This buck is free range low fence on my lease in texas but im not sure I want to shoot him .

I dont follow the bonehead and crotchrot club scoring bs but he is 20 points best I can see.

what do you think?

blow up from telephoto front view

What reason would you have for not shooting a mature buck with a big rack? Just wondering.

what's the problem? is he radioactive or diseased? why would you consider NOT shooting him?

It's just one of those typical Texas deer - all antler and no meat !!

well there are a couple of problems with him.



he is a little close to the house most of the time.

and he is only about 4 years old been watching him a few years.

you can have the antlers, I will take the meat.

Wait another year or two if he is not in danger from hunters on neighboring ranches - then take him.

I'd wait. He will pick up mass over the next year or two.

While that is a gorgeous buck, he is relatively young and will be even more impressive in a year or 2.

It's obvious he has good genes, and keeping him around will give you a chance of having more bucks like him in the area.

I know it's tough to pass on a buck like that, but that's what I'd do.

On opening day, I passed on a nice buck, but I have to admit it was very tempting. Here is a game cam photo of him. He's on the right. The day after, I took an older buck with nice mass. He wasn't blessed with great spread or tine length, but he was an older deer -- a deer I felt was already on the decline.

I would not hestitate an instant in taking that dummy out of the gene pool-- for the good of the species!

Only you can make that call. If you feel he'll be ok for another year then leave him alone, if you think someone else may take him then by all means, pop him and put the mount on the wall.

CRUSHER,

Sure, I'll shoot him for ya. Thanks for asking. Just PM me your address and I'll come right over. It appears that the others didn't understand you were inviting a hunt.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THE OTHER PROBLEM WITH HIM

she named him big boy and he loves lasagna peperoni pizza and white bread

shooting him with a pistol would be a little les than sporting. he will eat wonder bread from your hand.


I have drawn a line in the sand of my mind. if he gets bigger than the biggest deer I have ever seen he is done. but I will wait a while for now to see if he gets any better.

thanks for the opinions.

shoot him now! that way you dont have to pack him very far!

but i have a feeling you'd be shot and mounted as well! that lady would probably whoop your butt!

He's nice enough, I think you'd better tag him (on the hoof, like a cow) so no one else does. That must be a wonderful sight to behold while drinking your morning coffee.

How could you count him as a trophy?

Actually, what you should consider is selling him to someone, he should bring at least $10,000 next year.

Too late if you've named him!

I attempt to avoid that at all costs. Once it happens, I just can't put them in the freezer. Just an old softie I guess.

Lovely to have one with those genetics around. Hope he's a happy camper make'n lots of contributions to the gene pool

Now I'm beginning to think this was a trick question...

Family pet, he would die of old age here.

I based my first comment on this:

quote:

This buck is free range low fence

But now that I see he's a pet, no way would he get shot at our house.

Be careful, though: They do get aggressive and can be quite dangerous.

quote:

Originally posted by CRUSHER:

Is it just the pic,or is he smaller than most deer?

You can only eat him once - but you can watch him many times over.

I think I would be fitting him with a collar or an eartag so its obvious he is a "pet" and not to be harvested .

just funnin you fellas a little he is a wild deer that just showed up and eatiing out of the garbage. then he gets use to being fed. shows up to hide in the yard and eat wonderbread during hunting season. then peels off in the summer. he has a few lady friends that stop by during the rut. and some young bucks stop by for a ass whoopin it is kinda fun to watch.

I would not shoot him.

Since he is so friendly I would refer to enjoy his company rather than shoot him.

I had a buck deer that hung around where Ihunted for several years. I got so I could almost walk up and touch him.
I would not shoot him either.

quote:

Originally posted by jb:

quote:

Originally posted by CRUSHER:

Is it just the pic,or is he smaller than most deer?

he is young barly 4 and he is not huge in the body short legged I think kinda funny shapped but not to bad.

Nail it.

You ain't gonna mount his legs!

quote:

WOULD YOU SHOOT THIS DEER ?

Nope! Spoil him rotten, and cut his horns off ever fall so some one else don't shoot him!

Be careful during the rut. Sometimes "tame" deer get a little nutty and like to gore the people who feed them.

My Dads cousin shot his Moms yard pet once on the last day of bow season. His name was Goofy. Bad juju my friend!!!! He tells her thats why he had him put on the wall. So she can "remember" him forever. I call it severe damage control LOL.

Years ago there was a man that fed mule deer near Brazos, New Mexico, out of the back of his pickup. I rolled-in one day to see firsthand. It was an unbelieveable sight. About thirty deer wandering around his front porch. Some had 30+" spreads. Some were bottle raised, and some just got comfortable. I got my camera out and started shooting. One doe walked up and put her nose on my camera lense. While I was cleaning the lense, one of the big bucks saundered over and slipped one of his tines between the buttons on my shirt. Very carefully I started pushing the horn down to disengage. He thought we were arm wrestling I guess, and tried to lift me off the ground. I stopped pressing on his horn and he relaxed. Eventually he very nicely pulled my shirttail out and tore the button off, but other than that we remained friends. It was a really cool experience, and I got some great stills and a short video.

Enjoy having him around, just don't forget to stay on guard.

quote:

Originally posted by M16:
Be careful during the rut. Sometimes "tame" deer get a little nutty and like to gore the people who feed them.

the first time I walked up and saw this thing standing between me and the front door I was a little nervious they are supposed to run.

You must have good neighbors if they haven't already shot him. I personally would give him at least 2 years to grow up based on your pictures. I've passed up a lot of nice trophy bucks just because they were young and had the potential to become really exceptional trophy bucks. I passed up a young buck in South Texas with a perfect typical 12 pt rack because he was smaller that the doe he was chasing. He already had pretty heavy horns and would be a monster in 2-3 yrs. I guy on our lease shot him a week later and couldn't beleive that 2 of us had already passed up this buck. I explained that we let him go because he was young and had a lot of potential. He said that if we don't shoot him the guys on the surrounding leases will. I told him that since I let him go he at least had a chance to live a few more years but if I shot him he had no chance at all. He didn't comprehend the logic.

After seeing that the deer is willing to be hand-fed, nope. I couldn't do it. I sure could have before seeing the later pics, though!

Keep feeding him and in a couple of years invite him in for dinner
Seriously the only way you will be able to shoot this deer is if you convince your wife to plant rose bushes. Then when the deer starts eating her roses, you will have to explain that the only way for her to keep her beautiful flowers is to kill the deer.

Is there a B&C record for guys using a Louisville Slugger? You could hold the WORLD RECORD for that method of take!

"mmmm this bread is delicious....(THUD)"

I would rather shoot the neighbors cat than your pet deer. The cat serves no purpose and your deer is a great conversation piece.

I would dart him, cut his horns off, have your taxidermist mount them with another cape.

quote:

Originally posted by tendrams:
Is there a B&C record for guys using a Louisville Slugger? You could hold the WORLD RECORD for that method of take!

"mmmm this bread is delicious....(THUD)"

I think I already hold the big rock record. the bat record would be cool. better yet I could hold the trifecta of bat rock and poison wonder bread.

I say Lasso him and hold him down for a "I harvested a big buck" picture. Then you can feed it for another year and do it again. nobody will suspect that it is the same deer every year. Kidding aside, Don't shoot the family pet. It may be "Low Fence" But it is not wild game to you.