Obsession with score (antler score that is)

[Junkers88]

I cannot for the life of me understand the obsession with how much score a deer has. There must be 20 active threads in the New Posts titled "How much does he score?" or "Score on this swamp donkey?" or something similar. Dang I just like being out and seeing a deer or two and never even considered that I needed to take score into account before I release the string.


Just a rant I guess.


Richard.

[FJTMEGA]

Different strokes for different folks, i'm a score kind of guy.

[jaytx]

Different strokes I guess. Hunting public land close to home I'm just happy to see something.

[CRM_95]

Some people are obsessed with big bucks, some just wanna hunt. It doesn't bother me what anybody shoots as long as it's legal. If they're happy with it, I'm happy for them. In the past I've been fairly picky, especially hunting with a rifle. This year hunting with trad gear I'm not gonna be nearly as picky!! I do hate it though when somebody kills a nice legal deer that they're obviously thrilled about it and they get slammed because it's too young, etc.

[Bulldawg87]

I can release the string on a doe or cull buck. Why not try and get your better young bucks bigger. Part of the fun for me is the adrenaline rush you get when a huge buck walks out. So I let a deer go last year so he will hopefully get bigger and score more. In the meantime, I will pop a doe for meat.

[Ætheling]

I hunt my small farm, I could care less about score. Any and every animal I take is a trophy to me and my family.

With that said I wouldn't consider taking a deer in the 130s if I was hunting hundreds of managed acreage that had 150+ class deer walking on it. I think that's where people get cross ways on these threads. I don't get upset when someone goes on about how they would never ever shoot a deer under 5 years or under this many inches, well you would shoot a deer every 15 years where I hunt with that practice lol.

[AgBass01]

I'm on the side of I just wanna be outside and get the chance to sling an arrow at something. Score has never been of a concern to me.

[Saltyag15]

I guess you can put me in that category. I shoot a few deer a year for meat, but my goal is to grow bigger deer every year. My goal is to have deer with 10+ points hit the 150 mark. I don't have those same thoughts when I hunt around home at our family farm, but down at the big ranch in south texas, my goals are different. It makes hunting even more fun to me.

[More Liberty]

I'm obsessed with putting meat in the freezer.

[Bisch]

Like said above, different strokes for different folks!

I don't need giants to make me happy, but I do like to try to get the biggest bucks I can at a place. I let the lease tell me by actually seeing deer there what to expect. The long time lease I had down south, I tried not to shoot a deer that I though would not make 125" because I knew from seeing deer there that there was a very reasonable chance to shoot a deer that big there.

Bisch

[PBUCKSHOT]

The only interest I've had in a bucks score was after is was taking a dirt nap. I'm guilty of wondering what it would score once it was hanging but before the shot, never. I've been hunting on the same place for 9yrs and you will usually see 15-20 deer within bow range every sit. I still get buck fever when the bigger one walks out. No way I'm thinking of his score though. I just know he's bigger. Hunting like this is enough excitement for me. I'm sure playing the score game is fun too though. I can honestly say I would have ZERO interest in playing the score game under a high fence. That to me would be like raising livestock and then killing it. I would much rather sell it. That is just not my cup of tea. No hate for the ones that do though.

[Curtis32]

I like big racks.

[Smith2001]

All about your veiw in managment. Only time i look at score is the quality bucks walking around cause dont get me wrong theres nothing better than a nice buck on camera but in my opinion you hunt for the meat first than the trophy if your going for good genetics you gotta shoot the cull/trash deer but being able to harvest the animal is the real trophy in my opinon

[DRT]

I like to shoot mature bucks. Score is important but not the most important. However I find most people who say they don't care about score are hypocritical as they will gladly shoot the 3 yo 10 point I'm passing, feeding hundreds of dollars of feed and trying to let mature then post a pic on the internet like the are the great hunter. They aren't willing to spend the time and money to develop their own trophies but will submarine someone else's efforts. That is why there are so many high fences going up. To protect investment.

[duck'n]

Some people are obsessed with big bucks, some just wanna hunt. It doesn't bother me what anybody shoots as long as it's legal. If they're happy with it, I'm happy for them. In the past I've been fairly picky, especially hunting with a rifle. This year hunting with trad gear I'm not gonna be nearly as picky!! I do hate it though when somebody kills a nice legal deer that they're obviously thrilled about it and they get slammed because it's too young, etc.

This!