that can be a challenge. pick one buck and hunt him only.
i hunt for meat first and foremost and horns are secondary
an old mature matriarch doe can be just as hard to hunt as a big buck. meat first, horns second. last season my son and I saw a nice 12 pt. and a 10 ptw/ drop tine. got acouple does in the freezer and tried to hunt them 2 bucks. needless to say. neither one ended up in the freezer. saw some other ones that were nice but alittle to young that 12 looked to be about 5 yrs old , the 10 probably about 4 - 4 1/2 yrs old. if I have pictures of them when I go up in Sept. they will be my focus after a couple does get harvested.
i remember a few years back in Ny. we got hit with a snow storm. i been hunting a buck that had been hitting a scrape every night. I had seen no deer during the day. With the snow i was able to track him. I took all day from first light of tracking and waiting for the wind to be right. I finally put a stalk on him and clipped him at 40 yds. He dropped right in his tracks. there was about 15 min. of shooting light left. even though this deer had a very small rack(he had a good size body for a young deer)he will always be one of my best trophies.
the best trophys seem to always have a good story behind them. Or you really had to work for it. something that makes that buck memorable. My greatest trophy was my first buck. 12 years old on our family farm in Michigan. Was only a little basket 6 pt. but at 12 yrs old with a slug gun. that will always be a trophy to me.
