- How do you describe this buck to your buddies on the internet with no picture? A small 4.
- How do you describe how many points it has?He looks like a crabby 4 x 4.
- Is it going home with you?No
- Why/why not?Honestly not that big of a deer that might be interesting to scope out in a few years. If I need something to eat I'll go shoot a white tail doe on the river.
Montana deer questions
- Thread starter mtmiller
- Start date
Nameless Range
Well-known member
There’s still in my core a hunting soul of me - pre-HuntTalk, really pre-Internet even.
There’s no high end glass involved, or deep thought about ballistics or “inches”. It smells like coffee and beer , and doesn’t even know what age class means and it’s never sent a comment in to the government or a game commission. It gets excited by what excites it, shamelessly. It surely doesn’t give a shit about what others think.
I’m more distant from it than when I was 18 but I still feel it every once in a while - particularly this year hunting with my dad - a man largely outside of the Internet, and still living in the hunting world I grew up in.
Maybe it’s Ignorance is Bliss, and maybe it’s a guilty component of the currently developing tragedy of mule deer in Montana - this disregard not only for the potential of an individual animal, but also the bigger picture - folks just filling tags - and damn, I miss it.
3 weeks ago I’d have been real pleased to have taken that deer home. As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t seen one that big in many years outside of those wandering the streets of Helena.
So many folks head East to hunt mule deer, and some may not realize how far some parts of western Montana have fallen.
- Good mule deer buck about as wide as his ears, dark antlers, decent frame. I would probably mention whether or not I would shoot it if given the opportunity.
- 5x5, I count brows/eyeguards unless otherwise directed by regulations. Maybe that little nub on the right counts, but I doubt it.
- Absolutely. In the places I have hunted in MT, I would not hesitate to shoot that buck if I could.
- Bigger than any mule deer I have taken at this point, and I would be very happy with it. I've only killed two mule deer so far.
SAJ-99
Well-known member
I hope to see 4 more inches on the tines and those kickers get to be more pronounced and he add a bunch of mass. Hell, maybe I just hope to see another picture of the thing next year. Like I said though, that is not where I would pace a monetary bet. It was a good moisture year and for that reason he might be 3.5yr, which leads to my hope, but I think that is 4.5yr deer and he is 90% of what he will ever be. He should be glad he made it that long in MT.
I certainly don't know shat and mostly I just want to throw a hand grenade in the room and walk out.
Totally agree, I said the same thing
Alright, but based on what?
Life experience, deer that are going to have big frames will have deep forks at 3.5 and be built to score better than the way he is built. His frame won’t ever get better than mid to upper 160’s, he’s not just going to all of a sudden have 11-12 inch forks, he’s not built like that. I do agree that he might throw a few small cheaters and maybe put on some mass and a few inches on the tines, but mass only ever accounts for an inch or two here and there, 20-inch mass bucks are very rare, he might push 17 in a year or 2 though. Mass measurements are the smallest circumference, light deer 15” per side, heavy deer 17”, rare to get mass 18”+. Might gross over 170” one day with cheaters and such, or might just stay a 155” deer, have seen both happen. I spend a lot of time in the woods during and outside of season and have got to see the way different deer develop, some as old as 8.5-9.5.
Yeah but guys are predicting score 2 to 3 years down the road. Awesome man. mtmuley
SAJ-99
Well-known member
I said it was a Booner? LOL. I find the picture tough to judge because there is literally nothing to gauge body size on other than blades of grass. I'm basically going with those guesses from experienced people. In the field I just look at a deer and immediately just say shoot/no shoot. That is a nice deer. People that have time to analyze the thing from 10 different angles probably have a different style of hunting. I have a tough time even getting pictures of things. I would love pointers on that.
Agree, this thread is total bs.
Bambistew
Well-known member
Plot twist, this buck is 7 years old....
@Ought Six , I agree for the most part, I don't think he's even 155 tho. 170 would be cool. He'd have to dodge some bullets or dislike the ladies for that to happen
Sorry if I derailed the original intent of this thread...
Sorry if I derailed the original intent of this thread...
I would describe it as a solid 5 X 5 with a spread the width of his ears (~ 22”)
Yes, I would shoot this one, because (if I had seen him) it would have been the biggest deer I’ve seen in quite a while here in Montana. But, at the same time … let him live and hope he passes on his genes.
Yes, I would shoot this one, because (if I had seen him) it would have been the biggest deer I’ve seen in quite a while here in Montana. But, at the same time … let him live and hope he passes on his genes.
I don't want to shoot "nice" mule deer. mtmuley
Derek44
Well-known member
Keep Hammering
- How do you describe this buck to your buddies on the internet with no picture? Average 5 point as wide as his ears with a crabby front
- How do you describe how many points it has? 5 point
- Is it going home with you? No
- Why/why not? He’s just an average buck
