Would you shoot this deer?

[MNbogboy]

Every situation is different, I had a similar situation on Wyoming public land not once but twice....both times a nice 4x4 one with a 3x3 one with a forky....long story short the 3x3 was gravely wounded with rear leg wound probably from earlier in the week....put it out of its misery and salvaged what meat I could...maggots were crawling out of the wound.....two years later...30 miles away...4x4 and a forky....forky had front leg shot in one front knee...sad to burn another expensive tag on somebody else's blunder......
If they were both healthy I think I deserve the bigger one!

 

[Stgraves260]

Which one? Shoot the right one, leave the left one for seed!

I'd shoot it......it's had a few years to spread them already. There was a time, we had a odd strain running through the home place where all the bucks had a good antler on left side, but the right was a deformed blob. There were 3-4 ranging from spikes to three points (blacktail) running around. During rut, my brother and I decided to pass in a really nice buck because he had control of the does, and was surrounded by 1 antler bucks.... we hoped maybe it would help clean up the genes.

I thank y'all made a good call on letting him walk. Most people shoot cause all they see is antlers. I hate hunters who do that. No respect for them at all. I thank people should study more on aging deer before they pull the trigger. It should be about the hunt with family and friends and not a 160" 3 year old 10 point trophy.

 

[raider1v1]

i would. some of my picky friends wouldnt

 

[wv270wsm]

I've never hunted mule deer so my answer would be SHOOT. Lol . And I'd guarantee my two sons would be getting steady and waiting for a broadside shot on that beautiful deer.
I guess if you've hunted the area before and there is more deer like this in the area then maybe you may see something that suits your fancy better but I believe most red blooded Americans would say fire at will .

 

[WYO300RUM]

Hard for me to tell but looks like smaller buck is hard horned and larger is still in velvet . That's very odd if so. IT may be a stag ? Definitely shoot IT. I didn't read through all post so maybe somebody already brought this up.

 

[beveridgek]

I'm not much for the Texas "brain" shot either. I shot a whitetail on a quartering away shot once-hit him too far back with a .284. Bullet went in just forward of the right ham and exited the left chest just in front of the leg.
Lordy what a mess. Cut a while, puke a while.
Would not do that to another animal.

 

[Sledhead406]

Is this public or private land? If public I would certainly shoot it. If it is private and a neighbor won't end up shooting it then I'd leave it.

This. I have allowed a fair amount of deer like that one go and instead knocked down the weird 23" 2x2 bucks (or whatever oddity) to help out the genetics on our place. Like clockwork, the guys that hunted the neighbor's place would eventually shoot the deer I pass up (50% of time trespassing) and everything else that was young and had potential. We're talking 10-15 muleys per year.

BTW, I took care of that family of trespassers. They no longer come up here. The damage is still apparent after 10 years though. Unfortunately Fish and Game mismanagement + wolves have really taken their toll on my area since then.

Moral of the story: I regret not shooting a few of those nice deer when I know the antlers just ended up sitting behind the garage of those $#%&$% white trash idiots.

 

[memtb]

I thank y'all made a good call on letting him walk. Most people shoot cause all they see is antlers. I hate hunters who do that. No respect for them at all. I thank people should study more on aging deer before they pull the trigger. It should be about the hunt with family and friends and not a 160" 3 year old 10 point trophy.

It's real easy to be judgmental of someone else's decisions, without knowledge of their hunt areas or their financial status! In some places this is a very nice trophy. On a several thousand $ hunt, while a guide holds your hand.....not so much of a trophy! memtb

 

[HANGum HIGH]

Would you shoot this deer or consider leaving it for seed for more like him in the future
? No right or wrong answer. I realize it could be a trophy of a lifetime. Just wondering what others might consider?

That deer already spread his seed many times. He'd be going on a road trip in my truck.

 

[nmbsniper]

I travelled to Wyoming for antelope and deer in 2016 and again in 2018 on a DYI hunt on public land/walk-in area. My friends(3) and I drove from Miami, 3 days and 2500 miles one way. We all tagged out on antelope in 2016, meat hunt no trophies. On the first day of deer on the that same 2016 hunt we passed up on 3 doe mule deer, at 200 yards. The next 4 days only 1 tagged out on a doe mule deer, lesson learned. At that time we all said "I'll wait for a buck".

Now, we weren't hunting for trophy bone but it would've been nice to have since we only hunt whitetail on the east coast. That was our first travelling hunt. In 2018 we all tagged out on mule deer; one spike and 3 does in 2 days.

The moral of the story; shoot whatever you want. For us, it was the time, effort, planning, training(shooting long range) and money we put into those trips. Having meat was more important than having bone. Now that we've had it we can go and harvest something to put on the wall!

 

[ajkellerusmc]

Exhale, hold, squeeze, BOOM!

 

[msmith57]

depends on how big he is and how full is my Freezer, I never could figure out how to cook Antlers and make them taste good

 

[Gibbshooter43]

... and I always wanted a deer in velvet mount. Hard to say no. Actually there have been many valid arguments for both sides so there is no right or wrong answer. Just be true to your own value system within the limits of legality.

 

[nicholasjohn]

Would you shoot this deer or consider leaving it for seed for more like him in the future
? No right or wrong answer. I realize it could be a trophy of a lifetime. Just wondering what others might consider?

Is this a trick question ??????