1/2 Rack Target buck?
Whitetail Deer
One of the best bucks I had on camera pre-season, busted off one whole side before i ever saw him in person. Now of course he seems to follow me every stand I sit! I have no desire to shoot him, so crossing my fingers that he makes it until next year. Would any of you still consider shooting him as a 1/2 rack? Kevin
No, he's already paid a heavy price! Kinda fun granting a waiver and hoping he makes it! Have fun and hope another comes your way!
I won't even eat a half rack of ribs. Go big, or go home !
Seriously, that would be a decision that I would make at close range. Would depend on how old he was. A really old deer, probably so. Four or five, probably not.
without question. adds even that much more to the story. all depends on the expectations and reality of where you are though. for me it isn't all about the antlers and in all reality for me to mount another buck he is going to have to be spectacular or my sons or daughters first.
I would not. I would rather shoot a mature doe doe meat and hope to hunt him again next year
No... My next question for those who'd shoot him is whether they'd shoot him is would you also shoot him if he lost the second antler and you could still tell with absolute certainty what deer it is?
duke, yes and yes. that said during archery season our tag is either sex. im not at the same place many of you are as far as trophy hunting goes. to me, if i set my sights on one deer whatever happened to his antlers during the course of the season doesn't change the deer. now that said the odds of shooting a p and y here are minimal at best. yes i have and yes it happens but this is big woods with little deer here, this aint a big concentration area.
I had two target bucks this year I'd have shot if he just had one side.
HE was my target, for various reasons. The challenge was to kill that particular animal, not just take antlers off his head. Though mature, neither buck had antlers that would impress most hunters but I had a history with both.
It depends why you're hunting. If it's just for antlers, the answer is obvious.
I am not going to pass judgement on whether you shoot him or not.....but....if you DO shoot him, I want to share a thought.
If it is a trophy to you....regardless of anyone else.....and you decide to have it mounted.....consider having it mounted in a "corner" of the room....and if you do that, consider cutting the buck's head in half....and mounting it on a mirror....(thus giving it two sides)....I saw a single antlered buck mounted like this once....and it was a pleasant surprise at how nice it appeared.....
I hunted a 130 class 6 point we saw in Ohio in late summer. He was a brute of a buck and p&y 6 is rare so I targeted him. Had him working a scrape at 5 yards the second day I hunted him but his rack was busted off just above the 14 inch brow time...passed him...wish I hadn't.
TBM,
Was this a mainframe 10 point....with 5 points on one side, and the broken antler on the other?Or would he have been a 130" six point IF he hadn't had the mainbeam broken off above the browtine?
Did anyone shoot him that season?
We never heard of him being killed. He was a 6 point before he broke the beam and probably 22 inches wide with really tall brow tines. 3 on one side and just the brow on the other when he came by me in November. He had a huge body and obviously a mature deer.
My dogs love to chew on antlers. They can chew and chew and chew and never chew them up. I guess antler is just too hard for a dog to chew up. Especially my Redbone Coonhound, she loves them. She will carry an antler around the house all day long. She loves them...
Which part of the deer do you chew on? I would shoot him. I bet tenderloins are a lot softer than antlers. :/
He's still mature . Shoot him and put him on the wall
Yes, and depending on the size I'd consider getting the other side recreated, especially if I had trailcam photos of him with the other side.
Well, I have killed better deer. He wouldn't have been mounted, so that made it a easy pass for me. I already have my best mule deer buck getting mounted from a month ago and one son has killed 2 deer and we each killed antelope. Also have another son coming home from college to hunt, so I don't need the meat! :) Hoping he makes it to next year. Thanks for the thoughts, Kevin
I had this buck in 2010. This is what he looked like before he broke.
This is him after breaking. I could have killed him multiple times while broken. I told the beighbors to let him pass and next year someone would kill a stud, he's 5.5 in this picture. Well one neighbor wounded him with the broken rack and a few days later he came by me limping. I passed him then as I've seen wounded deer live numerous times, but I never saw him again. Wouldn't change a thing. A pile of broken horns is not what I want.
Notice the tree stand on the old irrigation circle, brushed in on the second picture. When your short on trees you do what you have to. Lol. It's 40 yards to stand but I set it up that way to get away with more movement with that little cover.
wouldn't shoot him... some times I wish I could tranquilize my 3 year olds and cut an antler off to discourage neighbors from shooting them.
I have no problem shooting half rack or broken rack mature bucks and doing so in no way lessens my satisfaction. This one I took several years ago on the last day of the season just out of the parking lot behind my office. He is now on my office wall. He had appeared the previous day on a game camera.
Buck on the right was taken with my dads Diamond Anniversary Black Widow after gun season in 2011. 12.5" bladed G2's. both G3's broken. I didn't hesitate to shoot him.
Nice collection, and personally, I like the broken G-2 buck as much as the others
Big half rack mature buck is still a trophy.Have your taxadrmist cut a form in half sideways,like a silhouette, unique mount.
Killed an elk a few years ago in ID with one side broken off. Last day, the herd coming through a shooting lane uphill of me with the sun coming up over the ridge making it tough to see. Caught a glimpse of antler and drew, setting the pin in the opening. Right into the sun, lost the pin. Swung the bow to the side to reacquire the pin and put it on him as he was coming through broadside.
Only when I walked up on him did I notice one side (his far side) broken off. Ugliest rack you'd ever seen. Actually a short gnarled up 6 on one side and broken off above the brow on the other.
Last day of 10 days in the field.... I still would have shot him, just kind of surprised what a mess he was when I walked up. Needed to be taken out of the gene pool anyway.... =D
I see no reason a meat hunter would care at all. Nor do I see why a trophy hunter would even consider shooting a half rack.
I guess the ones on the fence would be confused. Just a matter of why you hunt.
Or, if you can shoot a half rack and build one side, you could shoot a doe and build both. :)
Nothing you decide about this issue will be wrong. My only suggestion is that you decide prior to hunting in that area. I like decisions based on logic not emotion. Many are just the opposite. Neither is wrong, just how you are wired.
RH "Nor do I see why a trophy hunter would even consider shooting a half rack"
Would you give us your definition of "trophy hunter"?
Norman, sure, though no doubt you will find fault with it.
In this context, a trophy hunter is a person primarily hunting for a deer to mount or antlers rather than hunting for food/meat. Pretty basic stuff.
Can't argue with your personal definition, but I would contend that 1/2 or broken racked bucks are not automatically excluded as trophies to some hunters. Also would have to say that I don't fall in either of the categories you described.
Norman,
Had you pegged in a special category long ago. :)
Have a great evening all. Out to check snares.
I'll take that as admiration and a complement. Thanks!
simple enough
if you're hunting bucks because mature bucks are hard to kill - them having a point broke, a 1/2 beam broke etc matters not to the accomplishment of shooting him
if you're a horn porner and some fake system of scoring is important to you more than shooting a mature buck, then you'll not shoot a broken racked buck
I do both the above depending on where I'm hunting and how bad the rack is broken etc
Earlier in October, I took this half-racked buck and was happy to do so.
It is a somewhat different circumstance than your (OP) buck.
This buck had been shot in the back leg with a gun and the bone had healed over leaving a large calcified lump several inches below the joint in the rear leg. This injury caused the weak-side antler growth and would have never caught up with the strong side.
The deer was otherwise healthy in every other way.
I currently have the deer at the taxidermist and think it is going to be a very unique mount.
RightWing, Congrats on a cool trophy! Kevin
in a heart beat, have shot half racks before and will do it again, they all taste the same and I like a rack with some junk, or broken tines, it means you have killed a fighter.
oz
A fighter, yes, likely.... lots of times it also means you killed the loser.... =D
ouch TD never looked at it that way. I may have to take a couple half racks off the shop wall and put them in the attic with the losers that were too small to go on the wall.
oz
Nawww.... was just messin' around, those bucks have what I tell Coach my face has.... she calls it something else but I prefer to call it "character"..... heheheheh...
