Which one to Shoot??

sageadvice

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You set your rifle down on a rock and take your glasses in hand while catching up on your breath. You can't believe it but right below you in the next little basin, not 150 yds away are 4 nice trophy bucks feeding along the sidehill;

1) is nice and high, not very wide but he is "up there", looks to be a 4x4 with deep forks all around.

2)not so high but really wide, he too is a 4X4 with big eye guards and nice points

3) This buck has major mass, he's fairly high, not too wide, but man o man, look at that mass.

4) the last buck is obviously a nontypical, not the biggest frame but he's got at least 3 extras on each side.

You got one tag and know instantly that each and every buck there is a no-brainer shooter. Which buck do YOU shoot?? :)

Joey
 
#3...

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Interesting! 3 outa 4 with different answers and not one that i figured maybe most would go with. Oh well!

There is no wrong answer to this guys, i was just curious how others would reply. Could be a fun thread, Thanks!!

Joey
 
Joey, The funny thing is tomorrow I may have a different answer lol... Some days I crave a tall one others I want a wide one...just depends I guess..

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I shoot em all and see which one looks better in my hands. Jk.


In order for me to accurately answer I need a little more info.... #1 you say is not very wide but tall. How wide and tall we talkin? Then on the non typical, you say there are three extras on each side but not a good frame. Are these extras just stickers or decent? Just going off of the vague description I say the super tall one with deep forks. But if the non typ. Has 12 inch cheaters then it may change my mind.
 
Never shot a non-typical so I would have to go with the non-tyical.

Fun thread Joey---thanks for giving us all a chance to daydream!

Robb
 
The heavy one and the tall one would gather my attention more so than the other two, unless the non-typ had a droptine.
 
High or Heavy. Really depends how high and deep forked and how heavy and if there are any forks. It is not all about the score, it is about that WOW factor!
 
If you took a little bit of each from the first 3 and added it to #4, now we are cooking with gas! As it is though, those tall long tines get ya every time.

Great post! I will be playin this damn scenario in my mind all fricken day!
 
Sage are they all mature? Is it an OTC tag? Is this area heavily hunted? Is the #1 buck over 185+? Does the heavy horned buck have 16 inch bases? is the wide one 36+ wide but only scores 160? How long are the cheaters on the non typ? Just giving ya hell sage!! :) Awesome scenario. I dont know which one I would honestly shoot? Wouldn't it be fun to have to choose!!!
 
#3. Unless #1 had really deep forks then number 1. I know its not all about the score, but most of the time it really is. When was the last time you saw a legit 190+ and thought. "I'm gonna pass. He is going to score really good but that doesn't matter."

The score system is set up to give the wow factor.
"That's a special feeling, Lloyd"
 
The reality is I would still be out of breath, take a quick aim at #4, shoot, and watch all 4 as they disappear over the mountain.

But I guess the answer you're looking for would be #4 the non-typical.

Eel
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-23-11 AT 10:56AM (MST)[p]You guys are all great!! Thanks a ton for such great comments and good questions. As for scores, let me tell you what i think each of them might score. Mind you, i'd have already shot one of these guys but being a hypothetical question, we can only speculate. :)

With the following additional info, change your choice if you've a mind to.

#1, Super high and really nice forks, one of the younger looking bucks of the bunch though, 23-24" wide, 22" tall, a solid 185+ buck with super genetics.

#2, He's 4" outside his ears, 15" g-2's, 8" g-3's, 22" main beams. I figure he's a 180 class buck but that outside spread is no doubt 30"+

#3, No way you could get your hands around this buck at any point from the base all the way up to where the g-4's spit off. huge 14" g-3's but a little weak on the G-4's which won't help his score. In fact, one side is a little crabby. The oldest and heaviest bodied buck o the bunch.

#4 He's got a 26" 170-175 main frame all day long, None of the trash are longer than 3-4 inches but there's cheaters, split g-3's and 4's, and a couple drops in there... Just a real pretty 8X7 buck that might/should end up in the 190's.

Note; #3 i see has a limp going. looks like he's hurt on his right rear, opposite his left crabby front.

Joey
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-23-11 AT 11:07AM (MST)[p]I think I will squeeze the ole trigger on #1, which I was going to do on the first description even before I read your followup post! I've never been overly excited on nontypicals and would much rather have a big typical 4x4 in this scenario, unless the NT was way up in the books!!!
 
Honestly, they all sound great, and its would be nice to size them up to eachother. But i think ide go with #4. But if the nontypicals mass aint all that great, ide go with #3... Ide like to have to make a decision like this.
 
Mass has always been my "on" button.....but I've never shot a real non-typical. It would be a very nice dilema.

(About 5 years ago, I had 4 4x4s in my scope all at the same time....there was a 5th but no matter how I angled it or changed the power could I get them all in. I didn't pull the trigger but it was a very fun morning.


Within the shadows, go quietly.
 
Since I love day dreaming about big bucks so much, I'll bite...

Buck #3 sounds like my kind of buck assuming he has a typical 4 point main frame with eye guards. If you cant get your hands around his bases and the mass is maintained all the way to the top were looking at almost 25 inches of mass per side which is pretty rare for a big muley. Sounds like he has monster back forks and since you didn't give us a G2 measurement I'm going to guess he's got at least 18 inch G2's to go with those monster 3's. The non crab claw side will go 91 inches and thats giving him only 8 inch g4's. Give him 89 for his crab-claw side and throw in a narrow inside spread of 20, and your looking at a 200 inch gross monster typical. Just the kind I like to day dream about.
 
Thanks Sage, I was all over that heavy mature #3 until you mentioned droppers. They all just ran off and jumped the fence on to private because I couldn't freak'n decide..... thanks a lot...
 
Wait until they all line up for a perfect 4 buck death shot. duh. then get all your family memebers that have tags to tag them with you. Obviously this is the right answer.



It was a big bodied 2 point.
 
A little true story. A couple years ago, my hunting pard was on his way back to camp on his quad. It was getting late but he had no problem seeing the big buck cross over ahead of him on the steep dirt and rock access road that he was coming down. He waited for his friend to get up to him and they both together crawled up and peeked over the edge toward where it looked like that buck had gone.

Believe it or not, there were 4 monster bucks all together not 75 yds away and not having a clue that they were about to be fired on. The biggest framed buck, he told me, was 34-35" wide, high, all very deep and long pointed forks, a super clean typical that he felt would easily net 200" or better. The other buck that stood out was a crazy high and heavy, not too wide, non-typical still in the velvet.

My pard whispered to his fairly inexperienced friend to go ahead when ready and take the "big one". His friend was basically in a stupor, couldn't see the bucks, couldn't pick out the right buck, couldn't see his sights, but finally shot, both guys were laid out prone, "at" the big typical, no doubt a "Booner", and my pard took the non-typ about a half a second later. The typical buck was not hit, my pard's buck was a dandy itself scoring 227 gross, but to me anyway, not the quality of that huge typical.

The jest of this story is different strokes for different folks. It's completely normal for two guys looking at two bucks and one guy thinking one is better while the other guy picks the other one.

Joey
 
I let them all walk because obviously if I am seeing that many trophy bucks all together I must be hallucinating!

I'd probably take the non-typical.

UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)
 
im a sucker for width... but non-typs are hard to come by too. i think id have to see them. i think id shoot the wide one or the non typ.
3rd choice would be mass buck.

i tend to go off more eye appeal than numbers so id have to just see them
 
Joey, I shot #4 but I haven't tagged it yet. Can I change my mind and shoot #3 instead? I had a change of heart.

Eel
 
Eel, I guess that's better than what Travis was gonna do! :)

I believe just one of those bucks should be enough for any Man. :)

Joey
 
I wanted 3 to begin with and then you added more daylight and I still want 3. I hate crabby forks but not as much as I love mass. Never killed a really heavy horned buck. Rolled one once but in my unconscious state of mind, jerked the bolt out of a Austin Hallack muzzleloader and watched him regained his senses and he left me standing dumbfounded with a bolt in one hand and a worthless piece in the other.

He was crabby too but those mains looked like scrub oak trunks. Figured him at 34" wide but I'm never right on width.

Relived that 5 minutes a thousand times over the last 10 years. Figured I hit him square in the nose, took 6 good hunters back and made circles for 3 days, gone! Watched for ravens for two months, none. Damn, damn, damn.

Thanks for making me relive that nightmare again Joey, dang your hid anyway! ;-)

DC
 
Ah Hell! I already broke the law once,So i would shoot them all!!Then i would post up on here what they scored...
 
Cabinfever, great job sniffing out a great shooter of those available. I find no fault in your thinking!

Lumpy, some have said that i tell a good story but i'm thinking that i have nothing on you. You can tell it with the best of them!

elknr, If i hadn't taken the time to read some of your prior posts, i'd say that you were joking. I suggest that you take a good look at yourself, look up Utard in the dictionary and see the picture. lol

Naw, i'm just messing with you. You probably are an ok guy and we got off to a bad start on that other thread. Let's move on, no hard feelings on my part.

Joey
 
I wish was could tell'em like you, Mark Twain and a few other MMers. Quite frankly, for me it's the main reason I interact here. Great stories, great ideas, and great knowledge coming from a wide sector of fine folks such as yourself. At my age, painting pictures with words is most enjoyable. Reading your paintings adds color to my life.

DC
 
Overton said, "I'd shoot all 4 and blame it on D13er."

We had a local doctor/surgeon do exactly that in zone X-5B, Cali. He killed 3 or 4 big bucks and got caught by a warden trying to get out with 3 of them in his rig. I know that he was prosecuted for his crime and his stature as a big game hunter took quite a hit with us locals. Still though, i see his name listed in the mags as a member/contributer to the Boone and Crockett Club.

Joey
 

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