Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Y'all see the new Oklahoma "State Record" mule deer????

To be fair it's even more conclusive when you are able to hold the sheds in your hands and compare them to the deer in the pictures. That and we had the luxury of knowing the deer and seeing the deer for a couple seasons. It's always easier to identify these elk and deer when you're out looking at them year after year

What's interesting about this deer is that it really put on the inches because it wasn't an old deer. I told Rick Menefee this year when we were looking for it that this deer was primed to blow up this year, and he did. I would have given my left arm for Rick to have been able to take him home but unfortunately the week he was there was incredibly difficult as the animals were almost completely nocturnal. This is also an unusual deer for our area as we don't normally find them with this much trash

Same buck. I think it would have gotten even bigger. I'd bet that deer is only 5 1/2 max.

Yes sir, 5 1/2 years old. He would have morphed into one of those deer we only dream about given a year or two

Drum, I heard of a b&c muley killed about 25 miles nw of Odessa 10-15 years ago. F&G werent happy as they had pics of the deer from a ranch, heck-i cant remember, 10-25 miles away. They dropped it fearing they couldnt win in court.

I wonder if B&C could investigate before inclusion and request a lie detector test. I figure you might know and if you do know i would appreciate enlightenment.

Also, do you know what it scored? I would like to know how it compares to my SCI Texas record of 2016 at 260 inches.

Thanks, jag.

I reread and saw it was 176 with 50 inches of extras.

I'm not going to raise a stink about it and I'm not saying he killed the deer illegally. Its just interesting

Deleted.

Drum is right...and I can see how my post could have been construed incorrectly.

Hey Drum, how much did he put on between years? We had a 4.5 year old 170" wild deer put 35" on in a year with no feed. I wonder what year is the biggest jump for most deer.

I want to be very clear that I've never claimed that the hunter did anything wrong, much less poached the deer.

This deer went from 194" to 226". He would have really blown up next season IMO

Ya, I know you're not making any accusations...but the circumstances does make a guy wonder. Huge deer like this make some otherwise good folks lose their minds.

In 2010, I killed a moose that would be #5 in Montana if I actually scored him...and that is with single brows. I was accused of poaching it by some jealous guys who didn't know me. It didn't bother me much, but could see how it would ruffle some feathers. If the game wardens got involved, it WOULD have bothered me...

Really cool. Thanks for sharing HS!

I remember a similar case that occurred in NE Kalifornia some years ago. A very nice buck seen on the winter range after the season closed appeared at taxidermist some days later. Fish & Game investigated. They found fragments of volcanic rock impeded in an antler. Matched the rock found on the winter range, not of that found where the poacher said he killed it. He was convicted. E

So how far will a mule deer range under normal conditions?

Is 13 miles way out the question?

If I remember right,in one of Mike Eastman's books, he had found deer in Wyoming travelling over 100 miles between high country summer grounds, and winter grounds. I know 25 miles between summer and winter grounds is pretty common.

Depends on weather, doe density, buck to doe ratio, and during tough times water amongst other things.

If you know your area, you know how far they go from home range to rut and back...

My desert deer rut less than 2 miles from where they live and usually rut in the same areas every year...

If you know your herd, you can pick up on whether things add up or not, especially if you've been watching specific deer...

In migratory herds in Wyoming mule deer have been known to migrate up to 150 miles

That being said, the mule deer in our part of the world are a "non migratory" herd and their average range is 2400 acres, or 3.75 square miles according to a study done a few years back

If you made a rectangle with the SW corner being where the deer lived his life and was seen regularly and the far NE corner being where the deer was allegedly killed it amounts to almost 84 square miles

This is kind of off subject, but in recent years biologists have discovered the significance of the western Wyoming mule deer migration route...the longest ever recorded. The deer summer in the Hoback country up near Jackson and winter in the Red Desert, over 150 miles away...this is the migration that huntsonora mentioned.

It likely went even further, but interstate 80 stops the vast majority of them. There's resident deer in the Red Desert too, but the vast majority migrate there and then back out.

Hoback

Beautiful country

Good catch...auto'correct' really pisses me off sometimes.