I do not hold myself out to be a good judge of antler. In the back of my head is a small sensor that has three basic states. One is “DOE.” The second is “HAS ANTLERS.” The third is “Quint, I think we’re going to need a bigger boat.” I know that admission has lowered my esteem in your eyes, but I have to be honest. I learned how to hunt deer at a time when doe were not to be taken, anything with an antler was a gift from the Gods, and big racks were only seen hanging in restaurants.
That was me, back in 2007, talking about shooting "The Big One." in
The Savage Speaks Again. I have not shot anything bigger than TBO since. In fact, I'm probably due. Of course, I've been telling myself that for 7 years now. Up until TBO, I had a simple rule:
Only shoot a buck if he was bigger than last year's. That worked up to a point. Then I had to add provisios like:
1) If you don't shoot a buck the previous year, the scale resets
2) If you have to finish off a wounded buck, the scale resets
3) . . .
. . . pretty soon it was meaningless. I finally had to admit that I was just another naked ape with a rifle and gave up.
The problem was, after TBO, where do you go? Granted, the state record came from the next county over. TBO was 275 lbs. I've seen 300 pounders. However, I got to figuring one day and came up with a number: at any given time, there less than a dozen deer bigger than TBO roaming my county.
Since 2007, I've shot my #3 and #4 best deer. I've also passed on a nice 10 pointer that came right under my stand in 2010 during October Muzzleloader Season, and after he was gone I got to asking myself why I'd let him walk. The best answer I could find was that shooting that animal would have pretty well ended my season a month before Deer Camp officially opened.
That's my first weakness. I love the ritual of Deer Camp and hunting in those few weeks in November. Little else matters.
My other weakness? It all comes back to TBO. I'm fairly certain I will have a bigger deer in my sights some time before I die, but until he shows up, I'll always be asking myself if I should hold out for something bigger or be happy with what just stepped out from behind the cedars.
