My first buck taken will be my trophy. We are signed on to a lease for a few years and are actively trying to manage it properly to increase the size and health of the overall herd. Seeing as I've never taken a buck with my bow, my friends are willing to let me slide with the first buck that walks by, but I'd like to hold out for something bigger. We'll see which scenario is more likely, arrowing the first buck that walks by or trying to remain patient for a "bruiser" (mid-110's) would qualify for that here in central MD.
My area, with a bow especially, a 120"+ deer is considered a trophy. But, we also have 140" deer taken every season.
This year, the buck in my avatar is my target. Heavy pressure in the area and this guy is definately a shooter....not sure what he'll score.
I never got into using the term "trophy" buck. To me that always conjured up images of shooting huge texas bucks. But to go along with the terms of the thread 140+ is was I consider "trophy". But I would certainly shoot far less than a "trophy" caliber, depending on where I am and my mood at the time. This year since I have a little more time to hunt, I'm hoping to to shoot something a bit bigger than the last 2 bucks I've gotten. (~100-105")
This year, my buddy and I picked about 60 sheds, total. Some of those were matched sets, but let's say (conservatively) that those sheds represented 40 deer. Of those, only 3 deer sported an antler that cracked 60". Those deer were legit 140"+, and they should be (or have already been confirmed to be) bigger this fall. 3 deer out of 40 breaking into the 140"+ range . . . works out to be 7.5% of the buck herd. Just hunting by numbers, I'm going to have to pass around 14 bucks before I see a shooter in that range. If my buck to doe ratio is 2:1, then we're looking at one deer, out of every forty, that I'd want to shoot. If I look at my old hunting logs, I usually have to SEE 2 shooters, just to get a shot at one. That is, when I see a shooter buck, half of the time, I never even release an arrow. So, let's double the previous figure, and say that we're going to need to see 80 deer from the stand, on average, before I get to shoot at anything. THEN, there's no guarantee once the arrow is in the air. If I were guessing, I'd say 70% of my shots lead to a dead deer. Based on the numbers extracted from my particular situation, I'm going to need to see 114 deer from my stand before I'm statistically likely to have killed a shooter buck. That's my way of looking at it, at least. It's all a numbers game, and those numbers are dictated by the particular deer herd available in the location that you are hunting. Everybody's situation is different.
Interesting Fran,,,I never see 114 different Bucks a year. Its common for me to pass 30-40 different Bucks. Those shooters can be rare and like you said, dictated by where you hunt!
Not 114 bucks, Danno. 114 deer (does included). Probably around 40 bucks is what I'll have to pass until the numbers dictate that I should be due to ram an arrow into Ol' Mossy.
Boys, I'm going 312 on this one.... Someone's got to do it and it's just waiting to be done. Ttraveler Todd
A 3.5 year old buck where I hunt is pretty hard to kill. Most bucks around here take at least 4.5 years of age to hit 120 inches. So, I would say a 4.5 year old buck or a 120 class buck would be considered one heck of a buck around my hunting grounds.
Age is more important to me than the score. I am looking to harvest a 4 1/2 year old or older buck that would score around 150".
I say that a trophy can be anything that your heart is thinking it is a trophy at the time of that hunt! My little 5 point buck that is on the wall is just as a trophy as my big 11 pointer. The 5 point was my first ever buck and would not trade that hunt at all.
I am lucky if I see a half dozen different bucks in one year. And I am even luckier if 1 of them will go ove 115".
