Defining buck "quality"

[Colorado Cowboy]

Heck of a buck you have there, I think 98% of guys would classify him as a trophy, in your 83 years of hunting, did you take most of your bucks in Co?

I was born and raised in California and started deer hunting in the 50's and 60's which were unreal in quality and quantity. I did hunt in Az, Ut, Wy and Colorado. Retired and moved to Colorado in 2000. The buck in the picture was taken in Wyoming.

 

[Indian Summer]

My automatic shooters are anything 190"+, a 30"+ 3x3, probably most bucks over 30" width. I could care less about age or body size. Generally, I usually call anything over 200" a monster...

Yeah me too. Once they hit the 200 mark I would let them grow another year or two, but I worry they might die of old age.

 

[JackButler]

My obsessions are non-typical and wide. A perfect typical would have to be at least 180” for me to shoot. A 30”+ 7x6 that scores 160’s would be preferable to me. Also lately I’d add in velvet to the mix. So, wide non-typical in velvet would be the ultimate.

 

[ColoradoV]

2 things….

1. Colorado cowboy is a good man …

2. Buck quality is something of rumors currently here in Co after the seasons getting pushed back….

Good luck w your search…

 

[littlebigtine]

I scout every chance I get in the summer and typically dont get excited until I see a buck in that 95% percentile. Usually that is 165”+
Very rare for me to see a buck pushing 180” in my neck of the woods. Less than 1 in 250 bucks I come across between july-november gross 180” and typically I do not see that many bucks in a season if you know what I mean.

That being said, it is not all about score and I usually get just as excited to see character on a buck with mass as I do deep forks, wide frame and brow tines.

It is all your opinion and the more deer you look at the more you will develop your own opinion.

 

[dirtytough]

Mass is a definite quality I look for. Width also helps a buck look’s wise.

Give me a square framed heavy antlered buck.

 

[bricketts]

I learned a couple years ago that body size gets my heart racing the same way a booner Buck would, regardless of antler size. Throw in some good mass on the horns and 5.5 years+ and that’s a true monster buck in my book.

Small buck would be a young, small bodied and antler deer, and a good buck/shooter buck for me could acceptably be medium body size paired with a good rack(no way to define this as it would just have to be big enough/wide/heavy/ or character to excite me).

All this to say that I’d be happier with a 300lb+ old brute with a 150” rack than a young, spindly good genes 180” deer. But golly do I love em all

 

[nphunter]

I’ve still have never killed what I would consider a trophy mule deer, missed what I would consider a monster 3 at zero yards last season. I’m happy I was able to sneak in and stand on a cliff 10’ above his head without him knowing I was there, pretty annoyed with myself for not considering my arrow is 3” lower on the bow than my top pin and hitting the cliff by my feet. Probably not a trophy to many but I would have been tickled to put an arrow though him. I know he survived archery season, I’ll be curious if he shows back up this fall.

I know there are better scoring bucks out there but this buck was an absolute hammer 3 point. I’ve seen several bigger bucks over the years but very few that had as much of a wow factor. I don’t think he’s super old and I really hope he lives a few more years to see what he becomes.

 

[RockAndSage]

I’ve still have never killed what I would consider a trophy mule deer, missed what I would consider a monster 3 at zero yards last season. I’m happy I was able to sneak in and stand on a cliff 10’ above his head without him knowing I was there, pretty annoyed with myself for not considering my arrow is 3” lower on the bow than my top pin and hitting the cliff by my feet. Probably not a trophy to many but I would have been tickled to put an arrow though him. I know he survived archery season, I’ll be curious if he shows back up this fall.

I know there are better scoring bucks out there but this buck was an absolute hammer 3 point. I’ve seen several bigger bucks over the years but very few that had as much of a wow factor. I don’t think he’s super old and I really hope he lives a few more years to see what he becomes.

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Man, that is a heartbreaker. Would have been a fantastic buck to take.

 

[nphunter]

To me this is a quality mature buck, I believe he was 6.5yrs old, he’s the biggest bodied deer I’ve over broken down and his body made all his buddies look tiny.

My wife killed him in ‘23 and he scores just over 170”, I doubt he would have gotten much bigger.


He’s in the center, she could have killed his older buddy right behind him the night before she killed him but couldn’t find him in her scope.

 

[nphunter]

To me this is a great buck, my kid killed him in ‘22 at 13. The buck was only 4.5yrs old though which is kind of unfortunate because I think he would have been a giant in another year or two. There was an upper 190’s buck around the area that season but It’s hard to pass up a 184” buck on opening morning.

Night before the season.

 

[mainbeam pursuit2]

I think a good buck is one you don’t have to make an excuse for after you have killed it. Everyone has a different opinion of what is there idea of what a good buck is. If it isn’t going to make you happy don’t shoot it. I also think some hunters just will shoot anything and never grow out of that stage, others go another direction of searching for bigger or their desired type of buck.

 

[nphunter]

This IMO is also a quality deer, he’s the oldest buck we have taken, I have a tooth to send off but it’s worn almost flat. I’m guessing he was 7.5+ when we killed him. He only scored 158” but was the biggest buck we turned up that year, it was a bad drought year and nothing really developed much.

 

[nphunter]

These bucks are trophys in my mind! We guessed the hwy buck was 11.5yrs old, my kids called the group of bucks that he hung with the grandpa bucks. He was killed a couple months after that picture by a kid.

This was the same year my kid killed the older buck during the drought.


Here’s the same buck 5yrs prior and 20”+ bigger.


Another big buck from back in 2018 as a big mature buck and again in 2022. IMO this buck is 10.5+ as well. We don’t have great genetics and very few bucks are as big as he was in 2018 at 4.5, id guess he was at least 5.5 maybe older in 2018.

 

[nphunter]

In my area this is a monster. I picked up one shed off each buck in the pic. The big buck in the middle would be over 210” if both sides matched.