Jake,
I am kind of like you. I have set a personnal goal for myself, not for anyone else. I have a friend in Okla. that has 62 shoulder mounts that average better than 150", his top 12 average 176". He hunts mature whitetails all over the country and to be reall honest it is what he does for a living. My goal is to one day have a trophy room that is compareable with his. They don't have to score as much or they could score more, that isn't what matters to me. I try to harvest a big mature buck everywhere I go whether its Iowa, Illinois, Ohio or my home state of Kentucky(by the way Kentucky is the most difficult, but I did harvest a monster that I was hunting him or nothing at home this year). I don't hunt for a living yet, but I am getting closer to that goal every year. I work full-time and use almost every vacation day hunting. I love to whitetail hunt more than any other animal or sport. I wasn't a trophy hunter from the start, but progressed through the years to want to harvest older and older bucks.
For instance, this year while up in Iowa I scored a awesome massive 10 pointer for a guy that scored 176 1/8 (that's a great buck), but he had a buck that only grossed 151" that I would have shot over his massive 10 pointer. I know your saying this guy is crazy. It's not that I am crazy, but this 151" buck had unbelievable mass!!! It literally had 7"+ bases and held it mass to the tip of its 22" beams! Just a basic eight frame, but it even had unbelievable mass in its tines! This buck was old, really old, probably 12+ years old. WOW, you can walk into a 100,000 white-tail trophy hunters homes and not see a buck on there wall that is near that old, very few ever make it to that age and when they get that old they are very hard to kill!
Like others have said, "A buck that puts that smile on your face that doesn't wear off for days is the trophy for you!" I want to wish everyone a great 2003 hunting season and I hope everyone gets the trophy that they are after.
Limb Chicken,
I really hope you get that old hag in your area. I really believe those really "old does" are the hardest thing in the woods to harvest with a bow! Good luck! I will guarantee she will mess up sometime in the near future and you will get her!
Good hunting!
