Any of you ever click on every thread on the board and read through? Refresh and refresh and nothing new?

Bored tonight and have been finally working on my own mounts instead of others….came across my deer from 4-5 years ago. A great buck…but in hindsight I sorely regret taking him. How often does that happen to y'all?

This one came out and I had pics of him…he looked mature in pics but I was limited because only had a few pics. I only had roughly 15 seconds to decide and he was at 307 yards and walking into brush. I went ahead and shot. The deer is great by most peoples standards probably…but after investigating today I'm not sure he was-over 3.5. Which kills me. But at the same time only thing I have to go off of now is skull structure and mass..he's got a skinny head and no mass to his bases. Once you get into the main frame he carries a lot of mass. So I'm just stumped.

And for reference..and to say horn size isn't always all
That…the buck just to left of the one I'm
Referring to…was the oldest of the bunch. He was stunted pretty bad. My dad shot that one this year…was and old guy. Teeth were worn down quite a bit and an insanely huge body.

Dang! Solid buck.

Hey brother it happens. I have done the same. I used to beat myself up over it. Then I had an old fellow biologist tell me that there will be plenty more deer… he ain't the only one.
Just do the best you can and don't forget that the most important thing is to enjoy the journey.
For every animal I kill I thank the animal for his life and thank our God for blessing me being able to do it.
And we can feel good that we don't waste the meat and use it.
Carry on my brother.

Way to go Bro!

Great buck!

To add, you and your hunting party may have never seen him again. No telling if the neighbors decided to take him, he got hit by a car, moved on, etc.

Last season I watched a big mature slick 6 for several hunts and figured one of the kids or my dad would take him. The rut kicked in he ghosted. Haven't had him show up on camera this season nor have I seen him on the hoof. In retrospect, I should have taken him when I had the chance.

As Gunny said, fortunately there will be more.

Did it make your heart beat fast? Were you happy when you hung him up in the camp tree?

We've gotten so hung up on so much trophy crap watching people on TV killing 200" pen raised deer that we forget what it's about sometimes. I no longer hunt whitetail because I'm not checking with a lease boss before I shoot a deer to make sure he's 155" instead of 149". It's just not any fun.

Enjoy and celebrate that animal for what he is and was. Not what he's not. Beautiful buck and those brow tines are something!