I've shot a couple mature bucks that were "busted up", but i've pased on more than a few young ones with great racks but need a few years. To me the age of the buck dictates if he is a shooter more than how perfect his rack is. With that said, everyone should shoot what makes them happy!
I'm not going to shoot a half rack but I've shot plenty of them that had broken tines. I've had a couple fixed that turned out pretty good. I just had them matched to the other matching tine. I had to have a couple inches added to a tine. You can't tell it unless I told you which one it was (G3 on the right ).
This buck needed work as well. My main gripe is the skull plates bust if you cut them to small so I fill them with epoxy to prevent that from happening after 15 or so just spontaneously came apart while I had them in a large box with some racks I wasn't displaying.
Well if he's busted then I'd let him walk and hope for next season. Let's face it, does are for meat, bucks are for hanging (and jerky meat). Also, it's good to let him populate more. Now if it's just a funky rack than that is completely different. As long as he is mature and of good size, I wouldn't think twice about taking him. Those are two very different scenarios though.
Like many things in the hunting world, this is loaded question for several reasons. Primarily is the number of tags available to you for the area you're hunting and the amount of time left in the season. Allow me to explain. Here in IL I get two whitetail buck tags. I generally hunt 2-3 different pieces of property that are somtimes hundreds of miles apart. In which case, I don't feel bad about harvesting two bucks per year provided they are on different pieces of ground. With that said, having two tags in my pocket makes it a lot easier to shoot a buck with as slightly busted up rack knowing I have one more tag to fill yet. However, that same buck walks by after I've already filled my tag and he may (or may not) get a pass depending on his overall size and age class. The only way I'm passing altogether is if an entire side is missing. Additionally, a broken buck walks by on opening day knowing I have an entire season ahead of me - maybe he gets a pass. That same buck walks by late season and my freezer is empty - he's in trouble. I killed a buck this year that, had he been whole, would've grossed well into the 140's. Having 3 busted tines put him down in the 120's. Was I a little upset that he broke his tines off? Sure I was. He would've been my highest grossing buck to date with a bow. Was I upset enough to let it ruin my hunt or cause me to rethink that same decision in the future? No way. At the end of the day I love shooting deer. The bigger the headgear the better, but even with some busted tines I still love shooting 'em!
Put it this way: Last December, I picked up a set of sheds from a big 4x4 buck that I'd targeted all season. Through the end of January, I bowhunted that buck at least 3x in single-digit weather, hoping that he'd come sauntering by and allow me to get an arrow in him, and have the taxidermist put the antlers back on the pedicles. So not only would I shoot a busted-up buck, but I've actually tried to hunt a buck that had no antlers left at all!
hahahaha, lmao! So you were gonna shoot the poor old boy after he did all the breeding, dodged all those hunters, dropped his head gear....man I'd hate to have you after me if I was a deer! and then to put his sheds back on his head that u picked up... priceless bro!!!!! Fran you are a madman! hahaha but thats what I love about U, you definately roll your own way!
