Looking For Estimated Scores & Which Would You Harvest?

[bigbendmarine]

Sharing pics of the bigger bucks I've caught on camera this season with 2 friendly requests...

First, LOVE to hear estimates on age & net scores. Sure not going to hold anyone to them as got some good captures on a few of the bucks whereas one or two other bucks don't have nearly as good of looks / angles. Just enjoy reading thoughts from others!

Second, if you were limiting yourself to taking one (assuming you had a shot at each) which would you harvest and why? Also welcome anyone speaking to any reason(s) you might pass on any of the bucks. Quite possible / probable I might not shoot any, as I haven't made but a single sit since harvesting an 8 point a month ago that likely scores a bit less than any of these. Lost my father just a couple of weeks ago and in addition to the emotional impact, it made for a good bit of travel. Will be spending time with my Mom over holidays and just don't know if I'll hunt much again before our Jan 21 closure. But if do, definitely would limit myself to harvesting a SINGLE buck and only one in the same class or better than these.

Including 4 photos in this first post to identify each but will follow below in a few more posts to share additional views / angles for whatever it's worth.

First buck - "Irma." Think the other area deer might be thinking of him as king of the mountain at the moment, as he's hanging around my place more than the others and doesn't seem to fear much -- to the point he's hanging around my hog corral trap even in daylight hours. He's actually turned my hog trap into a cage match spot, scaring the heck out of smaller bucks that dare enter it when he's around (makes for rather interesting videos).


Second Buck - "MeLikey." Screwy name but what popped in my head when I first saw him. Somewhat a regular visitor to my place, and occasionally in daylight.


Third Buck - "Chief Osceola." Living less than 30 minutes from the FSU campus, just had to go with the name after seeing his right side G2 spear point. Hadn't seen this fellow a single time until mid-rut. Not sure how much he'll be hanging around the area but glad I at least got a singe capture. His left side is definitely a bit compromised compared to his right.


Fourth Buck - "Bo Jr." Only have a couple of captures of this 10 point and he didn't give great angles on any, but strong enough resemblance to the 10 point named "Bo" I harvested last year that I named him Bo Jr.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Few more pictures of "Irma." Nearly absent brow tines kind of give him a mule deer look. Wish the crab pincer tines were a bit taller, but on the other hand his actual base mass and G2 and G3 mass are as nice as any deer I've had on capture.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Few more of "MeLikey." Same wish as with Irma on the crab pincers, but on the other hand he sure isn't lacking in brow tine height (at least of last camera capture / fights much in the coming days that could sure change).

 

[bigbendmarine]

Finally, few pics of "Chief Osceola." Wish I had more of him and the 10 point but they've either not visited our place much or done a great job avoiding cams.

 

[bbcoach]

In what state were these PICS taken and when is the peak of the rut? Semper Fi!

 

[bigbendmarine]

Apologies, Bbcoach... should have started the original post by saying I'm in North Florida.

Rut can be all over the place down our way but thankfully my herd seems to be fairly locked down on primary rut being during the first two weeks of Nov, followed by a lighter secondary rut in the first two weeks of December.

And Semper Fi right back at you! :emoji_beers:

 

[bueller]

Personally I'd take Irma if given the opportunity. To me his body looks good sized for a southern deer and he looks to have some age on him as well. Couple that with the fact that you obviously named him for this year's hurricane and he regularly hangs around, he is begging to be shot this year. He would make a good story to tell in years to come. No guarantee someone else, a car, mother nature, etc... doesn't get him or he simply moves on before next year.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Personally I'd take Irma if given the opportunity... you obviously named him for this year's hurricane and he regularly hangs around, he is begging to be shot this year. He would make a good story to tell in years to come.

He's sure tempting me (and fate), Bueller. Twice I've watched him in daylight cross my back yard from the house slowly enough I could have run out and popped him, but instead of grabbing my "cannon" I grabbed my Canon camera. Had he tempted me BEFORE I harvested the 8 point I wouldn't have hesitated to grab the rifle. If I knew future years wouldn't buy him any brow tines and / or additional length on his crab pincers I think I'd go ahead and harvest him.

On the flip side, to date I've harvested three really nice 3 1/2 year olds off my place in a three year time span and one nice 4 year old. Neighboring property is a 4,000 acre plantation that is blessedly lightly hunted and I would love to see the day that I'm able to harvest a true granddaddy that reach 5 years old or higher AND that has good scoring genes.

On the scoring note, I can score one pretty well with tape but unlike a few other forum members haven't scored enough to give good eyeball estimates, thus my reason for asking.

 

[bigbendmarine]

And lest the above comment sound like I'm just trying to pick which one would score the highest, not necessarily so. MUCH appreciate your point about the story on "Irma" adding something to the equation. Also would lean to harvesting Irma if I believed he's near his prime due to his lack of brows and the small pincers if it meant that letting one of the other bucks live would give them the chance to really shine down the road.

 

[bbcoach]

IMO, Irma is at least 5 1/2 years old. He has a wide body which makes his legs look short, sagging back and belly, wide and heavy horns for FL (shooter in my book for Northern FL). MeLikey looks like another 5 1/2 year old, strong wide front shoulders, heavy wide horns with a nice crab claw, beautiful long brow tines, another wide body (shooter also). Chief Osceola is tough to judge with the PICS you have, you need a good broadside shot but the horns are heavy and wide for FL (rough estimate 4 1/2 maybe older). Bo Jr. is a Great deer, looking at the one PIC you have I would say 3 1/2 maybe 4 1/2, love the symmetrical rack, the body isn't as wide as the others, longer legs, back is still straight (I'd give him one more year and see what he looks like). Beautiful Bucks for northern FL!

 

[bigbendmarine]

Bbcoach, until making this post I hadn't noticed how much weight MeLikey has lost on the "chase girls" diet plan.

With the most recent captures I've looked at being strongest in my memory I've thought him on the leaner side... but when I looked back to the Oct pictures above I was surprised to see he did have a bit of a belly on him only a month or so ago. Heck of a diet plan!

 

[bueller]

Your bucks have some serious tarsal staining. That screams age to me.

As for scoring. Someone posted this on here a while ago. It gets you close. Estimate the length of each tine on one side and add together. Multiply this number by 2 and add 80 for an 8 point main frame and 90 for a 10 point main frame.

Irma ~130
MeLikey ~126
Chief ~ 115
Bo ~ 128

I'm not great at this so don't put too much weight into what I say.

 

[bbcoach]

Reading your post again, I see you wanted opinions on which deer to take and why. I am 60 years old and have hunted most of my life. I've killed more deer than I can count and my philosophy has changed as I've gotten older. Now, I only want to kill deer due to their age not by antler size. Here's my reason. As deer age they normally grow in body size and antlers, to a certain point, and then start to decline. Once we pull the trigger or put an arrow through them, that's it. If you kill them at an early age, you never get to see their true potential. Let em grow to their potential and let them pass those genes onto future generations. By using this philosophy, I have witnessed that you will see more smaller bucks and have a more balanced age class on your property. With that, I would put Irma and MeLikey on my hit list and take either deer that walks by, if I only had one tag. More than one tag, take Irma or MeLikey and cull bucks (ones with deformed antlers or on the decline).

 

[H20fwler]

I vote for MeLikey. He looks to have age and a good look.

 

[Bill]

Running out the door so I can't do much math at the moment.

I think Irma looks oldest but maybe he's just a big eater living the laid back FL lifestyle. I have him at about 125 +

 

[Plottin'booners]

My vote is for which ever one lives on your property the least. I really enjoy picking up the sheds on my home bucks. Plus if for some odd reason( very rare) one of the bucks that is at your place regularly suddenly takes a big jump as a 6, 7, or 8+ year old you will have years of his sheds plus you should definitely have him patterned. When in doubt and you just want to shoot one we always try for what we call the "out of towners".

 

[Eggman]

I would shoot MeLikey. Cool brow tines. Those are all good FL bucks. Sorry to hear about the loss of your dad.

 

[Mortenson]

Another vote for Melikey. Followed by Irma. You're right, Irma does have a nice, chunky rack. Your buck last year was really cool looking. Once you start shooting cool looking bucks it's hard to go back!

 

[bigbendmarine]

Truly appreciate all the replies. Enjoyed reading the thoughts behind each one. As an update, I harvested 1 of the 4 this morning after he tempted me just a bit too much. I was actually packing and about 30 minutes from heading out to spend some time with my Mother when the buck walked right out in the open across one of my fields, and quite close to the house. Didn't think I'd be able to get a shot at him but grabbed the rifle and snuck outside to see if he was still in eyesight. Soon as I can find a few minutes I'll share which deer along with the crazy tale of getting him. Story is a doozie, as I ran into a couple of Murphy's Law challenges before pulling the trigger!

 

[bigbendmarine]

Had the chance to lay eyes on MeLikey in person for the first time ever yesterday evening. Walked straight across our backyard at last light... close enough to my daughter's playhouse that I could have hit him with a rock. DEFINITELY tested my will-power on the 2 bucks a season self-imposed limit!

Still, haven't actually stepped in the woods to hunt since mid-November (discounting shooting Irma early December as did so from the edge of the yard versus a stand in the woods), and I'm hopeful that treating my small place as sanctuary might help a few nice ones dodge bullets the next two weeks when season ends.