We have a whitetail herd of around 30 or so in the immediate area that travel through my place at dawn and dusk.  They bed in some heavy thickets on the neighbors property.  This time of year in the evenings they spend a lot of time in my hay field which is rich with alfalfa and clover. I took these pictures tonight and am pretty impressed with this guy's rack.  I believe he is 3 1/2 or there abouts and his rack looked pretty good last year but looks way heavier this year. He's a 10 point. There is a younger one that is often with him that looks pretty good too (8 point) but I didn't see him tonight.

thought for sure you would be posting pics of me

Touche!

That guy is young.  His rack doesn't even come out to his nose and he still looks like a thoroughbred.

His face and neck look young.  Guess the rut really swells them up.  He's a beautiful deer.
He wouldnt survive a deer season here.....

My thinking is this. Right now he is the king of his pack and in this environment they are really good, but his day will come. And I want to end it for him at his peak. It maybe next year or two years I don't know.  What I do know is that although most of my neighbors aren't deer hunters they also know that we need to keep things in check. Right now it is almost perfect for everyone. There is zero hunting pressure right now in their area and in a year or two the youngsters will start to challenge him but I'm gonna wait until they start to defeat him. By then, he'll be old but huge.  Much like all of us.