Good points guys.. Here is kind of my line of thinking.. If it was a natural reason he got messed up be it busted tines or bad genetics, I would not shoot him, or I would leave it be. But in my eyes this is a little different. Sure, altering him us unnatural, but so is how he got that way.. Basically, I don't see a hunter fixing it any more different than a hunter messing it up. Both are unnatural. If I didn't have a history with him, If I didn't let him walk last season I wouldn't even shoot him this year. He would just be another one that didn't make the cut. He's never going to be hanging at the deer and turkey expo, he'll never be at some dog and pony show, and he'll never be put in a book. he'll simply be on my wall.. And when I look at him and think back of the story of how he fell I want to see him for what he should be if bubba didn't wound him. But you raise a very good point Sean. IDK maybe I'm crazy. Never would have thought I would even think of altering a deers rack. Maybe I won't.. We'll have to see. I may mount him and see if it continues to stick in my craw later. Maybe it's a what it is vs a what it should be.
Like this deer this year. I wouldn't shoot him. He'll never be anything. And I would never shoot him and get the opposite side matched. That's just how he is. Even if he was wounded I wouldn't shoot him and get that side fixed. I have no history with him an he's just another jacked up deer. But when I look at the tall 8. I want to look at him for what he should be before bubba jacked up his right side.