Knowing Your Limitations

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CBU93

CBU93

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Selmer, TN Since 2022
Lots of talk on here over the years of being realistic in your goals…especially property to property. Below is IMO a prime example of such. This buck I am calling top end 2.5 possibly 3.5 but won't know till you see the teeth. What I do know is from a rack development standpoint, if 3.5, he is weak. He is one of if not the best rack I have seen on this property in the 20 years I've had access. If I, or any of my guests, saw this buck while hunting I would expect it to be killed. Based on what I know of the property and adjoining properties, this is the best I would expect and be happy with it. Know your limitations and make yourself happy.

I call 2.5 based on these factors: body definitely not a yearling, large chest/narrow hip, straight line belly, longer leg appearance, no Roman nose on a longer face, neck not rut swollen as I would expect for this time of year in this area…is he rut stressed already? Doubt it, but in the deer world never really know…

IMG_2326.webp
 
I would probably agree on 2.5.

As to knowing limitations, really helps running cameras. Killing high scoring deer where they aren't, despite good age structure is realistically setting yourself up for failure. We see 4.5 and 5.5 year old deer that are typically lucky to go over 120.

We have had two bucks on camera this year that I would like to see while hunting. One I had in range during archery but had no shot. I had history with that deer last year and he didn't add much if any inches. I will not hesitate on him this season. The other is a high scoring deer for this area, that went mia from our property after October 22. At this point could be hunting a ghost in both cases. Makes it tough passing on just decent deer on our little piece of dirt, especially with several others hunting on neighboring and nearby farms.
 
backyardtndeer said:
We see 4.5 and 5.5 year old deer that are typically lucky to go over 120.
Click to expand...

Same thing around here. If you hunt the farms I hunt & think you're going to hold out for a 130"+ then you're never going to kill a deer period. If you hold out for a 120" you might kill a buck one of every 3-4 years. 4yr & 5yr old bucks aren't hard to come by. There's a few any given season. They're tough to kill but they're at least available to hunt. But big racks? Not so much.

Every once in a blue moon I see a buck I think might bust 125" but haven't killed one yet. Low 120's is as big as I've killed. The buck below is one I think has a chance at busting 125" but that's with 12 points to score. He's only a 3yr old and small body so I'm not sure his rack doesn't just look big because his body is small. Last time there was a rack that nice was 2021. They're rare around these parts.

1763054718198.webp
 
CBU93 said:
Lots of talk on here over the years of being realistic in your goals…especially property to property. Below is IMO a prime example of such. This buck I am calling top end 2.5 possibly 3.5 but won't know till you see the teeth. What I do know is from a rack development standpoint, if 3.5, he is weak. He is one of if not the best rack I have seen on this property in the 20 years I've had access. If I, or any of my guests, saw this buck while hunting I would expect it to be killed. Based on what I know of the property and adjoining properties, this is the best I would expect and be happy with it. Know your limitations and make yourself happy.

I call 2.5 based on these factors: body definitely not a yearling, large chest/narrow hip, straight line belly, longer leg appearance, no Roman nose on a longer face, neck not rut swollen as I would expect for this time of year in this area…is he rut stressed already? Doubt it, but in the deer world never really know…

View attachment 301033
Click to expand...
Totally agree he is a very young one. He is gonna be a war hoss if he stays around till next year.
 
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"Know you limitations" not only applies to what the local area produces, but also how hard you are willing to work at hunting. I'm lucky enough to own property in a location that occasionally produces a 150+ buck, but that rack is usually on a mature buck that will be particularly hard to hunt (he didn't get that old with that kind of rack if he were dumb). Knowing my limitations means, "Am I really willing to work as hard as necessary to kill that buck?" The answer is often times, "No." I hunt for entertainment, as well as to simply "have hunted" and all that that implies. I have no interest in being a Trophy Hunter and how hard it often is to be successful at that.
 
CBU93 said:
Lots of talk on here over the years of being realistic in your goals…especially property to property. Below is IMO a prime example of such. This buck I am calling top end 2.5 possibly 3.5 but won't know till you see the teeth. What I do know is from a rack development standpoint, if 3.5, he is weak. He is one of if not the best rack I have seen on this property in the 20 years I've had access. If I, or any of my guests, saw this buck while hunting I would expect it to be killed. Based on what I know of the property and adjoining properties, this is the best I would expect and be happy with it. Know your limitations and make yourself happy.

I call 2.5 based on these factors: body definitely not a yearling, large chest/narrow hip, straight line belly, longer leg appearance, no Roman nose on a longer face, neck not rut swollen as I would expect for this time of year in this area…is he rut stressed already? Doubt it, but in the deer world never really know…

View attachment 301033
Click to expand...
The property we used to lease in Giles Co. was quite the contrary . Had no reason for this as the property and adjoining property wasn't great as in reference to quality of food but I killed alot of 2.5 year old bucks due to rack size . Their racks would be in conjuction to most 3.5 year olds . Now if browse is good for antler development then ...that's it . The lease we had in Lincoln was the same except I assumed their reason was that they had great agricultural properties nearby . Giles was just not normal . Only mounted on 11 point I killed there but it wasn't that great just abnormal. Tried to get everyone on board to let good bucks walk and wait for great bucks on both places but kinda hard when you drive as far as we did to hunt .
 

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