What do you think this scores?

[DBHAWTHORNE]

It is about meat for me....but that is only a small part of it. The stores I go to don't carry venison. I also choose not to shoot younger deer for the fact that I can get twice as much meat from a mature animal.....and it takes me longer in the woods to find a mature one then a spike or a forked horn.

And  . . . The saying "You can't eat the horns." kills me when people talk about taking young animals at the first chance they get. . . 90% of the time the bigger the horns are, the more meat there is on the animal!  You can almost always find a young and dumb one to take the last few days for meat, but I'm surprised guys don't hold out longer for older animals. 

Growing up we only had a few days out of the year to hunt, and if we could get a deer or two it gives us more meat for the year. I have always shot the first legal buck I see, it can be a 3x3 mulie, a 180" mulie or a 150" whitetail. I could care less either way. To me it's always has been and always will be about being out in the field and being able to provide food for the table. I've shot some good bucks (6x4 mulie that we never had scored and a 5x5 whitetail that scored in the upper 130's) but to me they have the same place in my memory and on my plate as a little 3x3. Just because a animal has a larger rack than a smaller animal does it make it a better hunt? or a better trophy? To me it doesn't and I hope I never get to the point where all i care about is the antlers.

It's not just the antler size as much as it is hunting mature animals. However mature animals often have bigger racks which is a huge bonus. Going after mature animals year after year generally gives me much more field time than if I shot the first legal buck I see. If I did that my hunt would almost always be over the first day and I can't remember a season in over 20 years when I didn't have an opportunity at a legal buck within the first two days. Many seasons it would be over within the first few hours of hunting. Mature animals also usually have larger bodies which is another bonus when it comes to putting food on the table. Some people say they are tough or gamey when they are older but I have found most mature bucks make mighty find table fare.

[SemperFidelis97]

You know I had a nonhunter ask me once why is it all of us hunters talk about is killing the biggest racked animal out there if we say its all about the hunt, and or the meat.  To be perfectly honest I had to take a minute to think then I asked this person what they loved to do in her case it was bowling.  I then asked her why does she bowl she answered for a strike, and why not just throw it in the gutter I asked.  She seemed perplexed so I said very simply we all strive to achieve what we perceive as the pinnacle achievement of our given hobby, or sport.  I may hunt every year for that 400 inch bull, will I ever kill one? probably not.  Its the dream its what gets me out there, and if I fill my freezer with some of the greatest protein god placed on this earth for my family then that a bonus.  Anyways it really doesnt matter what gets us out there every year.  It just matters that we do keeping the tradition alive, or in a couple generations our grandchildren may have no choice other than the local safeway.