I see where you are coming from about you not wanting to spend the money everytime you kill a deer. We are not to that point yet, there are five of us and not everybody has gotten to where they want to be as far as there best trophy. If we stay together long enough there will come a time when we will have to decide what to shoot next i guess. I would like to see everybody get a good deer to have on their wall. My opinion is if I shoot a 130" deer and cut his horns off and throw them in the shed to see them once a year when I have to move them to get something, if I would have let him go somebody else might have shot him and mounted him. Not trying to say my theory is what everybody needs to do, but it does work for us. Also take into thought that I dont eat as much deer as some people, so I'm not trying to pack my freezer full. I dont waste deer but I do hunt for horns. Kill or not I enjoy being out there enjoying the outdoors. And yes we have had deer shot that didnt get mounted, mistakes happen. But the five of us dont tag out on bucks every year, that would be 15-20 bucks (cant remember if you can kill 3 or 4 per year)a year off our lease. Thanks for the comments

The part that alot of hunters don't really accept is that passing on 50 bucks this year doesn't mean you'll have 50 more bigger racked bucks next year. Man I wish that were true!

But there has to be some kind of rules in place if you want to hunt mature deer.

I've come to realize over the past several years that at least half of the racked bucks I pass will be shot by another hunter that same year. My outlook on it is that if I shoot him, he then has zero chance of getting by til next year. If i pass him then his chance of living at least rises a little bit.