Title says, late with pics. I just figured how to post pics from Pb to here.

For tonight I want to show a couple of my better bucks.

In 2007, I jumped this NICE 8 pt, 176 or 178 lbs. He has long main beams and long tines. I've been told he is 140 class.
I was slipping thru a re-growth cutover and KILT him w/ Tikka T3 SS 270. He was PACKING THE MAIL.



Same deer, same day, diff angle.



The second buck is a 10 pt and the rack is only so-so. He weighed 194 lbs. Literally nearly didn't get him loaded in my F150. The pics are of his BODY not so much of his rack.



Check out his NECK.. This is the first deer I shot with my Win 70 Winlite 300 WM. 180 yds.



I have a few more but I've got to work tomorrow. So long for now.

great buck

I thought those southern bucks were supposed to be small bodied. These pics sure proved that wrong. Nice bucks.

You grow some big deer down there, congrats on several nice bucks!

Nice Deer. It's unusual for them to get that big here in the South Carolina/Georgia region.

Thanks Guys - we certainly have smaller bucks.

On my lease the 'average' wt. of our grown, not old, bucks is 175 lbs.
The majority of the bucks I've killed the past 12-15 yrs have been between 172-178 lbs.

The 194 lb is among the top FEW to be killed on that lease.

I have a few more pics, when I have time to post them.

Okay, I have a little time now, tonight is busy.

I told about a 'mercy killing' a couple of yrs ago. I have more pics but just going to post a couple. I thot this deer was a doe. Having shot a couple of bucks in 2010, I wanted to take another doe.

Turns out this deer was a wounded buck. I don't know how he had survived. He had shed his antlers and lost so much weight. I have no idea how large his body or antlers had been. He had been shot from the front and the bullet ONLY seperated his right front shoulder. Infection set in and I still don't know IF he would have lived or not.

1st pic of his head. Notice had long his nose is.



2nd pic of his right front shoulder or what's left of it. Also my exit of 180 gr HSP, 300 WM



3rd pic of hip bones protruding. The hair was raised all along the vertebrate of his back bone



I was very disappointed to not get any meat and EVEN MORE disappointed that a buck of his size, basically was wasted.
This was 12-27-10. Our 3 day MG Christmas hunt. The tag was not important, my hunting was over for the yr.

I've done a couple of "mercy killings" over the years. As you said the tags not important.

"PACKING THE MAIL"?

Anyway thats a nice southern buck!

Packing the mail, hi-ballin, hauling butt,getting the xxxx out of dodge.

I had gotten TOOO close, @ 20 yds, & he was FLYING, trying to put
some distance between us. 270 caught him anyway.

I shot a nice 8pt on christmas in NE Oklahoma about 12 years ago. Ice had been on for about 3 weeks. I got a good shot, he went about 20 yards, stood there then rared up and fell over. When he fell it broke/shed one of his anlters off, keeping him from entering pope and young. He too was starving and may not have made the winter. A sad reality of what wildlife goes through to keep their genes in the mix

Great bucks!

THANKS GUYS

I have time to post 1 more buck before PAINTING.

This guy, I had been looking for 2-3 yrs. I had killed at least 3 of his offspring.



This was 11-23-09. He was in that RE-growth at 289 yds and all I could see was the 'crab claws'. Ark has a 3 pt/one side rule. I watched him for what seemed eternity as he was pushing a doe. I could NOT see the eyeguards, UNTIL he stopped and turned just right. I popped him immediately.



He had 16 7/8" INSIDE spread - 6 pt. 172 lbs.
Another 300 WM --maybe y'all are beginning to understand why I love my 300.



He didn't look that big at 289 IN the RE growth. I watched the spot where he fell for a few minutes. Had time to re-visualize his appearance AT that distance IN his surroundings. Then I couldn't wait to get to him.

Great looking collection of deer. That second deer in the first post in nice as well.

Great looking bucks!

Some hosses!!

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU...

Remember, what is written is AUTOMATICALLY copyrighted. I don't automatically give permission for it to be RE printed.

Now I have some more time. First I want to show you 1 of the big 6's offspring that I killed,(at least 3 or so) and that's how I knew he was out there and why I was looking for him.
I found a few pics but this one is the best to see the genetics in the rack. He was also killed w/in 500 yds of his daddy.



He and his bros/half bros had EXACTLY the same antler formation and were killed in the same area. This next pic is FROM the cutover where the little 6 was killed, looking to my box stand. It was steep uphill, cameras don't do elevation justice.The distance was 148 yds AGAIN 300 WM, 180.



The big 6 was killed less than 500 yds, in a straight line, on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL.

Footnote: this is FUN playing gun/hunting writer.

This next pic is FROM where a middlin 8 pt was killed 11-12-11. The pic is on the opposite side of the same hill and same box stand. My right foot is TOUCHING the buck laying on the ground, while I'm looking at the stand. I know it looks like I cut the trees around my stand but I PROMISE I didn't.



The next pic is of the 8 pt laying IN the re growth, where I shot him. I shot him in the NECK, the distance was 197 yds. ( I had said elsewhere 194 yds, record said 197 which is correct.)

If Websterparish reads this, it should look like some of his hunting area.
Here is his pic. What you see is the COMPLETE, TOTAL, blood trail.



In this RE growth, I could NOT find the whole, dead deer on my first attempt. I had to go back, get in the stand and pick a landmark and then go to where he was laying (lying). Sometimes 'blood trails' are HARDER to find.

This is the last pic of the 8 pt. A better look & my Tikka T 3 SS 270. He was just big enough to get SHOT on opening day last fall. He weighed 142 lbs. spread of @ 14.5". On our lease this was a 3 1/2 yr deer. Our 1 1/2 yr olds weigh 100-110, 2 1/2 yr weigh 120-130. Pine plantations are not HIGH in protein.



I only have pics of 1 more buck killed in 2010--later.

I have some supplemental info. The 8 pt I JUMPED in 07 in the cutover.


This pic was taken in 09, two yrs later + the extra growth.



In 07 the cutover had just grown enough to give good food & cover for the deer. You could walk thru it and jump deer & see them. I was SLIPPING into the wind and COULD NOT see the deer until he JUMPED and took off.

If you're interested, you can look close on the deer's RIGHT side, at the back of the stomach, you can see a little red spot.
That's where the bullet ENTERED. The buck was on the descent when the bullet impacted and hit the SPINAL column. He did one head roll and stopped.

Gotta go for now. Hopefully I'll get to add the pics of the last one tonight.

I have some pics of smaller bucks and I don't remember taking a pic of any doe that I ever killed.

In past yrs the ACTUAL TROPHY to me was hunting with family and or close friends.

This buck was killed on 11-23-10. He was not killed in that cutover and/or from that box stand. I had seen this same buck from that stand in our Oct MZL season but I had NO shot. Actually ALL I saw of him was his HEAD and ANTLERS. He was standing behind & beside brush and I got a good look at his color and WIDE antlers THEN he was gone. I could not even see his neck.



On this day I had taken stand at a KNOWN crossing to me and MOST of the guys in our lease were not aware it was very active. I had seen a lot of deer and some decent bucks use the crossing at various times of the yr.

He showed up about 4 pm and NEVER looked my direction because he & the other deer were not used to people being there. AGAIN old faithful (300WM) spoke at 145 yds. and he listened. He did run a short distance into the plantation but the blood trail was EXCELLENT.
(I CHANGED bullets to the 180 HSP and the performance is what it's supposed to be.)

This next pic shows a good but NOT zoomed pic of his head & antlers. This is my WIDEST buck at 17 1/2" inside. Notice the distinct coloration of forehead and his long nose. I am POSITIVE he is the same buck I saw in MZL season.



One of the best things about killing this buck is that my long time friend and hunting partner was on the lease that day. He called me after I shot and I encouraged him to keep hunting. Well, in a few minutes he shows up to SEE and help me. That's what real FRIENDS do.

This buck weighed 174 lbs. Almost boring, 172, 178,176, 174. That's what our ADULT bucks average. Younger bucks less and FEW live long enough to reach 190-200 lbs.



We didn't make it to deer camp in time to take pics in daylight while weighing him. We have elec but NOT at the skinning/scale rack. That tells you something. Not many of our guys hunt or kill MUCH late of evening.

I have a few mounts and a lot of cut off antlers. EVERY one of them has special memories. Too bad we can't CUT/PASTE from memory to publication.

Thanks for taking the time to share the pics and stories. Reading threads like this help me last till the next deer season!

444 - U R Welcome. Yep I just refuse to read a rip,tear,cuss, & name calling thread.

I wish I had pics available of previous deer. eg - I killed a very nice 10 pt in 1995 with the same hunting pard in FAYETTEVILLE. We happen to be together at the shot. Good body, good rack but NOT wide. NO PICS

THANKS for your response.

+1 and it's a long time from now to November...

Nice deer

Looks like beautiful country too!

From the pics it appears the weights you give are live weight, not dressed ? That's not the custom here in the Northeast. We normally leave the guts in the woods and go by dressed weight.

Blackheart- you are correct from these pics.

When our club was a bonifide state check station, we were supposed
To weigh Before & After gutting.

Our club now has NO rule about weighing at all.

I want to know live wt for my own curiosity & by doing that I have become better at judging weight in the field. (Ark Pine Plantation deer).

Our deer don't get hi protein in S Ark UNLESS we supply hi pro food plots etc

You kilt sometin' wif a .270??? You sur it wern't a turdy o six??

Sho nuff, twerent no art 6.

Dat 270 wer what de art6 wanna b

tankya.

For a little clarity:

2-3 yrs ago, Ark went to ALL online game checking. I and others didn't like that and thot it would OPEN the door WIDER to poaching during season.

I called the AGFC and they didn't seem too worried. SINCE then all the stats are available online. Our harvest stats SEEM to indicate that online checking hasn't REDUCED the no.s of deer checked.

We've got online harvest reporting here in NY too. Doesn't matter a bit one way or the other to me. Poaching runs rampant here in rural upstate NY and always has. Somehow I always still manage to find deer in the woods come season.

Well in taking these pics, the background/scenery was of NO considration. Thanks anyway.

OTOH - Ark is basically divided in 3 types of geog.

Eastern Ark is the delta flood plain, flat,fertile, farm land, not so much for scenery.

S W Ark is rolling hills, some small farm land, creek/river bottoms, and A LOT of it is Pine Timber Paper Co. land. Pine Plantations are NOT forrest.

Now Northwest Ark is very SCENIC. Some of it is RUGGED, mostly mtns (small by Western US standards) but BEAUTIFUL.

I've been in Co. Wyo. Mt. Az. & NM and there are some BREATH TAKING places. We have some (not nearly as much) scenery that rivals some out West.

I have an idea for a thread that's related to this one. It'll just take a week or so to get my STUFF together.

Thanks Again Drummond

Jerry