Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Bucks that still haunt you

Over the years some bucks that were encountered during a hunting season still haunt me. A couple examples. Was tagged out when I was fortunate to snap a picture of these two bucks in the Missouri Breaks.

Yes, I have one in particular that I think about often.
Mid-November archery hunt in SE Kansas on a chunk of walk-in ground.

I was set up in a hedge row with my back against a river, wind in my face, overlooking a series of scrapes and area littered with leg-sized scrapes.

About 8AM, I looked out into the ag field and the largest, most spectacular buck I've ever seen (still) was making a beeline to my locale. He closed the distance to 75 yards and for no apparent reason, did a 90 degree turn, fought his way through seemingly impenetrable brush - and just like that, walked out of my life.

A 12 point I saw several times. He was always too far or just on the other side of the fence. Sometimes it just isn't meant to be.

I was in IL and set up on the edge of a field when a nice 150" deer and a GIANT 200" plus non typical came out at the far end chasing a doe. They chased her for 15-20 min around the crp strip at the other end of the field. She then bolted across the field with them in tow. She ran right under me. The 150" deer came on a string and stood under me at 24 yards facing away. I had never killed anything bigger than 120" at the time. I drew back and settled in but that 200" deer started coming and I let down. The 150" eased off and the 200" kept coming. He got about 80yds out and started rubbing a small tree. Then he turned and went back the way he came! I truly think he may have 230" or bigger. Absolute monster and biggest deer I've seen alive. Still have no idea why he didn't follow the other deer. Doesn't make any sense.

Lee

Yep.

I was 12 years old. One of the biggest 10 point bucks I've ever seen. Still to this day. It was standing in the woods just off our yard. I got up at sun rise to pee and could see it out of the bathroom window. I woke my dad I as loaded my gun and he asked what I was doing. I told him...quickly as I loaded the gun. He wanted me to shoot through the window. lol

As soon as the weatherstripping "broke" the door frame, he was gone.

Big mule I saw in whitetail season 5 days in a row. Wouldn't say he haunted me because I wasn't drawn but sure spent some time looking for him the next year for my buddy.



Wore out a pair of boots looking for this guy over a couple year span. He went downhill last year pretty bad so I think his time has passed. That one haunts me a bit.

I've got a few bucks that haunt me but two stand out. One was the tallest mule deer rack I've ever seen or seen pictures of, with low forks and extremely long tines. He wasn't wide as mulies go and the extreme height looked odd when he turned toward me, but he would score well into the book. I watched him at a range of 100 yards for ten minutes, with a deer tag in my pocket and deer season open, but I was on a hike with some yuppies and hadn't carried my rifle along in case it might offend them.

The other was a true blacktail on the Olympic Peninsula in mid-November. I was on a cliff top in old growth timber watching a big ugly racked fork horn nuzzle a doe below me, when I noticed a deer 25 yards to one side of them, mostly hidden in brush. A huge dark mass of sticks stuck up above the brush and looked like antlers but it was too big to be a blacktail rack, more the size of a mule deer, plus I figured that if it was a buck it would be sniffing the doe. I watched it a moment then turned my attention back to the fork horn, trying to decide whether to shoot him, when the huge rack moved and disappeared. I glimpsed the buck twice more but never got a shot at him. That was years ago, before I started carrying binoculars when still hunting woods.

Saw a giant typical 10pt in Iowa years ago in the middle of a corn field too far to shoot that was way larger than any deer I've laid eyes on. I've seen some dandy 160 type bucks, maybe a bit larger, and that 10 just flat dwarfed any whitetail I've seen alive by a very large margin. He was just unreal, abnormal mass and ridiculous length.

Plenty of heartbreak in this thread - nice to know I'm not alone.

Misery loves company.

Knowing what I know now...I'd have shot through the fuggin window.

I will not ever forget that big, dark racked, Canadian looking mutha!

Oh piss.........!!!!!

Three or four that I have proof of, a lot that I don't....

You'll need Wi-Fi and you'll want to set the YouTube settings to HD

245-250 inch deer...




240" buck



Wide trashy buck



And this one stings the most

About 25 yrs. ago, before the timber companies ever leased their land in Central Louisiana, I hunted a "stand" I called the Gas Well. Beautiful place where 4 hardwood ridges converged and the deer would come across the little branch bottom to go to a thicket on the next ridge. Killed several deer there, but the main attraction to me was the beauty of it. I usually carried my climber in to the stand, as one year I hunted out of a ladder stand there and a guy I finished school with found the place (didn't know whose stand it was) and killed a buck there.

Anyway, found some large scrapes going up the ridge where the thicket was where they laid up at. I just slipped in there that morning, fixed a makeshift blind against a large beech tree about 25 yds. from the scrapes farthest I could get and still see what I needed to see. As it was breaking day, I heard him coming up the side of the thicket. I rested my Ruger Ultra Light 270 on my knees and picked out the opening where I was going to lay him to rest.

I no longer heard his steps as he just appeared in my opening. I saw the large rack (for our area on public land) and I rested the crosshairs behind his shoulder and gently squeezed the trigger. All that was heard was a sickening "click" I began to gently slide back the bolt to see if I had even put a round in the chamber. I had. While I was trying, as quietly as I could, to chamber another round the big buck disappeared just as he had emerged...quietly.

I had always shot Rem. Core-lokts without incident. I went and shot the rest of the box of cartridges and 5 or 6 of the rounds didn't fire. I went to call Remington and when I looked at the box, I saw that they were then made in Arkansas instead of Connecticut. I called them and they admitted they had some trouble with some of their cartridges and they sent me a check for $35 which did not cover the cost of the deer!

Story didn't end there (in case anyone is still reading the story!). I came down with the flu before I could get back in there to hunt. As I was beginning to feel better, my brother called me and wanted to know if I was up to getting out of the house for a ride in the woods. Yes! We stopped at a convenience store in town to get a coke and the guy who had found my honey hole a few years prior came up to the truck window. I rolled it down and he said "You remember that place by that gas well I killed that buck a few years ago?" Before he could say anything else, I said, "Let me guess. You killed a big buck there." "How did you know?" I said, trying not to let my feelings show, "If my cartridge had of gone off instead of snapping on me, you would have never seen him. I usually don't miss at 25 yds. broadside."

He told me the deer was a 7 pt. with a 17 inch inside spread. Around home when there was open land, that was a nice deer. I saw the pictures later and good, long tines. It was years before I trusted Remington cartridges again. Have never had another problem and have always blamed Walmart as I suspected they would sign a contract with them that if they moved that part of their operations to Arkansas. Would love to know if that is what happened.

Several years ago I was hunting a Monday morning. I had limited time, because I was working swing shift at the time. I had hunted some gated timber company ground in the morning. I was riding my 4-wheeler the 6 or 8 miles back to my pickup. Snow was about 12-15 inches deep. I was scooting right along down this old ridge road, came around a corner and caught a glimpse of a doe high tailing it across the logging road. I immediately parked the 4-wheeler and walked over to where she had crossed. There was another bigger track that had already made it across the road. I followed them down over the ridge. I made it about 100 yds down into the timber and the doe came running up out of there and passed by me at about 20 feet. I figgered that buck was running her around but I couldn't see him any where. I looked and looked but nothing, so I walked about 10 yds to my right to an old skid trail. There standing down the trail about 60 yds was a big old 5 point, I new instantly he was a booner. The split second it took for my jaw to hit the ground and then my rifle to come to my shoulder he was gone.

That spring I looked for his sheds with no luck, put up a camera in the area nothing.

That summer, I went into my local sporting goods store and there on the wall above the register was my buck. I would have recognized it anywhere. Apparently, about 3 days after I had seen the buck, a guy shot him from his pickup while road hunting Thanksgiving day.

The buck netted 172 and some change.

This one. He showed up with 5 days left in the season on my place. I had pics of him for month and a half every night. He was totally nocturnal, and I never saw him again.....

I used to hunt on our family's old homestead near Washingtonville, Ohio. I got into a thicket out on the end of a long point one time and got all turned around. Right out on the end of the point, it dropped off into three finger hollows. I'm standing there looking around, trying to figure where the heck I was, and I realize I'm in an old orchard. The apple trees were all busted up, but still making some fruit. I found a line of scrapes running out on the edge of one of the hollows. These were BIG scrapes-and deep. A flash of white caught my attention. Sure enough, a big buck went busting out of there. I chased that guy all fall, through gun season, ML season, right up to the end of archery season. Saw him several times. No idea how big the rack was, but I'd guess at least a 10 or 12 pointer. I never did get a shot at him.

Saw this guy right up until 2 days before archery season, video taped him on 2 separate occasions, never saw him since. I'd guess him in the mid 190's

Wow what a buck RBO.

Ya he was a gooder for sure, that's about a 330lb Alberta whitetail too, to give you an idea of the size ratio.

Hunting in a large cutover with a .270 so I could shoot faaarrrr. A bad azz buck is being chased by a couple dogs and comes fast, across the holler. The buck is on a course that will take it within 40 yards of me. I wait to shoot, so as to make a good shot on a running deer. Well, I neglected to notice how tall the weeds are, and I also neglect to turn down the power on my scope. As a result, I never get a shot. I would have been better off with a shotgun instead of a flat shooting rifle. If I had been carrying a shotgun with buckshot, instead of a rifle, that buck would be on my wall right now.

Makes sense to me, hell we don't even trust people from Texarkana.

i just told this story to a buddy the other day. about 20 years ago i was hunting in this river bottom and slid my way down a cliff to a little area along side the river. it was about 100 yards wide and 300 yards long. bordered on 3 sides by cliffs and one side by the river. it was on a bend of the river that catches all the flood debris and is choked with logs and shoulder high brush. but there were trails all through it and it was full of huge rubs. i was working my way through looking for a spot to set up and jumped a buck out of its bed at about 20 yards. i just saw it for a few seconds but it was by far the biggest buck i have ever seen in the wild. lots of points, wide and high rack with a lot of mass. i saw it running through the bottoms and could just see its head. that was one for the books. the problem with hunting this area was the only way to get it out would have involved a boat and the nearest roads were about a mile upstream and downstream. and even getting to the place was a long hike with multiple steep climbs. i still toy with the idea of dropping my old john boat in there before season and camping out for a few nights. but thats not likely to happen.

I have a big list. Pictures of a couple, but most were before I started using trail cameras several years ago.

Here's one. The only main frame 12 I've ever encountered at the house. Tons of pics over two years, but I only saw him once. He was killed about a mile from the house...



I had another double beam buck that was around for a while. He was a true pig, mega mass and lots of length. I'd never seen the deer or knew he existed until a farmer ran over his shed right in front of my house. Punctured his tire and the shed never broke. He showed me the shed and my jaw dropped! The next October I walked out of my front door and the deer was in my yard! Never got a picture, never saw him again. Nobody around me killed him -- legally at least. True 200" deer and he disappeared like he never existed.

Pretty much what I said too.

Launched two arrows at 51 and 52 yards at this dudes twin brother the year after I got this one, less than a mile apart, except that he was in the velvet! What a pair they would have made on the wall. That dude jumped the string so bad it was laughable.

My backyard [img:center][/img] [img:center][/img]

A big 9 point that I had at 15 yards when an unseen branch deflected my arrow. He ran 10 more yards and stopped and my second arrow was deflected. It was very thick where I was hunting.

Lol...bad thing is, my daddy's family on his momma's side are from Arkansas. But daddy was born and raised here in LA and always told me you could bring a girl from Arkansas here to LA, but you could never take a girl from LA to Arkansas...lol.

Please...no hate mail. I never took him seriously!

I'm older and probably funny.

I don't have any to talk about. I used to have a few, but then I realized it really doesn't matter and I could care less if I ever shoot another one.

That said the less I care, the better I must hunt because I've killed ones I never thought I'd kill.

But I"m to the point of if its meant to be, it'll happen.

Some nice pics on this thread though.

Southwest Oklahoma. I was on a slight rise glassing a creek bottom several hundred yards to the north.
The wind was probably 40mph and I either must have heard something, or just sensed it.
I turned around and made eye contact with a buck directly behind me, maybe 20 yards away. For a brief second it was like time stood still. He whirled and ran in an instant, and I just watched- my gun was on the ground with my pack a few feet away.
I swear he was at least 24" wide, with long high tines. I'd say he was 30" wide, but don't want to be accused of exaggeration .
I've never seen a buck before, or since, as magnificent as that one.

Two of them. First one I never saw, but I've never seen so many large rubs on cedars as there was in this one thicket. Huge scrapes, and neighbor had seen a big buck there. So, what do I do on opening day.....shot the first buck I saw, a little 7 pointer. Found a shed the following year, 6 points, and after scoring one side, deer would probably have gone around 170. The other...I was walking through a little woods, right by a road, and jumping a buck was the last thing on my mind. Up jumped one of the biggest deer I've ever laid eyes on. It was thick cover, and I was packing a scoped 270. I got a shot off, but missed. Looked around, and found a ton of sign, and figured that buck was living there. Hunted the woods the remainder of the season, but never saw him again.

The second buck, the one with the wide spread, add some mass, and you have "Old Blunt Toes." When I first saw him, he was about 3 yrs. old based on his body mass and 34 wide X 22 high, four on each side. Tried to find him or fresh sign for the next 3 years. Never found either.
A good friend ran an intense survey of the Desert Bighorn living in that area. Said he found his tracks, but never saw him. In spite of covering the area on the ground and in the air with helicopters.
He finally got a video of him from a helicopter a year or two later. 7-9 points on a side and about 37 inches wide. I kept looking for him or his very distinctive tracks. Found nothing but a few old tracks.
Last year I found the tracks left by the one I wounded and lost in 2014. He's still alive. Lost seven pounds in three weeks looking for him. All I found were old tracks. That one was 33-34 wide and half that high with four points on a side.
Then there is the one I was shown a picture of at a water source while he was in velvet... Ever see a picture of a buck that would go well over 40 inches wide ? E

I've had several, but the one that irks me the most happened during muzzleloader 3 or 4 years ago. I'd gotten the traditional bug, and had a 54 caliber Lyman Deerstalker that was wicked scary accurate, so I just knew I was good to go. Opening morning, one of the biggest bucks I've ever seen, before or since, stopped about 40 yards from me. He was at LEAST a 10 pointer, and likely a 12. I put the sights behind his shoulder, squeezed the trigger, and was greeted by the pop of the percussion cap only going off . As he ran off, I swear he was laughing........

I was already so hot I couldn't see straight, but recapped it, and picked out a spot on a tree, pulled the trigger.......... and BOOM! It was all I could do to keep from wrapping that rifle around the nearest tree. Anyway, I took it home, threw it in the closet, and went straight to the local gun shop and bought a brand new inline. I killed 3 other deer with it that year, but never saw Mr. Big again.

As a footnote, to illustrate the brutality of women, my wife STILL brings that up, and laughs.................

You didnt snap that 2nd picture in the missouri breaks. Also would you like to see pics of his shed antlers?

AND don't think an inline won't not fire at times... or a centerfire rifle even.... its not the gun, the deer was not destined for your gambrel IMHO.

I was wondering about that second pic.


Couldn't imagine seeing a buck that big standing still.



If you don't mind me asking what is the story on that buck?

Uh oh.

That buck lives in SW wyoming. That picture was taken long after hunting season had been closed. If the OP indeed saw this buck in the missouri breaks that would be the farthest migration recorded of a mule deer to date. Impressive to say the least.

What year did you take that pic?? And where did you take it??

Thanks, Tz. That made me laugh out loud. Dayom. I wish you'd have done as your dad said. You now know, Father Knows Best.

This^^^^.

Dayom, O, i need to start hunting with you.

Man, sorry to hear that HH. Didnt know this earth had two of me.

I'd say that's him...

MDH and Huntsonora,

This file was shared by a taxidermist friend and I erroneously placed it in a root folder "Fergus County, MT" of the cloud according to my techy daughter.

Good catch.

Wayne

Here is a cropped, non pixelated version of the same pic you shared and the following year...

When it comes to pictures of mule deer of this size there aren't many secrets.

What a buck! No question about that being the same buck!

I have a few but the one that stings the most is a huge split browtine buck that was within 20 yards during archery season in ’95 or ’96. I had a stand on a bench in back of my buddies property at the time. It was like a sanctuary there. He had 45 acres in between 3 pieces of property that aren’t hunted and some of the deer trails cut 2-3 inches into the ground. My stand was in a stand of beech near an opening in a stone wall where 2 trails crossed. Leaves were still up as it was the last week of September. I spooked a couple deer on the way in that morning but was committed to that stand due to the wind so I climbed in anyway. It had rained the day before so it was really quiet and with the leaves up I couldn’t see very far. I was standing up looking in back of my tree about 8AM when I noticed a small buck passing to my left maybe 10 yards from my tree. He wasn’t anything I wanted to shoot and I started to turn to my left thinking there might be more deer coming. As I did that my boots which apparently had a little mud on them made a slight noise and the little buck looked up at me. I was mostly screened from him by the foliage below and I knew he couldn’t see me but was now on high alert so I glanced to my left and there was a monster split browtine buck that had just come thru the stone wall and was staring at the little buck. It might be the biggest deer I’ve ever seen in CT in body size and he had a rack to match but the little buck wasn’t calming down and his body language was clear to the big buck that something was wrong. He turned and took a few steps back down the trail but stayed there at a little over 20 yards but I didn’t have a shot at his vitals. I glanced down and the little buck had calmed down and took a few steps to his left and hopped over the wall and both bucks walked off. The whole thing probably took less than 5 minutes but seemed like a half hour. It was a heartbreaker having a buck like that in close and not even getting a shot. I know I talked about it a lot that fall. My wife got sick of it. It’s hard to explain to someone who’s not a hunter..

There's no question that the other buck is the same buck either

A double drop tine Axis over 34" churns up some sad memories.

So many, so many.

Going back to when I was 16, driving down a road toward my grandpa's place with my dad and older brothers, just staring out the window at a cornfield. At the other end was the biggest live whitetail I've ever seen to this day. Nobody would believe me. I finally went nuts, we stopped and backed up, and away he ran never to be seen again. He was a Booner for certain.

Or, maybe "Scarface" about a decade ago. Hunted him for 3 years. First with a bow, then blew an opportunity with the bow the next year, then had him dead in my riflescope the third year during a blizzard about 3 minutes before season opened. He walked so slowly away, staring back at me. He was already going downhill antler-wise, but he was at least 24" wide whitetail. Nobody ever got him.

Or, maybe just two years ago, when I finally got a clean shot opportunity at a buck that I was after for two years. Muzzleloader season, finally found him, broadside, but at about 150 yards. We only can use open sights and I wasn't comfortable so I let him walk. He'd have made the muzzleloader book for sure. I couldn't find him this year but I haven't heard that anyone got him yet. He's a phantom, mostly nocturnal, but always crests a very high hill and stands there looking down on his lair about 1/2 hour before sunrise. Odd behavior, but consistent.

So many, so many others. I'm going to dream tonight.

Any one of these three on Granite Mtn in NW NV.

I was sitting in a stand with my rifle on my lap, back against the tree, wind in my face. It was foggy, raining softly, and the wet woods were silent. I heard hoof beats on the dirt, angled behind me on my offside. I tilted my head back and out of the corner of my eye saw a large bodied deer approaching and a flash picture of dark and heavy antlers. I could risk shifting position to take him now at 25 yards, or wait until he passed close behind me. Hidden by the tree, I lifted my rifle to intercept him when he walked into view. The distance would be about 15 feet.

The buck froze behind my tree. I was also frozen, staring down through the sights of a .35 Remington at a patch of ground, waiting. I could hear the buck breathing, and I was sure he could hear my heart pounding. The sound of rain hitting the leaves at his feet somehow grew louder and louder. It seemed endless.

I heard the burst of air leaving the buck’s lungs as bounded straight away behind me. I knew it was over in that instant, but I stood and tried to frame the deer in my sights as he moved low and fast through the brush. I caught a glimpse of moving grey and brown before he disappeared.

I shot a big non typical 14 point quartering away hard this past muzzleloader season. I thought he was leaving my life forever. Didn't aim far enough back and missed vitals. Dang it.

He appeared five minutes after I got in the stand for a midday til dark sit. He was at 20 yards but behind lots of limbs. I took,the shot at about 80 yards.


Hopefully he will be back this year.

The BIG blacktail buck my brother and I jumped some years ago. I had the whole month to hunt but he was in Oregon on a non-res tag and just for the weekend...... I wanted him to kill it.... he never had a shot.... I HAD that buck.

Bro and I were 5 yards apart tops but a little cedar blocked his shot lanes. Afterwards he said, that was noble and all but next time SHOOT THE [bleep] BUCK!

My god...those pictures look relatively recent. Any chance he is still alive?

Is it true that he's in SW Wyoming?

Popeye sure turned a lot of heads in this area....AFAIK, he was never killed by a hunter, but is for sure gone by now.
[video:yahoo]https://youtu.be/P7xqkxNFfbs[/video]

Only deer I wished to have a chance at I saw as a teenager. My brother and I were standers on a deer drive during Pa.'s long forgotten three day deer season. We where young and eager to get some doe on the ground and were fifty yards apart on a field edge looking into a narrow wood lot that always produced doe on a drive. With our backs to the field I was checking every flickering leaf and twig sound . All of a sudden my brother gives me a Psst... I calmy wave him off,then he says "Dude look at the buck behind us!" I turned my head and there half way between us stood a beautiful 6x6 buck with about a 20" spread and nice even long tines. He was only 30 Yds from either of us and did not spook right away, like he knew he was safe. He snorted and then turned and trotted across the field and down in a deep brush choked valley. We never before or after seen any deer near his sixze in that area . When the drivers arrived we were standing with our backs to the woods looking at where he disappeared, talking and never did see the 4 doe they claimed the pushed to us........

One year in PA's flintlock season I had about a 120" 8 pointer come past me in a drive and stop dead at 75 yards. Of course the flintlock didn't go off.

This one got my attention....never killed him.

I can see why he has your attention. This thread is awesome!

He would have my undivided as well

I hunted this buck during the 2015 archery season on Camp Bullis just outside of San Antonio. I had him on my game camera 7 different days. I was limited to mostly weekend only hunting because of training priorities. I passed on at least 5 140 class bucks waiting just for him and ended up eating my buck tag. Could not get back into that area last year but will try to get it again this year. Tom

Only 1.

Working at Co Ven Co up in the Frackville industrial park back in 1989. It was buck season so I just brought the guns to work.

Got off about a half hour before dark on the first Wednesday and decided to sit in the thick stuff in back of the building.

Could only see maybe 40 yards in that junk but I was right near one of the main trails. Caught a glimpse of brown at maybe 35 yards....There was a little opening right in front....What I saw darn near stopped my heart.

Antlers...BIG Antlers. By the time I shouldered the rifle, He was past the opening. Never got a look at him again.

The next afternoon, I got off a little early and went to the same place but I sat about 20 yards closer to the trail. On the way in, I happened to see one of the largest gutpiles I have ever seen.

Didn't see nothin'

Ran into a guy back at the truck and asked him if he knew of someone getting a big buck back in there this morning.

He says "Yes. My brother"

"Was it this big?"...Holding my hands about 2 feet wide..

He says "Well, 14 points and a 22" spread.

I'm a meat hunter.... Antlers don't much matter to me but....I still see that deer in my dreams.

That's a sweet buck....

When was the photo taken? Looks run down a scootch...

I once shot the wrong buck, letting an amazing non-typical Sitka hop away.

Was sitting in a glassing spot with my girlfriend, who is now my wife. We were atop a pretty good mountain. The fog was thick, but once in awhile it'd clear for 15 seconds or so. I was watching a well used trail leading off the side of the mountain where they go bed in the timber. Sure enough the amazing buck walked right by and I caught a look at him. Huge. Fog immediately set back in. I sent my wife back to the tent, and I slowly crept down the trail to an alpine patch I figured he'd stop and feed in. Hunkered down at the side of the rock and then the fog cleared for few seconds. There he was, just standing there. Fogged in again for a few minutes. Fog cleared and I was ready. He was standing there, in the exact spot looking directly at me. I let him have it, but as soon as I pulled the trigger I knew it wasn't the buck I was after. He dropped.. Nice wide framed 3 point. Out of the bush next to him jumped the huge non-typical and he was down the side of the mountain. I was sick...

I had to take off moose hunting a few days later. Sent my good buddy up there looking for him, but he never found him. My other buddy killed an all time buck right below that spot later that fall. Some big bucks on the hill that year.

The one in my avatar pic. Hunted him for 3 years. Was sent a picture of him at the end of the third year season, killed by a phugn dog driver. 22" inside spread, blah blah blah.

GregW, that photo was taken on 3 Nov 2015. I agree he looks kind of thin/run down but deer like him keep me hunting. Here is a photo from 9 Nov 2015. Tom

This guy is why I left Kansas empty handed last year. Saw him briefly second day of rifle season and he 's ruined me.

Such a cool buck....

Thanks for photo...

I had a couple that haunted me. Now they are just memories of good hunts that didnt end with a dead deer. I killed a buck 2016 that I put on top of my hit list 2 years ago. 140" 8. With a gun my grandad built back in the 80's and passed on to me.
There's a little more to the story than that, but thats for another day...

Back in the late 80's I headed out of the Black Hills to fill my prairie tag. It was a Saturday morning and had about 2" of fresh snow. Had a chunk of public land off a dead end section-line that usually held deer so I started there. At first light a couple does were visible and a decent/120" 4 point whitetail stepped into view and my hunt was over.
After I got him gutted and loaded, I was driving back into my grandparents house in Whitewood. Driving through the valley along Whitewood Creek I noticed a doe only ten yards off the pavement bedded down. It was during the rut, so I had to turn around to see if a buck was with her. I slowed down on approaching her and maybe 5 yards beyond her is another deer.
He sees me and immediately shoves his head forward behind a tree. It's about a 12" ash and I can see mainbeam and points on both sides of it.
After 30 seconds or so the doe gets up and walks away toward the creek with this guy right behind her.
My uncle and grandfather each still had their tags and knew the landowner. We tracked him into the creek, and lost sign up on a hillside where the snow had melted. Never did hear of anyone killing him.
I've killed several 150" deer but he is the only whitetail I've ever seen that was a true no-doubt book deer.

Tough to miss out on but you will never regret the shot you didn't take as much as the shot you shouldn't have taken.

Years ago deer were not as numerous in KY as they are now. My friend and I had been hunting 4-5 years w/o seeing a buck. Anyway I finally shot a small buck on opening morning the first one either of us had ever seen while hunting and the first deer either of us ever killed. Of course the next morning a buck that looked like bullwinkle showed himself about 300 yds across a field . He was following a doe and they walked right at me while the devil on my right shoulder was saying shoot him and let your buddy tag him, while the angel on my left said no that wouldn't be right. In the end I let him walk and I've never seen a buck even close to his size in the ensuing 35 years even the 150-160 class 10 put I got a few years ago wasn't close.

If you hunt long enough your bound to accumulate a few ghosts and I have mine also.....I have 2 bucks that come to mind that still haunt Me, they were both in Ohio on bow hunts, swirling wind killed me both times. I got pretty good looks at both bucks and they were both over 170". These sightings were several years back, ive not seen an Ohio buck in that class in 10 years, I think Those were the "good ol days of hunting Ohio" and I fear we will never see them again but damn that was fun!........Hb

Tom, that buck is old and in pretty bad shape.Hes pretty sway backed, with ribs, spine and hips really showing. I hope he makes it till next year for you, but i wouldnt hold my breath.