I've never experienced ground shrinkage, cause I've never shot that big a deer.....

Nice article......

I have spent countless hour looking and reading about antlers and trying to learn what to look for in a good rack and every year before I head out I spend a little time and read over some of the info I have. There is nothing worst than seeing a deer on the ground and thats not the one you spent all the time looking for all summer!

I've never experienced ground shrinkage. Nothing I have shot has been big enough to be disappointed in.

I have learned to be a fair judge of trophy quality in most of the animals that I hunt. I have not quite figured out how to hold off on an average 4X4 mule deer in hopes of finding a 180 incher. I guess I haven't taken enough animals to be at that point yet. 

I know some guys that it's happened to. Luckly not me. 

I once took a large bodied buck that had a funny looking mal-nurished rack.  When I shot him at about 12 yards away he appeared to be a three point (1X2 spike).  After I recovered him, I was surprised to find that he had four other points that were about one inch long.  That made him a 5X2. Wow, seven points,  when I thought I only had three, what a bonus!  

I don't have the opportunity to see the types of bucks that are mentioned in the article because I only hunt our local mountains in Southern California.  Therefore, I'm not really concerned with how many pont the antlers will "score".  I know that it is extremely important to a lot of outfitters that are being paid big bucks to put their clients on big......bucks , and there are hunting parties and clubs that use the point system to either manage or set a bar for their harvest criteria, but personally, I just try to harvest a buck that obviously has been around for a couple of years and therefore has had a chance to breed. 

My trophies so far include:  my very first buck which is a nice 3X3 that I harvested in Southern Colorado, my first archery buck, and then last years forkie that I got with my boys alongside.  I'm not sure that I would want to get any of them scored because that might deminish the trophy-ness that they have with me.

I do, however, really enjoy and dream that some day I I will get to hunt some bucks of the caliber that is mentioned in the article.  Shoot, I would love to walk up on a deer that I harvested and find out that he is 160"!

That is a great point Man of the Fall. Trophies are in the eyes of the beholder. There is no reason why a doe or anything else can not be considered a trophy. Still, field judging is a great skill to have. I like trying to learn how to do it for different species. I am fair to good at judging mule deer and elk but I need a lot of work at judging everything else.