I agree with you 100%, it's certainly not all about the score...yet you did ask, right?
I've taken a lot of bucks in the past 50 years, hunting a lot of states. Most of the time, i had good places to hunt. Maybe not the best places and i didn't seem to ever kill the biggest bucks around but i killed a lot of nice Blacktails and more than a few nice Muley Bucks. Of all those bucks, maybe a couple grossed over 180".
A trophy's score does not make one buck better than another. It also doesn't make one hunter better than another. It's just a number that you and i can use to help .describe the qualities of a particular animal.
For instance, if you said "i killed a nice 24" 4x5 that ended up grossing right at 180"". If you told me that, i'd, a lot of others here too, know from experience just the type of quality buck that you took. Also, there is always the chance that your buck might make enough points to qualify to be entered into the Record Books of North American Big Game. Boone and Crockett, The Book! Some do, some don't enter their deer if it qualifies. It's totally up to the hunter!
I have a good buddy who has passed on now. His name is Jerry Morgan and you could find it under Typical Mule deer in "the Book". His buck, i seen it many times, looks very similar to yours. It's a scoring machine yet not all that big of a framed buck. Sometimes a buck doesn't have to be a monster to score really well and that's why i suggested that you might want to get yours scored. Sorry for the long post!
Joey
"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
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