#1998101 - 07/18/10 07:56 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: RAFI]
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LA man
16 Point
Registered: 05/31/03
Posts: 18622
Loc: spencer, tn/houma, la.
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to me any deer worthy of the wall is a trophy
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#1998130 - 07/18/10 08:34 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: LA man]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Registered: 03/11/99
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Loc: Nashville, TN
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I'm going to shoot anything 3 1/2 or older regardless of antler size. I'm going to shoulder-mount anything 120+ gross. But a true "trophy"--as in something truly top-end? I would say 150+.
For whatever reason, here in TN, that 150 mark just seems like a magic number. I guess tha's because in many parts of TN, that's the biggest I see on trail-camera.
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#1998134 - 07/18/10 08:37 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: 102]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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I have a few good friends who live near or in these "top-end" Counties. More than once they have requested a visit with me up North. My reply is that they are welcome but that they will gain NOTHING in antler size or age by leaving some of these top end Counties. Most Tn. hunters simply do not know how good (and different) it is in some of the (Nashville) Basin Counties.
If you can acquire good land in the Nashville Basin, there is no need to go to KY for antlers. The Nashville Basin produces bucks that can rival bucks from anywhere.
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"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1998150 - 07/18/10 08:50 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: BSK]
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mr.big
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Registered: 01/03/01
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Loc: Copper Head Road
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I have a few good friends who live near or in these "top-end" Counties. More than once they have requested a visit with me up North. My reply is that they are welcome but that they will gain NOTHING in antler size or age by leaving some of these top end Counties. Most Tn. hunters simply do not know how good (and different) it is in some of the (Nashville) Basin Counties.
If you can acquire good land in the Nashville Basin, there is no need to go to KY for antlers. The Nashville Basin produces bucks that can rival bucks from anywhere.
but those that cant need to figure out what the true top end bucks in the area they hunt in actually is,,and need to learn to be satisfied with anything that is say 75-80% of that top end,,if not they will only make themselves miserable,,
if you are fishing a lake that has a couple 10 pound fish,why would you expect to catch one that weighs 12 pounds,,you should be tickled with an 8 pounder,,IMO
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#1998159 - 07/18/10 09:13 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: mr.big]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
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Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59668
Loc: Nashville, TN
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I have a few good friends who live near or in these "top-end" Counties. More than once they have requested a visit with me up North. My reply is that they are welcome but that they will gain NOTHING in antler size or age by leaving some of these top end Counties. Most Tn. hunters simply do not know how good (and different) it is in some of the (Nashville) Basin Counties.
If you can acquire good land in the Nashville Basin, there is no need to go to KY for antlers. The Nashville Basin produces bucks that can rival bucks from anywhere. but those that cant need to figure out what the true top end bucks in the area they hunt in actually is,,and need to learn to be satisfied with anything that is say 75-80% of that top end,,if not they will only make themselves miserable,, if you are fishing a lake that has a couple 10 pound fish,why would you expect to catch one that weighs 12 pounds,,you should be tickled with an 8 pounder,,IMO
No doubt mr.big. That's why I'm always harping about having realistic expectations for the area you hunt. If you want a good chance at 150+ buck, don't hunt in the mountains of East TN.
In my area, the average mature buck scores 120-125 gross hence that's my local definition of a really good buck. In other parts of the state, the average mature buck may only gross 100-105. In those locations, that score would be my definition of a really good buck.
But I was just responding to 102's point about how different antler development per age-class can be between different parts of TN. TN can produce trophy bucks, but they only exist in huntable numbers in certain locations--the Nashville Basin being one of those locations.
In the Nashville Basin, the below pictured buck isn't that uncommon. You will see several of them if you spend the late summer riding the roads and glassing fields. However, in other parts of the state a buck like that below is extraordinarily rare and would have to be considered a once-in-a-lifetime buck.
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"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1998166 - 07/18/10 09:30 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: RAFI]
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Winchester
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Registered: 12/05/03
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Loc: TN
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If using score as a measuring stick for a TN trophy, I'd say it would be around 140 somewhere. While this isnt the biggest buck you have a chance to kill in TN, there will be a much more realistic chance of killing some smaller as well. Everyones definition is different, but a 140 is very respectable anywhere in TN, where this same deer wouldnt get a second look in say Illinois or Iowa. I would sure hate to have my sights set for a 140 as minimum in TN, because hunting public land, or any land that isnt high fenced, you wont kill very many bucks if you require them be over 140 IMO anyway.
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#1998171 - 07/18/10 09:34 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: Winchester]
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muddyboots
12 Point
Registered: 11/06/02
Posts: 5968
Loc: savannah, tn., usa
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3 1/2 or older
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#1998222 - 07/18/10 10:35 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: Winchester]
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Wes Parrish
16 Point
Registered: 06/12/02
Posts: 17068
Loc: Knoxville-Dover-Union City, TN
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If using score as a measuring stick for a TN trophy, I'd say it would be around 140 somewhere.
I wish more hunters would become more focused on age than score,
yet in the absence of being able to make a good age assessment,
I agree that around 140 is good (at least for the areas I do most of my TN hunting).
Put it this way, I don't intend to kill a buck younger than 4 1/2, and most of those (that I see) gross score less than 140. But using a gross score of 140 as a guide, that would prevent me from killing the most top-end 2 1/2's that I'd like most to live another year or two longer. Not that many top-end 2 1/2's are going beyond 120 anywhere in TN, but a 120-class 2 1/2 can be easily mistaken for a 140-class older buck (in part due to their antlers being relatively larger to their body size).
Put a 120-class rack on a 120-lb deer and it may "appear" much like a 140-class rack on a 160-lb deer.
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#1998229 - 07/18/10 10:43 AM
Re: What do you consider a trophy buck for TN?
[Re: muddyboots]
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redcorn
4 Point
Registered: 09/07/06
Posts: 252
Loc: Chattanooga, TN.
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I think BSK made an important distinction using the word "huntable". Where I hunt in east TN., deer have the advantage of rugged terrain. They are wily and easily pressured, and I am convinced they are only realisticly huntable to a certain age. However, we know the genetics and antlers are present, but unfortunately they only come out at night.
Even during the rut, it seems that mature bucks in our area are content to let younger bucks do most of the chasing. It would be like winning a small lottery to encounter a 150 class buck on our property, yet we know the area has produced such caliber.
For these reasons, we set our sights on huntable trophies, deer that can be killed using strategy and skill, with a little luck mixed in. This formula points primarily to 3.5 yrs. old bucks--any older, and luck seems to be the biggest factor.
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