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Deer score rant

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
Alright.... I gotta rant a little. Some of you may have seen my Facebook post a few days ago....

I almost can't stand watching any hunting shows anymore. People are absolutely insane with their scoring of deer. I was just watching bow hunt or die..... the first guy was giving his hitless deer and was rattling off scores for his deer..... I just wanna know where he gets these numbers? He was calling 130 inch deer 150 and 160s.....I don't know why, but it's a Huge pet peeve of mine.... am I the only one that us bothered by this? Ha
 

Bigslam51

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,778
127
Stark County
I just laugh. But it seems like they feel that they are under so much pressure to kill big bucks that they have to lie about the score. Why can't they just say "look at this nice buck, I'd like to kill him".
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
57,000
274
North Carolina
I quit watching when they all went to just killing deer and got away from educating.... They're probably some out there that still do try to educate but they pimp so much stuff it seems more like an infomercial than a hunting show....
 

Steelheadtracker

Junior Member
524
61
I haven't watched a hunting show in years. Do they actually hunt free roaming deer or is it mostly high fence types of hunting for their shows?
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,963
139
Alright.... I gotta rant a little. Some of you may have seen my Facebook post a few days ago....

I almost can't stand watching any hunting shows anymore. People are absolutely insane with their scoring of deer. I was just watching bow hunt or die..... the first guy was giving his hitless deer and was rattling off scores for his deer..... I just wanna know where he gets these numbers? He was calling 130 inch deer 150 and 160s.....I don't know why, but it's a Huge pet peeve of mine.... am I the only one that us bothered by this? Ha


i almost posted this same thing a couple days ago. I am just tired of the overall "big buck" craze. I am all for passing deer, and do a lot but lets just Fing hunt. So many people down others for killing smaller bucks or not high scoring bucks, etc. It is just crazy!
 
1,560
0
I feel the same way. We all would like to shoot a big buck, and if it score good that's great. I'm not going to pass on a mature buck because he is not perfect and won't score well. If I see a buck that gets my heart rate up and I can hear my pulse thumping, that's good enough for me.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,859
260
It's because the show is not for well educated hunters like ourself. We are a minority of the hunting population. The vast majority of deer hunters who step foot in the woods can't tell the difference between 130 and 160. When the guy on TV says it's a 160 they don't know any better. They just know 160 is big. Then they get around their other hunting buddies and say "did you see that guy kill that 160 on that show". The sad reality is, all the lying, misleading advertising, and over the top antics exists because it works.
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
Well I couldnt help myself. Todd graph an email expressing my disgust. I also told him how it made me think less of their show....
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Well I couldnt help myself. Todd graph an email expressing my disgust. I also told him how it made me think less of their show....

As if they really care. 99 out of 100 watching don't know the difference. Besides you don't pay his salary but the advertisers do and hopefully the other 99 will buy some of their products.
 

Mike R

*Supporting Member*
336
55
I get it all the time " what does he score" I tell them my honest opinion. Some like it, some don't. But, I always tell them it's a trophy in your eyes or you wouldn't be standing in my shop. You are right most are all about the score.
 

Boarhead

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
I feel the same way. We all would like to shoot a big buck, and if it score good that's great. I'm not going to pass on a mature buck because he is not perfect and won't score well. If I see a buck that gets my heart rate up and I can hear my pulse thumping, that's good enough for me.

X2. If i like it then it's good enough for me.
Could care less anymore about entering anything in the books.
Gross score is where it's at just to let ya know what he grew.
But yea i have seen those shows and just laugh at how much they cant score a deer.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,383
193
North Central Ohio
With the deer numbers in the crapper in many states they have to call smaller bucks big bucks. If a guy didn't know any better and only learned from watching these shows they too would think that 120" is a 140" deer. Until they start shooting spikes those deer will never be under 140" lmao. Think about it, If I shot 150-170" deer year after year and now I'm shooting 130-140" deer and still telling you they are 150-170" deer it would take you longer to catch on. I could still get a few more seasons out of people watching my show before they figure it out and stop watching.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,762
248
Ohio
I just laugh when they exclaim "Wow! Look at that buck! I'd say he will go 150 or so." Really? Guess my 140" must have just turned into a 160". I am selective on which shows I watch. Most of them are garbage.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,893
260
SW Ohio
Don't know if it's the same show Zach was referring to but I watched a guy(Swarovski prostaffer...lmao) kill a 120-130" deer with a rifle and he said it was around 160". He barely lifted the deers head up so the viewers could see it but you could clearly see it wasn't much more than a 120" deer as it stood up near a herd of cattle in an open prairie. What a idiot but he was sure to mention how great of hunting trip it was with that outfitter and how awesome they were getting him on that mature deer! Lmao

I also agree with everyone else's points mentioned above as well!

For shits and grins. Next time you go over to Archery Talk checkout the sig lines! See how many Pro Staffers you see and how long some of the sig lines are, it's indicative of where our sport has gone!

Another thing I've often wondered, you know many of these outfitters you see on TV being used by all these hunters all season long have to eventually run out of high scoring mature deer! Prolly going to start to seeing a trend of lesser scoring deer getting killed because they know viewers want to see more than just a hunter passing up deer. You know times are lean when shows use doe killin(management) and segments of what goes on around the lodge to fill up a shows time slot! I see it happening more and more!
 
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Fullbore

Senior Member
6,439
126
South Eastern Ohio
^^^^^^ I agree with this.
It's a joke any more. The other day I watched a pro staffer from some WV hunting show whack a nice mature 8 point. This buck was doing great to just make P&Y, but the guy blurts out 140! I had to laugh and then turned the channel.
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
^^^^^^ I agree with this.
It's a joke any more. The other day I watched a pro staffer from some WV hunting show whack a nice mature 8 point. This buck was doing great to just make P&Y, but the guy blurts out 140! I had to laugh and then turned the channel.
Yes... this was the show I posted about in facebook. And he kept saying,"look at his mass." The largest mass measurement on the deer was probably 3.5in. Ha
 
I don't watch many hunting shows.

I guess I'm a little different than most of you fellas. Score does matter to me, simply because it is the way trophy deer are judged. Not saying that a 170" gross deer with 24 inches of deductions that nets 146" is not a trophy. I'm just saying that B&C and P&Y do set the scoring standards. If I really want to know where a deer I kill stands in the big picture I must use the standards that everyone else uses.

I'm also kinda anal about busted up racks, why I can't really explain. If I kill a buck I want him to be missing a major part of his headgear. A broken tip off a tine or something like that I can live with. But, if he is missing part of his rack that takes away from the majestic beast he could be I'll pass him and hope he has good antlers next season. Killing deer is not that important to me, but hunting them is a big part of my life.