Would you shoot this deer?

[robert l]

Doesn't look very fat or delicious.

If that was the position of the shot I WOULD NOT TAKE THE SHOT.

 

[greenejc]

Would you shoot this deer or consider leaving it for seed for more like him in the future
? No right or wrong answer. I realize it could be a trophy of a lifetime. Just wondering what others might consider?

Yes, I would if I had a tag for that area.

 

[tooth doc]

Yup. In a heartbeat, his genes should already be in the pool! As a side note, if anybody is looking, winchester, 7mm wsm brass is available now. In stick at mudway and i assume others. I have 1000 pieces on the way, my 7 wsm rifles will live a long time. Now if i can just stock up on retumbo. 80 lba ought to do it for a while. Asb

 

[tooth doc]

That was in STOCK at midway. Cant type!

 

[tony d willIiams]

I don't understand the question. It has already spread its genes, there should be a bunch of young bucks waiting.
For tender meat, not so much.
For a bunch of meat, yes.
Nice photo.

 

[greenejc]

That was in STOCK at midway. Cant type!

I also suffer from fumble finger. And yes I'd shoot that deer but I might wait a little and see if I could get a little better shot. If he's inside 200 yards, I would take a neck shot.

 

[tony d willIiams]

Every situation is different, I had a similar situation on Wyoming public land not once but twice....both times a nice 4x4 one with a 3x3 one with a forky....long story short the 3x3 was gravely wounded with rear leg wound probably from earlier in the week....put it out of its misery and salvaged what meat I could...maggots were crawling out of the wound.....two years later...30 miles away...4x4 and a forky....forky had front leg shot in one front knee...sad to burn another expensive tag on somebody else's blunder......
If they were both healthy I think I deserve the bigger one!

Horrible the way some will shoot and then not track down the animal if they didn't make a clean kill. I was raised differently.
My dad thought he wounded a deer once, he called me over to track it. After four or more miles, not a blood spot or a stumble I convinced him that he had shot a complete miss.

 

[Ronald W Schaefer]

Man, that's one of those "it depends" questions. You can't see from the angle enough characteristics to determine age. If he were three (most likely not) or four and/or on a high fenced ranch, probably not. If you could tell he was 5 years or older or on public land or low fenced, probably. I don't think you'd be wrong unless you could clearly tell he was young and sporting that kind of furniture. It be hard to pass that guy up.

 

[300WSMGUY]

Would you shoot this deer or consider leaving it for seed for more like him in the future
? No right or wrong answer. I realize it could be a trophy of a lifetime. Just wondering what others might consider?

Seeing as he would be my biggest and has a pot belly indicating a mature deer, yes I would sure as heck shoot him. But, only if he turns broadside and gives up the shot. They always look bigger from the rearview and you can't get a good look at his neck or jowls so if I was a true trophy hunter I'd probably wait until I was sure. The fact that he's in full velvet sure is tempting though. Like you said, no right or wrong answer. You'll know whether or not to shoot him when the time comes. Your gut will tell you. When they measure up to your personal standards, you will know immediately with no hesitation. It's like "oh s$!+, where's my rifle!"

 

[David Lindler]

Would you shoot this deer or consider leaving it for seed for more like him in the future
? No right or wrong answer. I realize it could be a trophy of a lifetime. Just wondering what others might consider?

That is a fantastic mule deer and you would be lucky to c it a second time. It a 180 plus inch rack which is a trophy in the mule deer world.. l would shoot it. I been hunting muleys now for 20 years and that is a buck of a lifetime.

 

[Kay0404]

Buddy of mine, who has big game hunted all over the world, told me once when I was considering an Africa trip.. "Never pass on an animal the first day, that you would have been happy with on the last day." Having never hunted mulies, I'd have dropped him as soon as he turned.. A LOT bigger than anything that I have on my walls, and I don't mind tough meat, I love making jerkey.

 

[JusSayin']

Well seems the old adage is still true,"If you don't, somebody else will." I'd much rather see him staring at me from my wall than from the brush. CWF

 

[nicholasjohn]

Amen, that's what happened to me last year. Nastiest deer I have ever taken.

If you don't want them to taste like that, consider letting them hang for a week or two before you butcher. The beef you eat in a fancy restaurant has usually been hung for about 21 days, and they were bred for human consumption. Why would anybody expect a nasty old buck deer to taste good without hanging ? Granted, mule deer usually aren't taken in areas where you can get them out whole to hang that way in a cold-room, but it really does help immensely whenever you can do it. Deer that get shot "right out behind the barn" are the ones that can be handled in this manner, and that's why they are so tasty. They will be more tender for sure, and any rough flavors will go away, too. That all drains off onto the cardboard you put of the floor under their nose.

I just shot a big old blacktail a couple of days ago, and we packed him up out a hell-hole canyon in pieces. Temperatures in the 60's & 70's aren't conducive to hanging meat, so I cut him up right away when I got home. I froze a few cuts ( backstraps & tenderloins, mostly ) but the rest is in a cooler on ice waiting to be ground and made into breakfast sausage. If the backstraps are tough and nasty ( which I'm half expecting them to be ) I'll grind them up, too - and then do a second batch of sausage.

Over the years, I've eaten a whole lot of big, burly mid-western whitetail bucks, a lot of which were shot in the peak of the rut. The ones that hadn't hung for awhile would turn you against eating game meat altogether, but the ones that we were able to hang for week all tasted like yearling does. The guys I hunted with all marveled at this, having never done it before. They were all believers after we talked them into doing it once.

I also hang them in the hide, and I don't cut off the hocks - all of which is heresy where I grew back east. Can't do that with an elk, of course, or it will go sour on you every time - but even a big deer cools down plenty fast enough with the hide still on, and it keeps the carcass from drying out and hardening in the meat room. That "casing" that forms on a skinned carcass is nothing more than wasted meat. If you want to eat the whole deer, rather than trimming half of it off for your dog, that is a good way to do it.

 

[tooth doc]

If you don't want them to taste like that, consider letting them hang for a week or two before you butcher. The beef you eat in a fancy restaurant has usually been hung for about 21 days, and they were bred for human consumption. Why would anybody expect a nasty old buck deer to taste good without hanging ? Granted, mule deer usually aren't taken in areas where you can get them out whole to hang that way in a cold-room, but it really does help immensely whenever you can do it. Deer that get shot "right out behind the barn" are the ones that can be handled in this manner, and that's why they are so tasty. They will be more tender for sure, and any rough flavors will go away, too. That all drains off onto the cardboard you put of the floor under their nose.

I just shot a big old blacktail a couple of days ago, and we packed him up out a hell-hole canyon in pieces. Temperatures in the 60's & 70's aren't conducive to hanging meat, so I cut him up right away when I got home. I froze a few cuts ( backstraps & tenderloins, mostly ) but the rest is in a cooler on ice waiting to be ground and made into breakfast sausage. If the backstraps are tough and nasty ( which I'm half expecting them to be ) I'll grind them up, too - and then do a second batch of sausage.

Over the years, I've eaten a whole lot of big, burly mid-western whitetail bucks, a lot of which were shot in the peak of the rut. The ones that hadn't hung for awhile would turn you against eating game meat altogether, but the ones that we were able to hang for week all tasted like yearling does. The guys I hunted with all marveled at this, having never done it before. They were all believers after we talked them into doing it once.

I also hang them in the hide, and I don't cut off the hocks - all of which is heresy where I grew back east. Can't do that with an elk, of course, or it will go sour on you every time - but even a big deer cools down plenty fast enough with the hide still on, and it keeps the carcass from drying out and hardening in the meat room. That "casing" that forms on a skinned carcass is nothing more than wasted meat. If you want to eat the whole deer, rather than trimming half of it off for your dog, that is a good way to do it.

Will definitely try this!