He was taken by a bow hunter in Missouri on public land. A friend sent me the photo via e-mail so it is new to me. I think it was taken within the past couple of years. The hunter is from Florida.
I would not buy something that runs on any kind of primer given the possibility of primer shortages and even regulations. In fact, why not buy a flintlock? Really. Rocks aren't going away anytime soon.
My friend said it was taken a few miles south of Chillicothe on some government public land. I hope the fellow who shot it had a good shoulder mount done on it. It looks like a few of the points started to get rounded, so he was getting to be an older buck, but jeeze, what character this ole boy had. Just look at all the fighting scars. That, to me, is a trophy for two lifetimes. I guess I could look on the Missouri game and fish web site and see if there is anything there about him. Oh well, I just thought that since my buddy shared it with me, that I would share it with you. Tom
I've never noticed the trait of older bucks getting rounded tips? The antlers are only one season old regardless of his age. Maybe this one dug with them more. or rubbed more then usual? Age is not something I would consider with antlers.
www.huntingadventures.net Are you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
I have seen the pic before, supposedly taken a few miles from my house on Poosey Lake area. It really probably isn't a very high-scoring buck, longest tine isn't over 9 in. or so, the picture is very deceptive as he is probably way behind the deer and a wider angle lens, Typical trophy hunter photography. I just measured my shoulder-to shoulder distance is 28-29 inches, so by the photo the buck would have to be roughly 50 inches wide. Another comment, just the fact that the fellow claims to have shot him on public land brands him as being loose with the truth in general, as there is so little public land in northern Mo. It was shot north, not south of Chillicothe between there and Jamesport. The deer will not be close to making the 170 B&C typical score, but that is not saying it isn't a good buck.
JJHack: I based my statement on the bucks, the old bucks, I have shot compared the the younger ones. It is not a scientific statement by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, throughout life I have been wrong more than I have been right. I am looking right now at two sets of whitetail racks. One was taken in Texas and is a wide 6 pointer not counting the brow tines. Actually, he only had brow tines growing on one side of his head and not on the other. He was about five years old when I shot him. His antler tips are sharp. Next to him is an old boy I shot on a farm south of Mexico, Missouri, in Audrain County, Missouri. I was set up in an abandoned farm house in the middle of a huge agriculture field where the farmer said was probably the worst spot I could pick for a deer blind. Early morning I the rack of a large-bodied buck just inside the treeline about 215 yards away to the southwest of me slipping toward Highway 54 about six hundred yards away directly west from my stand. In an instant he was gone. He was going to a thick jangle of brush he used for a bedding area in the woods adjacent to the highway. In the late afternoon I peeked out the window of the farm home at the treeline and here walked this buck going in the opposite direction. He had a small eight point rack on his head. I shot him with my Ruger Mark II in 7x57mm with my 154 grain Hornady Spire Point handloads. He ran about 80 yards along a treeline going away from me and stopped. I shot again and he went down. His face was completely gray and all of the points on his rack were rounded off. I don't think that his body could utilize the nutrients in the area as well as he could when he was younger because of his age. Thus, the more rounded tips of his antlers. Again, I could be 180 degrees wrong on this, but for me, the school is still out. Maybe there's a wildlife biologist reading this who could chime in here. About 30 minutes later I shot my second deer to fill out my Missouri deer license that year. The farmer had leased another portion of his farm to some hunters from St. Louis, who saw no deer at all. The farmer invited me and my buddy who was hunting with me to NOT come back the next year. The following year when I drove past that field on a dirt road I could see a tiny orange speck inside the door frame of that home during deer season. I guess it wasn't so bad a deer stand after all. Tom Purdom
How about older deer are typically heavier and usually not nearly as sharp pointed due to thickness or mass? Larger diameter or thickness is not as "pointy as thin and sharp.
www.huntingadventures.net Are you living your life, or just paying bills until you die? When you hit the pearly gates I want to be there just to see the massive pile of dead 5hit at your feet. ( John Peyton)
JJHACK You are on the track. The big, heavy racks I have seen are often blunt, not from wear. The big gnarly non-typicals are blunt, in 1980 we took one that went 234 B&C and was the most massive I have ever seen, the brow tines were 5 in. at the base. He was blunt on every point.
The distance between the tips of the front 2 points is approx 21" by my calculations. You can see the guy has his finger tips together. I measured my fingers held the same way and it's 2". Then I measured both his fingers and the rack on the monitor with a ruler. I then divided the rack width by the finger width for a ratio and multiplied that by 2", the width of my 3 fingers. I got 21". It's close enough to get an idea of the size.
Dick
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
I have done enough whitetails, I can damn near measure it over the internet. If it's 22 in. wide, which is probably giving a benefit, 25 in. main beams, longest tines nine in., second eight, next three, the long brow won't count as the difference will be deducted, if it is six inches around between every point( there is a real stretch), I come up with 158 net. It will be closer to 153 in reality, a nice deer, but not near what the trick photo makes it look like. A B&C typical needs to be a LOT taller than that buck will ever be. Rock Chuck is about right it's a 20-21 in. inside rack. There are a lot bigger bucks killed every season in north Mo.
