzzlelaoder and knew I had a great chance a great buck.
Well, day one came and the #1 buck I was scouting was shot by another hunter.
On to plan B. I passed an many bucks that were trophies by my standard...just not 160". Day 4 of a 6 day hunt came with some unforeseen problems, my water pump on the jeep had started leaking. It was today or never as I wasn't ready to kill my jeep for a deer.
I again passed early in the day on some really nice deer. As the sun was setting fast and the deer activity was picking up I couldn't find a decent buck to save my life. I was ready to kill any buck at this point and all that went through my mind was...."why did I pass on so many great bucks?"
Well finally I see a small (and I mean small 3pt buck) buck and decide this is the one. I take the safety off and level the gun. My buddy who was at my side stopped me at the last second (literally I was about to pull the trigger). Coming in behind the small buck was the buck I ended up harvesting. It is the buck in my avatar and is 27 7/8 wide 4x4 with really nice eye guards. It unofficially scores in the upper 150's (can't remember exactly but I think 157 and change).
Morel of the story.....I didn't achieve the goal of a 160" buck. I almost went home is a 70" buck. I learned a lot from this hunt and am still confused as I was before I started hunt.
If you kill a lesser (score wise) animal early you will not have the opportunity to kill a masher. But if you don't kill a lesser animal as the opportunity presents itself, you may not kill an animal (or at least have to settle for a dink).
So the only person that can answer the original question is the hunter. I will never again pass on some of the quality animals I passed on this last year. I almost went home with a dink and that would have sucked. I ended up getting real lucky.
