Thanks folks, glad you enjoyed them too.
I'm just a mule deer weirdo, so everyone of these bucks, even the yearlings we saw were fantastic to look at, from my perspective.
Besides believing, bias as all heck, that deer in general, both white tail and mule deer, are the most important big game animal on the Continent, I also find deer the most interesting big game animal to look at.
Every buck's antlers are unique from the next buck, as these pictures show. Even yearlings vary so much, from one to another. Like chocolates, you never know what the next one is going to look like.
Some of these deer have eye guards, some not. Some have eye guards that have been bloomed off, other not so much. Some have wide spreads, others go straight up. Some lay out wide on the bottoms, or the tops, will others curl-in, almost to the point of their main-beams touching. Some have extra points, some don't and the one's that have extra points are unpredictable, they might be a straight-out point or twisted, split, and gnarly or even turn down and become a drop point.
Some main beams are 27 inches long and the next one might be 17 inches. Some have huge forks on the front, others on the back and still some have hardly any forks at all.
I could go on but you get the idea. I love seeing mule deer antlers. It's one of my favorite ways to spend a day.
TriState, I like the bases on that old "sticks" buck. I think he might be in regression. Looks like his beams are starting to get funky and mis- shapen. He's likely a buck that has been passed over for many years, and now that he's getting old he'll end up with some unusual configurations and some sportsmen will harvest him and proudly mount him. He reminds me of a Cape Buffalo who's bosses are about to met in the middle. While he might have been a cull at one time, now he's cool. Kind of like a lot of us old boys, I suppose. ;-)
And yet I really like buck #16 too, he looks like a fat steer to me. His rack is pretty good but that big belly and sway back make his head look small. He's head gear is not quite as small as it looks, setting up there on the big fat body.
The last buck should score high, pretty deep forks, pretty good mass, average spread. Not a true breast but a darn sight bigger that anything I've ever killed.
I don't think any of these deer score over 190" but who cares, they all look great too me.
Thanks again for your comments. "Long live mule deer!"
DC