Montana deer questions

[SAJ-99]

For those calling this a 4 point, how do you arrive at calling it a four point? The brows are scoreable are they not?

No legitimate mule deer hunt looks at the brows. That for the peasant whitetail guys.

 

[Keep on]

They are scoreable, I just go off of the calls I get from the grandma brigade in the spring always asks how many points not counting eye guards.
I was always told if I could hang a ring on a point it counted.
What says the hunttalk brain trust?

 

[DFS]

1. How do you describe this buck to your buddies on the internet with no picture?
2. How do you describe how many points it has?
3. Is it going home with you?
4. Why/why not?

1.&2. Decent 4 point with good eye guards. Not a good buck but kind of nice to see one like we used to.

3&4. My thought process would go “Holy chit that’s a shooter, throw up spotter or binos, oh that’s just a nice deer. Hope he lives, wonder if I should throw a rock at him so he runs to some protected private.”

 

[recon6036]

I went to Montana on my first ever Mule deer hunt and killed a nice 5x5 (10pt’er).

 

[Hem]

Given the status of MD in Montana that buck gets shot by just about everyone hunting....minus some of you above^.
I like the dark horns but would pass.

 

[JT88]

I went to Montana on my first ever Mule deer hunt and killed a nice 5x5 (10pt’er).

Pics or it didn't happen

 

[Jayce37]

1. How do you describe this buck to your buddies on the internet with no picture?
2. How do you describe how many points it has?
3. Is it going home with you?
4. Why/why not?

I’d call it a real nice 5x5 and it’s coming home with me

 

[huntin24/7]

Nice up and comer probably 3 year old 140-150 5x5(still hard for me not to count brows growing up chasing ND whitetails) that needs 1-2 more years. Wouldn’t shoot but a cool buck to see.

 

[Elkoholic]

1. How do you describe this buck to your buddies on the internet with no picture? --> Good looking buck.
2. How do you describe how many points it has? --> 4x4 to my western buds, 10pt to my flatlander buds.
3. Is it going home with you? --> maybe
4. Why/why not? --> depends on circumstances, if I ran out as a NR for 4days and my freezer was empty, I'd harvest him. If I was with a buddy who was excited for him, I'd enjoy watching him harvest it.

 

[Ought Six]

@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...

Well I said 153” in the photo, but might stay 155-ish or could get a little better. Not being contentious just curious why you don’t think he does over 150”?

 

[EYJONAS!]

Hell dump him. Hopefully he's got CWD so you can get another tag anyways.

No in all seriousness....


Pretty buck, fun to watch him.

140s maybe

He's not coming home with me. If my 12 y/o was there he'd probably get a one way ticket home. It's her decision to make.

Would be cool to see him next year.


Lots of people say they'd pass, in the moment though I bet it's a totally different story.

 

[brockel]

Lots of people say they'd pass, in the moment though I bet it's a totally different story.

If a buck doesn’t get my heart going he gets a pass. That buck doesn’t do that at all. Think I’m coming up on 14 years since I last shot a mule deer buck. Maybe I’m just numb anymore. My wife is a different story she’d shoot it in a heart beat. I’m sure my daughter would have no issues next year doing the same.

 

[JT88]

Well I said 153” in the photo, but might stay 155-ish or could get a little better. Not being contentious just curious why you don’t think he does over 150”?

Very shallow crabby forks minus front right, not much for mass. Ear width and not very tall. He's a buck that looks ok at first glance or until you have him next to a big buck

 

[FREAK]

1. Pretty deer with a nice frame. Kind of crabby on his forks. Could be a nice buck in a year or two.

2. 4 point with nice eye guards

3/4. It depends, if I had plenty of time to look him over I’d pass but if he was bounding off in thick timber and I had to make a quick decision who knows. Got fooled this year in a similar deer. He’s right on the edge where he could fool you in the moment. I have a few like that, with those crabs I think 145 is a stretch.

Now I have a couple buddies that would come back with “we saw a giant 175-180ish dark horned deer”. The best was when we finally put tape on one of his “170” inch deer and it went 143. For Montana you see one like that and it’s a good day.

 

[fishing4sanity]

#1 & #2 Decent 4x4 with eye guards
#3 Pretty good chance yes, but not certain
#4 In a typical year of hunting I'll only get 3 to 6 days to hunt total, so that might get this buck in trouble. However, my last deer hunt had a buck very similar that almost got shot, I watched him a bit, made 110% sure the chamber was empty, settled the crosshairs and dropped the firing pin. I watched him keep slowly moving away and felt good about it. I've shot bigger and I've shot smaller, but I've been on a lot of very worthwhile hunts that never included a fired shot.

 

[Werty]

Decent 4pt
Archery yes, traditional muzzleloader yes, rifle no,
Bigger than my last buck.

 

[antlerradar]

I have passed on bigger whitetails and shot smaller elk.

 

[WanderWoman]

1. How do you describe this buck to your buddies on the internet with no picture?
2. How do you describe how many points it has?
3. Is it going home with you?
4. Why/why not?

#1-2: A decent general-area 4x4 with brow tines, as wide as his ears, but not a lot of mass. Not huge but not something to scoff at either.

#3-4: It depends on how memorable the hunt would be. I don’t deer hunt as often as I’d like because I’m always trying to get an elk (meat) first. I haven’t harvested enough mule deer to be super discerning and for me, that would be a nice buck. But there is an inflection point on a supposed graph of hunting effort and experience where before you hit that, if it wasn’t much of one, I wouldn’t. Then there’s another inflection point further to the right where I’m the most discerning trophy hunter in the world to want to pack it out of wherever I decided I was dumb enough to get myself into that day.

He would have been the second-nicest of 3 decent muleys I saw this year though.

@mtmiller sorry I left a guess to the score out, I don’t trust myself yet to call one out that would be super accurate.

 

[wtrfwlhunter]

1. How do you describe this buck to your buddies on the internet with no picture?
2. How do you describe how many points it has?
3. Is it going home with you?
4. Why/why not?

1-2: Decent framed 4x4 with eye guards, but no mass.
3-4: Depends on how long I’ve been hunting. My tipping Point is the mass…and that buck doesn’t have it. To be honest, If I’ve put in 5-6 days of hunting and it’s near the
Last week if he steps out I’m probably considering.

Like others have said, I’ve shot larger and shot smaller. Sometimes it’s more about the situation that the exact deer.

I don’t know much about scoring, but am surprised to see many estimating score in the 160’s. I’d guess 145-150 max.

 

[Hunting Wife]

1,2: Mid-sized 4x4 with typical Montana crabby forks.

3. Depends on whether I was ready to be done hunting or not. I don’t care about the antlers. If I was satisfied with him as an ending to my season that day, yes. If I wasn’t ready to be done hunting yet, then no. I will say he’s far nicer than any buck I’ve laid eyes on the past two seasons.

But I don’t see him getting a ton bigger. Probably put on more mass, but he’s always going to have those little crabby forks. Maybe he’s one that should be shot young, if you’re looking for more of those big, deep forked monsters everyone seems to want? Idk.