I am just scratching the surface on Deer compared to the really good hunters on here, but am also lucky to have grown up where I did. Beautiful places and critters all around.
Another pretty nice one I got to tag along on this past October...
Cripes, that is a toad! That right beam has got to be like 28" long. Nice work on getting that little dude his first buck... I bet he'll be chasing that one for a long time.
JG how long would you size up that buck in Tanner's first photo,in the snow field,before you dropped him?
It would take me all of 3-4 seconds to size that dude up with my bins before grabbing the rifle. How do you miss a buck like that the size of a 55 gallon drum? I'm sure you and I see eye to eye on this one...! Actually I seldom score a buck before I shoot.
Alright SKane, don't dare make fun of my whiteys......In reality I'm a dumbass when it comes to whitetail hunting. I've managed to kill a few in the upper 150's, but I managed to pass up this buck at 150 yds 'cause I though he was in the high 140's. My buddy whacked him 5 minutes later and he was bumping 163".....
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Then a couple of days later this buck lays down with a doe about 170 yes from my perch in the rocks, in plain sight, for 15 minutes. I made the call again that he was in the high '40's and passed. My other coonass buddy shot him the next day....but he had grown to 166" by then........
225 pounds field dressed, one year earlier in the same spot. 206 pounds, one year after the first post, in the same spot. Longbow on this one too. Not a bad 3 year string.
JG how long would you size up that buck in Tanner's first photo,in the snow field,before you dropped him?
It would take me all of 3-4 seconds to size that dude up with my bins before grabbing the rifle. How do you miss a buck like that the size of a 55 gallon drum? I'm sure you and I see eye to eye on this one...! Actually I seldom score a buck before I shoot.
Yup!
The buck in your video is like that, too.....shoot! Big boy.
Here's one from this fall, I'm going to steal starsky's opportunity to post it himself. Absolutely the biggest body I've ever seen on a Mule Deer!
Tanner
Damn, I look good in that picture.
Since Tanner stole my mule deer thunder, here's a whitey I shot with my old man on the plains with his 54 caliber Hawken. Junior year of high school, iirc...
Yeah I should and here's another from that time line as well. Had a great place to hunt in those days and believe it or not these were run of the mill racks for us guys.The big one green scored 170 ish if I recall but one of my pards busted a 190 a year later.Nebraska corn fed venisons ya know.
Here's three northern Minnesota bucks. First is one my dad took in 1966; he was 5'10" so use that for scale. The second was taken at our camp in 1995 ... a monster, but he was not weighed . The 3rd is an 8-pointer I took in 2006 from the same stand the 2nd one was taken from; this one dressed out at 208lbs.
Probably the biggest one to wander through our IL farm. My cousin saw him a couple times over the years, always out of range. The neighbor arrowed it once as well, but he kept on truckin. Died of old age (best we can tell) last year and after drying, taped 206"
I mean, the heck with the dinks....show us the big ones,whitetail,blacktail, or mule deer.
And tell us how you killed them.
Just a fun thread because big bucks are always interesting and fun to look at.
Alright Bob, I'm calling you out. Let's see some of YOUR pics!!!!!!
herschel I can't post pics...besides so many of them were shot before there was anything but colored prints and slides! I do have some on my old lap top that I have not moved yet to the new Apple.
I have killed some very nice deer but after seeing what you guys have posted here I'm not sure I want too show them LOL! Many of them have no pictures of at all
This thread went nuts....I can't mention everyone but wow pretty obvious there's lots of very good deer hunters here because people don't kill deer of the quality seen here by accident...fabulous....just fabulous everyone.
OK, I'll play; here's a few Colorado bucks on the hoof. I've never had the good fortune to bring a BIG one home, but am very fortunate to live in a place that I can see deer like this.
Love them big 3's:
Probably the best scoring buck I've personally witnessed:
And probably the biggest buck I've seen in person (sorry for the crappy spotting scope pic):
Looking through this thread, I am reminded of something that I'm sure we are all aware of...
That is, for me,(although the big deer are sort of special because they come less frequently and require a combination of effort and good luck), as years role by you think back and it occurs that it isn't about the size of the deer,but the places you get to visit, the hunts themselves and the people you meet along the way,some of whom become fast friends for years to follow.
All of this transcends the size of the bucks, which are really momentos of the experiences that brought you to them. In that respect,all deer,and all deer hunts,are special. This makes them all really big deer in our minds beyond the size of the antlers.
Love to see more picture posted. Keep them coming.
This is my biggest muley; not so big score-wise as he was on the down hill side of life's walk but he was pushing three hundred pounds. A grand old, western monarch. For some scale, I'm 6'0" and 215 lbs. He had 9" bases.
The second is my biggest whitetail of about thirty with traditional archery equipment. He also was a very big bodied deer.
The last was my biggest Nebraska whitetail taken at five hundred yards just after a blizzard.
Bob, the Muley as shown above was taken in SW Colorado down in a stream bed thick with cottonwoods and dead falls. Saw him go in about 9AM , came back about 3:30 and stalked into the wind until his rack was spotted above the brush and deadfall. Waited him out at about hundred yards until he got up facing us. 140-gr TTSX from stem to stern out of the .284.
I'd like to say I remember what rifle I used when I look at a set of horns, but I guess that's one of the downsides to being a rifle slut...small though...:)
As is the case with so many big buck encounters, the big ones sometimes live charmed lives. This buck had it all. His G2s and G3s were easily 15" and possibly 17" each. His G4s were the weakest part at around 5-6". The left brow was around 8" and the right was possibly broken at 5". Main beams wrapped.
This picture was opening morning of rifle season at around 300 yards. Unfortunately 250 of those yards were on the other side of the fence we didn't have permission to hunt on. Saw this buck 2 times and to my knowledge he was never taken. How big would he go score wise I don't know, but I think he was only 5 or 6 in this picture.
I always remember him when I am training and need motivation, not that plains hunting takes conditioning, he just fires me up.
We've taken bucks some nice bucks along the way, but it is always the ones that got away that seem to stick with me and I mean that in a good way. Always makes watching the sunrise fill me with thoughts about what could come popping over the hill.
Looking through this thread, I am reminded of something that I'm sure we are all aware of...
That is, for me,(although the big deer are sort of special because they come less frequently and require a combination of effort and good luck), as years role by you think back and it occurs that it isn't about the size of the deer,but the places you get to visit, the hunts themselves and the people you meet along the way,some of whom become fast friends for years to follow.
All of this transcends the size of the bucks, which are really momentos of the experiences that brought you to them. In that respect,all deer,and all deer hunts,are special. This makes them all really big deer in our minds beyond the size of the antlers.
Love to see more picture posted. Keep them coming.
Excellent post Bob, by far the best one I've read on the forum.
There are some absolute hogs pictured in this thread.....just amazing.
Alright, I gotta post a few. They are all Georgia bucks that look like midgets to these Western bucks. My trophies aren't necessarily measured in inches or pounds. Starting more than 20 years ago
Spent quite a bit of time looking for a giant for a friend that drew the statewide raffle deer tag here in CO this year. Found a hammer in October but my friend and I thought we might wait to see what the late season provided. Here is the big deer we elected to pass..
Here are two 200" deer in the same picture...
Here is a picture of the big deer up close. He is at least a 14x13 with gobs of mass, inlines, cheaters, droptines, many brownies and character for days...
Video from the first moment I found him...
I had just gotten done hunting with a friend when we found that buck. In fact, this buck was in the back of the truck when I first found the above deer in the pictures...
Rob and I...
A few days later a friend of mine called me and had found a buck in a unit I had a tag for and as luck would have it the deer was on a piece of property owned by a good friend of mine and he helped me gain access. I still need to take a "gift" to the landowner for graciously allowing me to hunt his property. I was shooting a muzzleloader and my powder got moisture in it and I missed him at 50 yards. Went back 2 days later and shot him at 20 yards.
Here he is alive..
And here he is with my friend Kelby that found him...
Every time I have been behind the trigger on a big coues, something has gotten fuc&ed up.... either I miss (more than once had been the case), or, what happened on the biggest buck I've ever seen during hunting season, my mom's boss fuc$ed me by shooting at the smaller deer before we were ready.
Either way, here is my personal best. A gorgeous buck, decent size but certainly not "big".
I'll say they are. Size and trophy quality is relative to where you are but those GA buck are great shooters about anywhere! A big GA buck I bet takes as much hunting as a mature whitetail anywhere. Not easy to kill those bucks.
Every time I have been behind the trigger on a big coues, something has gotten fuc&ed up.... either I miss (more than once had been the case), or, what happened on the biggest buck I've ever seen during hunting season, my mom's boss fuc$ed me by shooting at the smaller deer before we were ready.
Either way, here is my personal best. A gorgeous buck, decent size but certainly not "big".
Casey: Great Coues! Would like to hunt one of those someday.
This thread is making me believe that I need to try whitetails...
BTW- if any of you guys ever get the chance to hunt deer with 30338 or starsky, do NOT let them take field pics with your deer. They are both just shy of 9' tall with boots on and make your animals look really small. Not their fault, I know, but I mean... c'mon...
GunLoony: Congrats that's a great deer;and for being a good Dad as well....best trophy of all.
Thanks BobinNH! Both my daughters hunt with me. My oldest is 20 and in college, but we try to make at least one weekend in the woods during deer season.
He came in about 5 minutes after I shot a doe with the only crossbow bolt I had. we watched him from about 15 to 20 yards for maybe a half hour. I killed him the following weekend with a rifle.
This thread is making me believe that I need to try whitetails...
BTW- if any of you guys ever get the chance to hunt deer with 30338 or starsky, do NOT let them take field pics with your deer. They are both just shy of 9' tall with boots on and make your animals look really small. Not their fault, I know, but I mean... c'mon...
Tanner
You definitely need to get on some whitetails. Like a good chess match.
But, what I really want is for you or Drum to get me on some of those beast mulies!!! If you start guiding, I call first dibs.
I hunted Conn. this year and sauntered over into eastern NY for processing....they are killing some damn nice bucks in that country. Caught me off guard actually.I hear access is an issue but the deer are there.
This thread is making me believe that I need to try whitetails...
BTW- if any of you guys ever get the chance to hunt deer with 30338 or starsky, do NOT let them take field pics with your deer. They are both just shy of 9' tall with boots on and make your animals look really small. Not their fault, I know, but I mean... c'mon...
Tanner
You definitely need to get on some whitetails. Like a good chess match.
But, what I really want is for you or Drum to get me on some of those beast mulies!!! If you start guiding, I call first dibs.
Drum is the guy to talk to about that.... I'm just a goon that gets to tag along on friends' hunts sometimes...
Great bucks everyone. I'm the opposite of Tanner. Now I want to chase mulies.
Here's my best buck and a hunt that will be hard to top. I have always dreamed of tracking and shooting a mature buck in his bed. I've been close a few times but was always spotted first. This year on 11-11 it started snowing about 3 hours before day break. At sun up there was around 3 inches of perfect white. 2 buck tracks and a couple hours later and it all came together. I took the first pic from where I shot if you look close you can see him in the center of the pic. 15 yards away, bedded and looking the wrong direction. I actually got 2 trophys on that trip. I had a sapling that I had to remove before I could slip 2 more into him.
This ones a little fresher as I killed him last week in Sonora with a client. Pretty good for a 3 pt, my thoughts. Thanks for the great thread and ALL the great bucks shared
I had one mounted on the wall when I brought him home and I ran down and taped the mount at 26.5....checked the one in the pickup and quickly decided he was bigger and getting mounted too.
I sure am glad I don't take many photos. The deer I have shot are mere dinks compared to those shown here. And I thought some of them were pretty darn nice!!
This thread is quite a tribute to the quality of bucks taken by forum members....
I sure am glad I don't take many photos. The deer I have shot are mere dinks compared to those shown here. And I thought some of them were pretty darn nice!!
This thread is quite a tribute to the quality of bucks taken by forum members....
MM: True! Impressive. These guys get out and hunt.
SamO/RavenR: Great deer, those are all some beauties.
Awesome bucks here. Can't contribute anything big but here is a decent coastal blacktail I got on my place a couple of years ago. He was so pretty I hated to skin him.
And here is one that has been hanging around in Bend Ore. This was shot out of my buddy's kitchen window a year ago. Don't know if he is still around there or not.
BobinNH; Good afternoon to you sir, hopefully this finds you and yours well on this first, foggy Sunday in February.
I'd like to say thanks to all our fellow 'Fire folks who've been so good as to share their big deer photos - truly some impressive specimens there and for sure ALL are trophies to me.
While I can only dream as big as some of the mulies shown here, this one was my largest bodied mulie buck to date. I'm reluctant to post it in many ways as I pulled the trigger on him when I knew he was starting to move and the shot landed behind the lungs and into the liver because of it.
I saw it was a big buck, got greedy and shot when I should not have Bob - and he made us pay for that in spades by bailing off the mountain down into the steepest shin tangle canyon imaginable. We blood trailed him for a good hour and a half and I shot him just as a blizzard set in.
We got the hindquarters to the pickup first, but the guy I was with fell hard on the way and blew his leg out.
So we went down to get reinforcements - my usual hunting partner and the chap's two teenage sons - and we headed back down into the canyon a second time with flashlights.
That's why I look about done in and not too impressed with myself in the photo - from '93 I want to say.
Including the four leg bones that we left in, I boned the rest of that buck out in the canyon and we all brought 144lbs out.
My best whitetail came because I'd missed a smaller buck the weekend before - a gimme shot at maybe 80yds that to this day I've no clue how I managed to miss.
I'd been playing tag with two small whitetail bucks for the last month of season and this morning was the last weekend of season.
It was a still, calm morning - perfect for calling - so when I saw antlers ghosting though the regrowth lodgepoles, I thought it was the second rack whitetail I'd been seeing....
While I had to stand and shoot freehand, it was a fairly simple shot and I broke this guy's neck as he cleared a pine. So it was that I had no real clue as to his size until I walked up to him.
I'm not ashamed to say I sank down on my knees in the snow and just looked at him for some time....
Interestingly he only went 124lb into the cooler and was extremely skinny with no fat on the rump, brisket or internal organs and just a bit of pink fat between the ribs.
Anyway Bob those are my personal bests and the stories that go along with them.
Thanks again for the thread and to the folks who've shared their grand bucks.
Ravenr2; Thanks, but bigger thanks for sharing your smokin' mulie buck photos.
As I said, I can only dream that big.
We somehow don't often produce mulies that will make 30" inside - once in awhile for sure but not often. I don't believe I've seen anything that exceeded 26" inside in almost 2 decades now - so seeing some of you folks' grand bucks gets my pulse going a wee bit faster for sure.
Thanks again and all the best to you in the upcoming week.
And here is one that has been hanging around in Bend Ore. This was shot out of my buddy's kitchen window a year ago. Don't know if he is still around there or not.
Looking through this thread, I am reminded of something that I'm sure we are all aware of...
That is, for me,(although the big deer are sort of special because they come less frequently and require a combination of effort and good luck), as years role by you think back and it occurs that it isn't about the size of the deer,but the places you get to visit, the hunts themselves and the people you meet along the way,some of whom become fast friends for years to follow.
All of this transcends the size of the bucks, which are really momentos of the experiences that brought you to them. In that respect,all deer,and all deer hunts,are special. This makes them all really big deer in our minds beyond the size of the antlers.
Love to see more picture posted. Keep them coming.
Looks to me we got some damn good big buck hunters out there. I've got a few more that I need to scan and put up one of these days. They dont compare to a lot of these. BobinNH found your pic nice bucks.
tdn: Could be wrong, but from here that looks to be an older buck on the mend.
Personally I rank those old bucks right along with higher scoring younger mature bucks because they are older,experienced, and just as hard to find and kill as the bigger antlered bucks. Great deer.
tdn: Could be wrong, but from here that looks to be an older buck on the mend.
Personally I rank those old bucks right along with higher scoring younger mature bucks because they are older,experienced, and just as hard to find and kill as the bigger antlered bucks. Great deer.
Congrats
Thanks Bob! Yeah, he barely had any teeth left - probably one of my top "trophies" just b/c of that age class.
Originally Posted by Tanner
Originally Posted by tdn
This Fall's buck: Not in the same class as many of these giants, but the mount should be arriving today, so the memories are on my mind.
Nice one Tim, front forks look like the one I shot this year, but I think yours is a good bit larger....
Tanner
Tanner, love that buck man - I think he probably has mine on spread though...
Another one of Don's bucks from a few years back. He took this one with his 30/06. Not bad for an Iowa boy! He's a blast to hunt with....takes in everything.
Uncle Don with another dandy. This 7X6 went 190" gross. I took some great stills, and video of this buck right when he came out of velvet, earlier that fall....
Velvet pic of Don's buck. He vanished for almost two months, and finally showed back up in early November.
I like Whitetails......just like Mule Deer a little more....grin!
This is the last Whitetail I shot. 2005.
Pennsylvania hunter I guided back in the 80's with a nice buck. He called it a 13 pointer, I told him it was a 7X6! We had the "western count" VS "eastern count" arguement for awhile. He finally asked me how many fingers I had(thinking he had me on the rocks), I said without hesitation, five....on each hand. He took a buck antelope, and a bull elk on the same hunt. He did call the elk a 6X6, instead of a 12 pointer....grin!
Another PA hunter. Great guy who loved Montana and our Whitetail deer. He was deadly with that Model 760 30/06. I always enjoyed the guys from PA. Pretty down to earth....good hunters too.
PA guy with a 30" buck. First day of the hunt, he passed on a 160" Whitetail. Turned out to be a good call.
Doc with a nice four point he shot after I made a one on one push through a strip of cover we saw him go into at dawn. Montana's Powder River, 1982.
This one takes me back....way back! That's an old Ruger 77, .220 Swift.
And back even farther...1972. My friend with his first buck. He used my Husqvarna .270. We weren't old enough to drive, so my dad dropped us off at the base of the mountain before daylight, and picked us up after dark. Tragically, my friend was killed in a car wreck when he was only 20 years old.
I'm ashamed to admit, I have a bit of a curse when it comes to hunting mule deer even though its the deer I like to hunt most. I've been pretty fortunate to kill plenty, but have never been able to take a clean 4x4. I've killed some nice 3x4's but still searching for the one 4by:) This was the best I coulda/shoulda had, the buck was spotted by my now ex-wife - this fellow decided he should shoot it instead-grin
Big 3
Decent buck from a 2 years ago - couple days after the season ended - 4x4!!
Bob, that CO deer was bedded in some knee high grass and you couldn't see him. When he would stand up, he looked like a truck and when he would sit back down, he vanished. I had the spotter on him at 300yds and when he sat down, I lost him totally. Always amazed how they can disappear like that.
Ebby I have hunted Eastern Colorado,and may have a hunt in that part of the world coming up....I have heard the real big bucks sometimes bed out on the plains,away from the heavy cover of the river bottoms....that's why I asked you. Thanks for that bit of experience!
I mean, the heck with the dinks....show us the big ones,whitetail,blacktail, or mule deer.
And tell us how you killed them.
Just a fun thread because big bucks are always interesting and fun to look at.
Bob, you cooked up a good one here my friend! One of the best threads evah! And a great tribute to big bucks everywhere. Thanks.
CLB: "Build it and they will come...."
The thread would not be good if the place were not packed with hard core hunters willing to participate...so the credit goes to them...not me. I just goosed them in the arse and said "Show US!"
Scott: I am familiar with "luck"....it doesn't happen that often.
Dang Pat, you are truly the master of finding giant bucks buddy. Seldom is a legit 30" mulie to be seen much less harvested...great job on them bad boys...
SKane, that is a sweet wall of bucks there...some real trophy to be proud of..
Sendero, that is a nice 31" class buck you took there....did you hunt that area after that big buck that got away the next few years? Big bucks like that are truly magical.....I bet you were sick by being a day late on that one...you have any more pics of that bruiser?
Yowza....!!!!! Like the man said, 8+ requires much more than luck. You're one of the only guys I know that just throws his cull 160's on the floor. Every time I come back to this awesome thread it gets better and better. Drum hasn't even broken out his big league stuff yet.
This is a great thread Bob! In order to keep it going, I'll throw one of mine up. It pales in comparison to most on here but its my best so far. I would LOVE to put a big muley on the wall someday!
Here he is hanging in my office the day I picked him up from the taxi. He went home the same day.
Here is my biggest bodied buck (picture doesn't do his body justice). Never put him on a scale but it was the biggest deer I have been around Wasn't going to shoot him because I thought his right side was just broke off until I started looking harder and realized that's just how they grew. Not sure what he had wrong with him.
Got this one I think 8 years ago. This one isn't the biggest buck but it is my biggest buck.
Not the giants that some of you guys have posted but I have shot a nice buck or two through the years. I don't have pics of most of them, carrying a camera just wasn't on my list in my younger days, don't leave home without one now.
My best whitetail. Shot him when I was a sophomore in HS. 22" inside Euro mount of the same buck hanging in my reloading room. Another decent buck I killed my freshman year of college, no photo exists of him. My first Sitka Blacktail from Kodiak island. If he'd have had the fourth point on to match the other side he would have broken 100". Still my best and one of my most harrowing adventures.
I killed a 27" muley when I was 15 in SW CO. Just saw a big buck stand up out of his bed and shot him. When I got up to him I realized he was a big forkie with a giant body. My dad had the only pic of me and that deer in his office for years, I'll have to call him and see if he can text me a pic. It's still my biggest muley and the only animal I've ever had mounted. Loving all of you guys' muley pics.
Laker those are both big deer....very nice. The big old one looks like a buck on the mend, going downhill and antlers don't grow. Sometimes an injury to the body will retard antler growth on the opposite side.
Not the caliber of some others posted, but the best opening day we've had in Pa in a long time. First pic is from right to left. My Dad's, Mine, buddy Dave, buddy J.P. Second pic is myself and my Dad again. Both taken off my Dad's land, less than 15 minutes apart. I walking out to get the quad for mine and watched my Dad take his. Both have similar features to their racks that make me think they come from the same Daddy....
Dad used a Remington 760 in .257, I used my Mauser .35 Whelen, JP used a Remington 700 that started as a .300 SAUM, but I bought a barrel of someone on here in .300 WSM and we switched them out/ Dave used a WBY Vanguard in .300 WSM. My Dad loaded each round used.
Took me scouring the internet for 3 years to try to find him one that wasn't crazy priced, then walked in to the LGS and the owner was in the middle of making the deal to trade for it. Had it bought before the guy who traded it in was out of the parking lot. Dad's first gun (still has it) was a 760 .30-06. Last 7-8 years he's been trying to get one in each caliber. Anybody got a .244 they want to sell????
Cool 760. I saw my first 257 a couple months ago, a five diamond checkered one, pretty cool but a lot of $$$ for a 760.
I killed my first two bucks when I was a little fella with a 760 in 244. It was my Great Grandad's rifle and he lent it to me for my first deer season.
Great thread Bob... Lotta world class bucks been posted... Coupla phony's too I'm guessing...
Originally Posted by Sendero_man
31" Wyoming deer... Old school
LMFAO...Buck wasn't killed in Wyoming but is for sale there... What a joke... I'd also like to see a few more pic's of the one that got away in '08 as well... I got that email back then of the same three pics and no where did I see SM's name involved... Could be wrong on it but a few other pic's of that one would be nice...
Not sure how the horns would look up close, but this fellow had a fairly huge BMI. Saw him this one time before the season and then he disappeared. Big Deer for around here.
Bob, I didn't see anything in this thread against showing bow kills.
When I was a little younger I did some bowhunting and I baited this one. My treestand was set up on a ridge thick with White and Red oak trees and I watched this buck feed on acorns right up to within range of my stand.
That's a great buck...in the yard or anywhere else.
Guy at the gun club....15 minutes from here,showed me a pic of a big 10 taken near the 100 yard line during the rut last November. Amazing how those big deer can live under our noses.
hunts: range finders are superfluous luxuries around here...
The tough part is you don't see them coming....or going...for long.
They hang out on the 600 yard range frequently but mostly the does and young bucks. We (almost) NEVER see the mature bucks during any season other than the rut in the open areas.
jeffbird: Wow! Not used to Texas buck body sizes since I have seen so few but those look BIG to me.
Bob, those are in the western half of South Texas, lovingly known as "The Golden Triangle," which is the area from roughly Pearsall to Laredo over to the Rio Grande. For a mature low fence buck, live weights are 225 - 250 on average. Closer to Laredo, they can be even heavier. Of course, rain/drought makes a huge difference year to year in body and antler size.
Jeff that's bigger than I thought they get. Good sized bucks then. Is it that south texas bucks are bigger than,say, the Hill Country?
Much larger in South Texas, especially the western half. They are different subspecies than the Hill Country deer. Also, the ranches tend to be much larger making it easier to control the hunters and keep their fingers off the trigger so the deer can reach 6 1/2 or 7 1/2 years old where they tend to peak on body weight and antler size. Also, most of the South Texas ranches are aggressive on keeping the numbers down by hard culling of does so there is adequate food and water. It is some rough and harsh country, but beautiful in its own way.
The population densities of WT deer in the Hill Country are generally among the highest anywhere, thus causing too much competition for food. In the Hill Country, most properties are much smaller making implementation of management plans much more challenging. There are some areas where landowners are forming very large management cooperatives of 20 - 30,000 acres and really upping the quality of deer by dramatically reducing the densities, thus freeing up food and water, and letting the bucks reach maturity. Personally, I've never heard of a Hill Country buck going much above the 180's weight wise on well managed properties. In poorly managed areas, 150 - 160 pound range is more common.
Typical South Texas habitat from that area - tree stands are not going to work here. Trying to walk through the brush is a special experience too.
Found another of a young deer while looking for that photo.
Yes. My dad grew up in the Panhandle and I spent time there when I was young in '60's and early '70's. Back then, there were almost no deer in the Panhandle, as most were killed for subsistence during the Great Depression and/or died from the Dust Bowl conditions. The ones that have repopulated the area have wandered in from Kansas, which are a big subspecies. Also, similar to the Midwest, there is lots of agricultural production so they dine at the salad bar. There are some very nice mule deer in the area now as well.
You're welcome.
South Texas deer which shows body size with me for comparison. Note the cold weather clothing. This was in November if I remember correctly.
Great thread Bob... Lotta world class bucks been posted... Coupla phony's too I'm guessing...
Originally Posted by Sendero_man
31" Wyoming deer... Old school
LMFAO...Buck wasn't killed in Wyoming but is for sale there... What a joke... I'd also like to see a few more pic's of the one that got away in '08 as well... I got that email back then of the same three pics and no where did I see SM's name involved... Could be wrong on it but a few other pic's of that one would be nice...
Great thread Bob... Lotta world class bucks been posted... Coupla phony's too I'm guessing...
Originally Posted by Sendero_man
31" Wyoming deer... Old school
LMFAO...Buck wasn't killed in Wyoming but is for sale there... What a joke... I'd also like to see a few more pic's of the one that got away in '08 as well... I got that email back then of the same three pics and no where did I see SM's name involved... Could be wrong on it but a few other pic's of that one would be nice...
VERY nice! That whitetail is something else though... The mass on it is amazing! Where was he killed?
Cinch... He was killed in Northern NM near Cimarron... Whitetails there are starting to do well but I think they are ass raping the Mulies as I've seen their numbers decline... I'll hang a few others that were killed in the same area once i google up some pics to steal...
This is my 2014 buck. Although he's definitely not the biggest deer in the woods, he's an old warrior and I think he deserves a minute of fame. I'm sure he was on the decline as his teeth are almost gone and his face scarred up. I took this old man at 15ft after a very long hunt. 260 140 Amax.
A life long friend of mine killed this deer in Nebraska in Nov 2014. This guy is hands down the best bow hunter I know and has some great trophies to show for his efforts...
That first one is a toad! That dbl is awesome too. That buck in the snow is knarly that whitetail is wicked And that last one with that pretty lady holding it is outstanding.
I guess all I need is 4k to buy me a trophy like that I guess... I'd rather spot and stalk it rather than buy one from the taxidermist...
This is a great thread. Nice to see guys getting it done all across the country.
Tanner those are some toads too, tall as heck man.....wow....
Cinch, holy crap man.....that is a beast...that buck has it all....
huntingnut: That's a very good whitetail. Great brows on him. Where did you shoot that buck? I mean what state?
Thanks! I killed that deer in 2010 in Ohio on a friends property. One of those deals where I knew he was a decent buck when I shot, then walked up to him and had a holy crap moment.
This is my 2013 deer and biggest white tail to date. I took him at about 100 yards with a 260 and 130 Berger HVLD. He's got a ton of mass for a Wyoming white tail.
Nice bucks Cinch... Good to see your buddy wiped the milk off the chin of that Muley before the pics...
Here's 3 more whitetail taken in Northern NM with my hunter Mr. Mike... Like the way he mounted them... The pic doesn't do it justice... It looks badass in person...
Bob... The Whitetails we hunted were from Springer west to Cimarron... They are mainly along the Ponil River there... We also hunted them in Clayton so I'd guess they came from TX along the river beds... I did some feral hog depredation contracts in Clayton as well... They are moving in from TX using the same river bed systems...
EHG: Must be some time since I was in Clayton and Springer! I don't recall anyone mentioning whitetails or feral hogs at all. That's really interesting how things have morph'd over in that country.
I hunted elk and mule deer in that general region;and clear from Clayton over to Cimmarron.
I remember a bar in Cimarron with bullet holes in the ceiling....an historic place of some kind where some guys got shot.....that still there?
Here are my last 4 rifle bucks, one of which is a mule deer...my only mule deer. He's not big, but I had a big time! I need to chase a big muley someday soon...
msu those are all nice bucks! What part of MS? I hear north is agriculture and south is wooded?
These are from the north western portion of the state. The west part of the state (delta) is primarily ag and produces the a lot of big deer. However the central part of the state seems to produce big deer as well. If we didn't have a 10week firearm season I have no doubt ms would be a true big buck state.
It looks like I need to start hunting the National Forest with you. Those are fine WV deer.
In those two hunts we had between 4-6 guys camping for the first three days of the season. We saw around a total of perhaps 8 Deer during two hunts. One of the guys also took a small one.
All were taken up high. As you know some of that country will wear on you and it has just about wore me down.
msu those are all nice bucks! What part of MS? I hear north is agriculture and south is wooded?
These are from the north western portion of the state. The west part of the state (delta) is primarily ag and produces the a lot of big deer. However the central part of the state seems to produce big deer as well. If we didn't have a 10week firearm season I have no doubt ms would be a true big buck state.
msu some very BIG bucks have come from MS years past.
They're all KY bucks. We've (me, dad and my nephew) have killed some really nice bucks here at the house. I need to get some more pictures digitized and in PhotoBucket. I didn't really do much digital stuff until I joined here....and sadly, most of my pictures of late were taken with an iPhone.
My nephew killed a really nice buck out of my stand this year. He's a dedicated hunter and has been going strong since he was 8.
SAS: Congrats for your nephew! Sounds like you guys have a honey hole out there. Those are all nice Kentucky bucks and I hear the state is becoming one of the better places to find a big one.
Both my son's and my deer were killed from the same permanent tree stand we built in a little scrub patch of woods on a 55 acre farm in western KY.
Just to illustrate how unpredictable buck activity can be during the rut, we regularly gun and bow hunted from that same stand but never ever laid eyes on either buck until just a few seconds right before we pulled the trigger.
Not quite. It was about 500 yards from my yard. I was putting the sneak on a doe feeding in a cut corn field when I noticed that buck and his harem standing in the CRP. From there it was belly crawling through thistles to get a shot off.
I had never seen my deer either. Nothing on cameras and on Nov. 01, here he comes following a doe and grunting.
Thank you!
Mine was crashing and zig-zagging through the woods and underbrush trying to keep up with a hot doe that was teasing him, too.
My son's had quietly sneaked up, it's head and neck stretched out, sniffing and lip curling toward a heated Tink's 69 scent dispenser we had hung out just a little ways from our stand.
What a bunch of awesome, killer deer! There are magazine publishers that would probably give thier left....hand to get ahold of this thread!
And a big thanks to Mr. Humble (Bob) for starting it.
I sure don't have much to offer in the way of big mulies or whitetails, but here's a couple of Kodiak Blacktails from back in the day. As I understand it, non-typicals such as in the first photo are relatively rare in Kodiak Blacktails. It's hard to see, but he has 10 total weird points and a fairly wide rack (and big body).
The second photo is a typical that while I haven't measured it, is fairly nice and while it's hard to see is just barely a 4 x 4 with one little bump for an eyeguard. Some of the hardcore AK guys probably have much bigger ones so I use these two little guys as bait to draw them out. Grin.
Akbob: Those are great blacktails! I love the looks of those deer and especially the mature bucks with those chunky bodies and blocky heads,and distinctive coloration and markings......beautiful and unique animals.
I have seen them up in Alaska when I have been there but never hunted them. Thanks for posting your pictures.
We almost never bother to weigh deer, but the year before this my brother shot a SK whitetail that we weighed field dressed at 260 lbs. this is my heaviest to date, not measured but was al least 4" longer carcass hanging in the cooler.
Bob, I think what's made this thread fun is that most of these are just regular guys that love to hunt, not professionals. Guys that have had their day in the sun or two, and that's why each kill is special to the hunter. We all realize how hard the big ones are to outsmart so it means something when it all comes together. Thanks for the read.
Bob, I think what's made this thread fun is that most of these are just regular guys that love to hunt, not professionals. Guys that have had their day in the sun or two, and that's why each kill is special to the hunter. We all realize how hard the big ones are to outsmart so it means something when it all comes together. Thanks for the read.
Fireball: That's well spoken and I agree. There are bucks posted here that a lot of guys I know would love to have shot....a great many have never killed a whitetail or mule deer the likes of which have been posted here,despite a lot of trying.
Pretty obvious there are a lot of deer hunters on here who take their deer hunting very seriously.
Sam I have to admit that whitetails and mule deer are on about even footing with me......by a slight margin I like mule deer a skosh better,simply because I am restless,love to hunt on my feet and am fairly aggressive about it.
Much whitetail hunting is, of necessity in country I have hunted,more sedentary,i.e.....you gotta sit still. I admit to hating it mostly.
I have been addicted to mule deer hunting for many years.I love the country where they are found.
I used to sit on the edge of the street and wait for my Dad to come home from the lease when I was 5. He finally took me on my first hunt when I was 7 or 8 to a little place called Doss between Mason and Fredricksburg. I was hooked from that weekend on in 1958. I can't believe I'm on the down hill side of my hunting career but God has blessed me w/a wonderful heritage and an exciting hobby. powdr
I used to sit on the edge of the street and wait for my Dad to come home from the lease when I was 5. He finally took me on my first hunt when I was 7 or 8 to a little place called Doss between Mason and Fredricksburg. I was hooked from that weekend on in 1958. I can't believe I'm on the down hill side of my hunting career but God has blessed me w/a wonderful heritage and an exciting hobby. powdr
Bob, thank you. Granddad had quite a collection, but this one was my favorite. He really carries the mass out well to the points. Eyeguards would have made him perfect.
ihookem: Nice Wisconsin buck and good to see the retro photo of your uncle with the mule deer. Nice buck! I notice that big bucks also tend to be long!
Bob. That rifle is not only wood and blued, it's a 270!!! I built that rifle for her as a Christmas present the year before we were married. The stock is claro with a rosewood tip, the last blank I had Ed Shulin turn for me before he passed, think I payed him $40 for the blank and $60 to turn it. He covered shipping, he was a good one. The barrel is a Douglas that I got at a bargain price because it was a #5 .277. I turned it to match a Shilen #1 and finished it at 22". In my hurry to have it ready for the inevitable post Christmas range trip I put the only scope I had around on it, a Leupold 1-4 Shotgun with a heavy, and I mean heavy, duplex. She shot it like that and refuses to have any other scope or reticle. She's used it on deer and bear so far so I guess I'm not going to argue with her since all have been one shot kills.
She shot the buck with a 130 hornady and Jack's load of 4831, he fell as if he'd been struck by a bolt from above. I was right beside her and had to talk her out of shooting the smaller buck that was with him. Probably should have let her knock him over but you know who was doing the dressing and dragging.
For the trip the picture is from we gave the rifles a quick coat of Johnson's paste wax and had zero problems with rust after 5 days hunting. Though I'll admit it didn't rain much that trip.
If you ever get the chance to hunt Kodiak do it. We go as often as we can and always have a great time. It is truly a special place.
I just thought of another picture to post. It has been posted here before. this was taken at the end of the season at my families Northern Saskatchewan bush camp, during one of the years that we could take two either sex deer each. These bucks are from the efforts of four of us over a week. We aren't really trophy hunters, so we were not being very fussy, just taking the first decent mature buck that comes along. I miss those days, a series of hard winters has really reduced our deer herd. Looking forward to the comeback!
That's not fair, I can see your wheeler right next to that bull. You didn't even have to pack him.
Nice blacktails further up BTW. Hunting Kodiak for those bucks is some of my favorite deer hunting and I try to go every year.
Big antique Forkie my Mrs shot on Kodiak in 2013.
Kid, haha. The rule always was the wheelers never moved unless you shot something, then they were only used for retrieval which was interesting at times! Trust me, we had to pack a few, especially down in a burn we called "The Bullpen."
rick: SUPER mule deer buck! I guess parts of Oklahoma are sleeper mule deer country. I drove up through there from Amarillo on the way to hunt Lamar, Colorado and my buddy from there said Oklahoma has some very good mule deer hunting.
My uncle works for OK dept of wildlife, has for a long time. He helped get the mulies that were planted in western OK back in the day. He trapped a bunch of RioGrande turkey and the traded them for mulies to the Wyoming dept of wildlife. I have never seen any bug bucks in OK but I did try to stick a spike with my bow out on our ranch about 75 miles east of the supposed mule deer range and my cousin missed a forkie with his muzzleloader one fall. I knew the one I was after was a mulie having hunted them before but my cousin was flabbergasted when the one he missed started bouncing when he took off!
I have never killed a mule deer around Knowles several big whitetails over the years. My wife Inherited a farm North of Knowles several years ago never hunted it yet.
Bob we don't have many "Good" mule deer. I was Born and raised in that part of the world. All my family are scattered from Woodaward to Boise City
Scotty outstanding! Course we all know you can hunt!
Good grief that VA buck is ridiculous Is he still around and alive to hunt?
Haven't caught him on a trail cam in a couple of years now. I tried to hunt that SOB for three years during the archery season. Like you mentioned before, he just slipped into the ground, unnoticed..
I looked at any picture I could find of deer taken and never saw him, or ever found his horns.. Hopefully he passed along some genes...
Scotty that Idaho buck is a toad. Are those sheds of the same deer in the picture?
There has to be a story there somewhere.
They are from the same buck. Quick story, buddy drew a tag for muleys in Southern Idaho, in the grasslands. He had recently become a resident of the state. He was prodded to put in for the unit he drew in. They scouted for about 3 days before the opener, but got really sick one of the nights. Opening morning came and my buddy was sicker than a dog, but still crawled outta the rack and started glassing some nearby hill's. They spotted this guy about 200-250 yards out and immediately decided they wanted him. One shot from his old Ruger flat bolt 6mm Remington (58 grain VMax) and the old buck was done..
After all the field work was done, they scouted around the area and found both of the sheds for the same darned buck. He had a real nice write up done in Eastmans. Can't remember the score, but its in the lower 200's I think.
Here is a shot of the deer as he was mounting it.
I'd seen the pictures, but this was the first time I saw it after dropping by when returning from OR.
Great thread Bob. While he's no monster, he was plenty big enough to please me. The cherry orange coloration regrettably washed off. 308 SS Mtn Guide, 150 Interlock right into the upper throat patch.
rick: That's a great whitetail! Pretty neat to have those pictures of him.
Its fun to watch them grow. Always thought everybody had 60-70 class whitetails until I started moving around the country. I have meet some good hunters in my travels that have not killed 30 class deer. You got to have them to hunt them.
oregon: That's a really nice blacktail. Very cool deer! I hear they are not easy to kill.
Rick nope not everyone has 150-160 class whitetails....actually they are pretty rare in the scheme of things and if you kill something grossing in the 150's you should probably call everyone you know!
Bob I've been lucky over the years to do lots of helicopter work with wildlife surveys. Lots of days you might fly 8 or 10 sections and not see a mature deer. Interesting the biggest whitetail I ever saw was in a houseing addition in Tulsa Ok. I really think he had 190 inch of horn. Guy never knows. That's the story and I'll stick to it😄
The dreaded tailgate pic......not sure what the deal was, maybe the stars aligned or something. We killed these within 30 minutes of each other, several miles apart.
My best friend, Owen Murnion holding a buck I shot back in 2009. We were actually looking for another buck I'd seen the year before when we bumped into this one. Owen really liked the looks of him. I said, "If you like him so much, go ahead and take him." He then told me he forgot his buck tag at home that morning. I said, we can come back and look for him in the morning, he might still be around. He thought that was a bad idea, and told me I'd better shoot him, and I did. He turns out to be much larger than I thought....Owen knew he was a keeper, and that's why he insisted I shoot him. That's the kind of guy Owen was.
Just one week ago today, Owen was killed in a farm accident near his home in Jordan, Montana.
Gonna miss you pardner......but I won't forget all the good times we shared.
My best friend, Owen Murnion holding a buck I shot back in 2009. We were actually looking for another buck I'd seen the year before when we bumped into this one. Owen really liked the looks of him. I said, "If you like him so much, go ahead and take him." He then told me he forgot his buck tag at home that morning. I said, we can come back and look for him in the morning, he might still be around. He thought that was a bad idea, and told me I'd better shoot him, and I did. He turns out to be much larger than I thought....Owen knew he was a keeper, and that's why he insisted I shoot him. That's the kind of guy Owen was.
Just one week ago today, Owen was killed in a farm accident near his home in Jordan, Montana.
Gonna miss you pardner......but I won't forget all the good times we shared.
My best friend, Owen Murnion holding a buck I shot back in 2009. We were actually looking for another buck I'd seen the year before when we bumped into this one. Owen really liked the looks of him. I said, "If you like him so much, go ahead and take him." He then told me he forgot his buck tag at home that morning. I said, we can come back and look for him in the morning, he might still be around. He thought that was a bad idea, and told me I'd better shoot him, and I did. He turns out to be much larger than I thought....Owen knew he was a keeper, and that's why he insisted I shoot him. That's the kind of guy Owen was.
Just one week ago today, Owen was killed in a farm accident near his home in Jordan, Montana.
Gonna miss you pardner......but I won't forget all the good times we shared.
JGray: Nice mule deer and the old rifle is cool! That a Sharps?
Thanks Bob - actually, it's a Ballard reproduction when Ballard Rifle was in Cody, WY. 45-70 loaded with blackpowder and a soft 30:1 cast 540 gr bullet. Spent all afternoon trying to get close enough and 150 yds was about it. Last fall, Halloween day and got in a little hot water because I missed trick or treating with my grandsons. I think my 4 yr old forgave me the next day helping me hang it in the garage - "Grandpa - he's huge!" and proceeded to flatly tell me he's going with me when he's 5. Love that lil guy...
JGray: Nice mule deer and the old rifle is cool! That a Sharps?
Thanks Bob - actually, it's a Ballard reproduction when Ballard Rifle was in Cody, WY. 45-70 loaded with blackpowder and a soft 30:1 cast 540 gr bullet. Spent all afternoon trying to get close enough and 150 yds was about it. Last fall, Halloween day and got in a little hot water because I missed trick or treating with my grandsons. I think my 4 yr old forgave me the next day helping me hang it in the garage - "Grandpa - he's huge!" and proceeded to flatly tell me he's going with me when he's 5. Love that lil guy...
JGray: There's nothing like your grandsons! Spent yesterday with mine.The oldest is 2.5 now but I have been taking him everywhere with me since he was about 1.
I don't want to hijack your awesome post, but my youngest is 2.5 also. I decided not to wait until the oldest was 5 so this was taken a couple weeks later loading up for their first hunt...
Ok - now back to big bucks! I just spent the entire evening viewing all 60 pages of this
I was not there but I can atleast say I built the gun.
I got to be there on this one.
Here is a 188 gross Double dropper Whitetail. This buck and the next were killed within 400yds of each other. I filmed both and it was one good week of deer hunting.
I will always remember when this one stepped out of the Russian Olives. The hunter looked back at me and asked "Do you think that's him?" Gross was over 200 inches.
Thanks John! I knew you had them out there somewhere!
They are all great bucks but those whitetails are some real toads! Lifetime bucks really. Very neat to find the sheds and then kill the bucks later. Never have done that.
win7STW: Uuhh.....Wow! You're being modest. That's a great buck with LOTS of character, not a little.
Unless a guy is wedded to score and likes the clean typicals, to many, mass is a distinguishing characteristic;it's the eye grabber and recognized right away.It jumps out. You don't "size up" a buck like yours.
Thanks Bob, I would rather shoot a unique deer over a typical. Don't take me wrong I will shoot at anything that's 150+.
I got super lucky on my deer. I watched him slip out of a shelter belt that other hunters were walking. He walked out less than a 100 yards behind the one guy. I watched him bed down in CRP a snuck up to within 30 yards of him. The rest is history.
Well this one was pretty active in Central Billings for quite a while. I have not seen him since December so I dont know if someone poached him or not. He was tame enough people could walk up with 25 yards or so. This is the best pic I have of him, looked like a beast when his velvet was all cleaned up. Also the thickest mule deer I have ever seen. I guess you can get that way raiding gardens all day and night.
Any guesses on his size or score? Looking at him head on his outside spread was about 3-4" past the tips of his ears.
varmints it's kind of funny to see big smart old bucks in a neighorhood....they know where they are safe
From a pure "score" standpoint, he is not built to score typical,from what I can see. He's just "big" and if you saw him you shoot him immediately without wondering about that stuff
He looks like one of those big bucks that falls through the cracks of the scoring systems but might be more impressive than a "clean" typical. I know I'd shoot him immediately
Thanks Bob, I would rather shoot a unique deer over a typical. Don't take me wrong I will shoot at anything that's 150+.
I got super lucky on my deer. I watched him slip out of a shelter belt that other hunters were walking. He walked out less than a 100 yards behind the one guy. I watched him bed down in CRP a snuck up to within 30 yards of him. The rest is history.
win7: Neat way to kill him. Amazing how they can hide under our noses. Stories like that make us wonder how many we have walked past.
Yes. Of all the deer I have killed, or have hanging on my walls, that one always seems to garner the most conversation. Just for reference, I'm 6'1" with a pretty big barrel chest...that G1 is a bit over 13".
Edit to say: There are some real monsters in this thread! Would like to see this thread continue.
Here is the mount of one of mine I posted earlier in the thread. The mount turned out very nice. He's right on the edge of 150". I measured him at 149 2/8, and a buddy had him at 150 1/8".
The G2 shorter than the G3 is very distinctive to and common in South Texas. It hurts them scorewise, but I like the distinct look and proves not to get too hung up on numbers. Thank you Bob. This is by far my favorite thread ever, great idea.
How about the biggest Axis buck I've ever photographed. I've hunted Axis deer for a very long time and photographed 100's of them but none close to this stud. I contacted the landowner several times trying to arrange a hunt but he didn't allow anyone to hunt on his ranch. Ranch is a little less than 1200 acres and is very thick tru most of it so seeing him again would have been tough but I'd have loved to try!!! Take Care, Baker Oh yea and 190" Muley I killed in 1983 in Colorado.
I've shown the Axis photo to several guys who have raised, hunted and been around the Axis deer for over 30 years and they all agree that he would very likely be the world record. Most experienced guys age him at 14+ years plus old. He's almost totally white in the face. I took the photo in September 2013 so who knows if he's still alive. I feel blessed to have some photos of him as well as seeing him relaxed in his environment. Even if I was several hundred yards away. Baker
My best friend, Owen Murnion holding a buck I shot back in 2009. We were actually looking for another buck I'd seen the year before when we bumped into this one. Owen really liked the looks of him. I said, "If you like him so much, go ahead and take him." He then told me he forgot his buck tag at home that morning. I said, we can come back and look for him in the morning, he might still be around. He thought that was a bad idea, and told me I'd better shoot him, and I did. He turns out to be much larger than I thought....Owen knew he was a keeper, and that's why he insisted I shoot him. That's the kind of guy Owen was.
Just one week ago today, Owen was killed in a farm accident near his home in Jordan, Montana.
Gonna miss you pardner......but I won't forget all the good times we shared.
Sorry to hear that about your friend. May y'all meet up again in the happy hunting ground.
He was right. That buck was a high scorer. I wish you would tell us how high.
Let's keep this epic thread alive! Who's got some 2015 and 2016 deer to put up?
Damn! Great buck!
Hard to believe so many guys on the fire are such mossback killers. Huge whitetails from VA, huge blacktails and coues deer, and mulies from Mexico to Canada. Unreal deer on here.
Sam I have to admit that whitetails and mule deer are on about even footing with me......by a slight margin I like mule deer a skosh better,simply because I am restless,love to hunt on my feet and am fairly aggressive about it.
Much whitetail hunting is, of necessity in country I have hunted,more sedentary,i.e.....you gotta sit still. I admit to hating it mostly.
I have been addicted to mule deer hunting for many years.I love the country where they are found.
This is me to a T with the exception of hating sitting still for whitetails. I understand where that is coming from though.
There is nothing like spot and stalk muley's or speed goats with a bow in country where you feel like you might be the first human to step on that spot.
'99 shot w TC Hawken Silver Elite @ 98 yards. 177 and change gross, 166 and a bit net. Dressed 200#. Couldn't get the Blazer very close, had to drag 100 yds, uphill. Made a good run first pull, took a break, peeled some clothes, then pulled half as far. The half that (etc). It was pretty brutal. Gallbladder attack too. Friggin' thought I was gonna die.
Guy at work an award winning taxidermist. Took a while.........because he ended up in a divorce, restraining order. So his apprentice did my mount (did not tell me).
Super pissed off, but kinda over it all these yrs later. Is what it is.
Only big one. Hell I have only two others over 130". Sure spent a lot of time and money over the yrs, for the minor amount of antler I've gotten LOL. This season, smoked a little 100" 8 pt. Oh well.Those of that size sure do taste better.
Nowhere near the size of you'alls but my best to date. 19" inside spread with two busted points on his left side. Talking to my neighbor about him and he sent me this pic of him from his trail cam. Late afternoon hunt last Nov. just grabbed my dads old 870 with couple Rem old school slugs and went for a walk. I smelled this guy 20mins before I ever saw him. He was ruttin' hard. Actually passed on him at first cause lots of brush/trees in way, but then he came back, his mistake, my luck. His back legs were soaked from him pissin himself. Just a nice healthy Illinois deer.
RBO, I'll travel a short limb here and surmise you hail from Alberta.
Yes I do!
I have some land in north central Alberta where the prairies meet the boreal forest. I'm blessed with being able to hunt some land that holds some great potential. Back in 2007-2014 we had a string of hard winters that put a good dent in our heard numbers so it's been 4 or 5 years since I pulled the trigger on a whitetail.
We've had mild winters since then so numbers are getting better, I passed on quite a few in the 150"-160" last fall, I hope to see them again this fall.
Even in Alberta those big deer aren't behind every tree though. I have spent a lot of time in the woods finding them. Not many guys from around here have a collection like mine.
RBO, I'll travel a short limb here and surmise you hail from Alberta.
Yes I do!
I have some land in north central Alberta where the prairies meet the boreal forest. I'm blessed with being able to hunt some land that holds some great potential. Back in 2007-2014 we had a string of hard winters that put a good dent in our heard numbers so it's been 4 or 5 years since I pulled the trigger on a whitetail.
We've had mild winters since then so numbers are getting better, I passed on quite a few in the 150"-160" last fall, I hope to see them again this fall.
Even in Alberta those big deer aren't behind every tree though. I have spent a lot of time in the woods finding them. Not many guys from around here have a collection like mine.
I hope my query to locale didn't give the idea I think they're easy. You obviously work very hard at it - and proof is in the picts.
It's rare for me to sleep at night and not dream about Canadian bucks like this:
RBO, I'll travel a short limb here and surmise you hail from Alberta.
Yes I do!
I have some land in north central Alberta where the prairies meet the boreal forest. I'm blessed with being able to hunt some land that holds some great potential. Back in 2007-2014 we had a string of hard winters that put a good dent in our heard numbers so it's been 4 or 5 years since I pulled the trigger on a whitetail.
We've had mild winters since then so numbers are getting better, I passed on quite a few in the 150"-160" last fall, I hope to see them again this fall.
Even in Alberta those big deer aren't behind every tree though. I have spent a lot of time in the woods finding them. Not many guys from around here have a collection like mine.
I hope my query to locale didn't give the idea I think they're easy. You obviously work very hard at it - and proof is in the picts.
It's rare for me to sleep at night and not dream about Canadian bucks like this:
That "bush buck" in particular is special to me, I was with both my father and my son (he was 5 at the time) when I shot that one.
I've only hunted up in your neck of the woods once but plan to do so again soon. Have avoided AB and SK the last couple of years due to the previous severe winters.
I've only hunted up in your neck of the woods once but plan to do so again soon. Have avoided AB and SK the last couple of years due to the previous severe winters.
Good call, I've been guiding here for almost 20yrs and the past 5 years or so have been work, with the exception of last fall.
In my part of the province we are finally starting to see better numbers of mature bucks, with last season being a promising indicator of what's to come for this fall. This will be the first time in quite a few years that I'm excited about the whitetail forecast. There is one buck in particular that I couldn't take last fall because I was guiding at the time, that I really hope to cross paths with again this fall.
Shoot me a pm if you plan on heading this way in the future, I'm just in the process of purchasing the outfitting business from the guy I've been guiding for for the past 17yrs and we might have an adventure you're interested in.
RBO, I'll travel a short limb here and surmise you hail from Alberta.
Yes I do!
I have some land in north central Alberta where the prairies meet the boreal forest. I'm blessed with being able to hunt some land that holds some great potential. Back in 2007-2014 we had a string of hard winters that put a good dent in our heard numbers so it's been 4 or 5 years since I pulled the trigger on a whitetail.
We've had mild winters since then so numbers are getting better, I passed on quite a few in the 150"-160" last fall, I hope to see them again this fall.
Even in Alberta those big deer aren't behind every tree though. I have spent a lot of time in the woods finding them. Not many guys from around here have a collection like mine.
I hope my query to locale didn't give the idea I think they're easy. You obviously work very hard at it - and proof is in the picts.
It's rare for me to sleep at night and not dream about Canadian bucks like this:
Those are exactly the type of bucks that keep me awake at night.
New poster. Hopefully have the picture thing figured out. Nice bucks guys. Great way to pass the winter downtime. I added an elk called in for my dad as well.
This one is my biggest whitetail, 22" inside spread, 30" main beams, longest point is just over 9" but still grossed over 178".
Heck of a whitetail there, RBO. Rack is so big it makes the antlers look thin.
Where and when did you outsmart him? What rig put him down, pls?
First off, I'm a guide and only have the first couple days and the last couple days of season when I can hunt.
I first saw him in 2000 crossing a cutline (similar to what you call a sendero). I had a stand about 2 miles away and on 3 separate occasions that fall I happened to see him cross while on my way to my stand. So I just had 2 clients from PA fly in so I was going to set up a stand on that line for my clients. First day here I took them back there to set up a stand when low and behold there he was crossing the line with his head to the ground sniffing for a doe!
First guy drops his pack, lays down and takes a shot.... miss! Deer stops and lifts his head to look at us. Second guy leans on a tree and takes a shot...missed! Deer turns and WALKS into the bush! The deer isn't seen again that year.
2001, I shot my deer second day of season so I have my sons godfather with me and we are hunting a piece of land my friend owns, about a half mile from where I had seen the big guy the year before, walking down a trail when there he was again at about 30yds. My friend lifted his rifle and couldn't find him in his scope because it was on 18x, by the time he figured it out the buck took off. So I ended up setting up a ground blind there for my clients that fall. 2 weeks later I had a client in that stand when he saw 2 bucks chasing a doe. For 45 minutes they were running around, battling, chasing the doe, then battling some more. Finally the buck stopped long enough for him to get a shot..... but he shot the wrong buck! Right after he shot he saw the big guy take off.
2002 I'm on the same guys property, different 1/4 section but only a few hundred yards from where the stand was the year before. 9 am I'm walking back to my truck, just crossed the field, looked back and there he was right in the wide open, morning sun glistening off his golden hide, looking off in the opposite direction. 470yds, Winchester model 70 Featherweight 280rem, 140gr factory Winchester Supreme ballistic silver tips, one shot in the right side rib cage, lodged in the left shoulder, Brutus piled up about 120yds away.
When I had him officially scored the scorer had to measure the main beams twice because he had never seen 30" main beams before.
PS, sorry for the long winded response, but it's the whole story.
My best friend, Owen Murnion holding a buck I shot back in 2009. We were actually looking for another buck I'd seen the year before when we bumped into this one. Owen really liked the looks of him. I said, "If you like him so much, go ahead and take him." He then told me he forgot his buck tag at home that morning. I said, we can come back and look for him in the morning, he might still be around. He thought that was a bad idea, and told me I'd better shoot him, and I did. He turns out to be much larger than I thought....Owen knew he was a keeper, and that's why he insisted I shoot him. That's the kind of guy Owen was.
Just one week ago today, Owen was killed in a farm accident near his home in Jordan, Montana.
Gonna miss you pardner......but I won't forget all the good times we shared.
Wow! Just think if he had more mass! Actually, on closer look, he has mass at the bases, his size just minimizes the appearance of the mass. Still a huge buck with those tine lengths.
That's a great WT buck! I would do a cartwheel to take a buck like that.
I was pleased with that WT deer, but I am not BSing when I say that's not really a big deer around here. I'm not much of a trophy hunter so that's one of the better ones I've ever personally taken, But serious local trophy hunters would have let him pass. We do grow them large at the north end of their range.
I passed on this heavy horned buck. He dressed over 200. 28 inch spread. Ranchers grandson got it 2 days later. Cell phone pic at dusk doesnt do it justice. Another W-tail racked west Texas muley.
Maybe not huge for everywhere, but definitely huge for Alabama. Copying this from my post on on AL Deer from 12/6/15:
Just got home from dropping my deer off at Indian Creek in Edwin (Abbeville). So today me and my hunting lease partner made good on plans we had had for weeks to put an old tripod up in some young planted pines and cut shooting lanes for it. We spent 3 hours or so sweating and cutting limbs and small trees with a chainsaw and polesaw. Made all kinds of racket. I had always heard deer were curious, so I decided I'd sit in it after eating some lunch.
Got in the stand around 2:30. Fighting mosquitoes. About 3:15 out steps a shooter. Had no idea how big he was other than he was a shooter. He came out around 110-115 yards away, I've laid big deer down with my 7 mag at distances more than 3 times that far away. So I shoot, lower the rifle and see him coming full speed down the shooting lane towards me! I swear it sounded like a freight train! When he gets about 40 yards away he is blocked by a pile of our fresh cut limbs and darts into the pines to my left. He comes around and runs full speed RIGHT by the tripod. I mean he almost hit one of the legs. I'm yelling HEY!!! HEY!!! trying to get him to stop, and he won't. He is right up under the tripod so I shoot, freehand, not even looking through the scope and he hits the ground, rolls, and gets back up and keeps running. I heard maybe 5 seconds of heavy crashing and then silence. I'm thinking YES, big buck down!
So I'm sitting there, already sweating from having overdressed. I wait a few minutes and get down and find just a few drops of blood in the pines on the first leg of his journey but nothing where I shot the 2nd time and he rolled. So I back out. Walk to the truck, meet my buddy. Mistake #1: put my rifle in my truck. Buddy gets his 40 just in case. We take the gator back through the pines to the tripod and not 10 feet from the tripod we get on a SOLID blood trail, one of the best I've ever seen. We trailed maybe 40 yards when all of the sudden my buddy (who is ahead of me) starts saying a lot of bad words and says THERE HE IS THERE HE IS! I run up and he is laid down looking at his in the briars about 15 feet away. I ask my friend for his 40 and put it right behind his shoulder and pulled the trigger.
HE GETS UP. AND CHARGES ME. I emptied the 40 while running backwards and I'm pulling the trigger and its going click click click as I've spent the 8 rounds in the gun and the buck slides down on his head and front legs about 5 feet from me, but with his hind legs still in the air. My spray and pray tore his throat and somehow (thank the good Lord, or else I probably would have been gored) took out both front wheels, though we think my first shot from the 7 mag had severely limited his right one already.
So there he is as we've backed away a few yards, snorting and blowing blood EVERYWHERE with his hind legs and butt still up in the air but his neck laying on the ground and he is STILL TRYING TO PUSH TOWARDS US!! He keeps falling over and then "laying" like that for about 15 minutes and we decide to go all the way out, wait half an hour, and come back in with my rifle while it is still light in case he is still alive.
So we do that, get there, AND HE'S STILL ALIVE!!! I put a round into his left shoulder with my 7 mag and he gets up and pushes his way with his back legs another 10 yards deeper in the briars!!! We get to where we can see him again and hes breathing very heavily and gurgling and blowing blood everywhere and thrashing. After 2-3 minutes he finally lays his head over, and after a few more minutes we commence to dragging. I have a deer cart but had left it at another one of our leases Friday. From now on it stays in the back of the truck!!
Only 17" inside spread, but his G2's are each 13.5" and his G3's are 11.5". Definitely my new record, which I had just reset with a hoss of an 11 point in Georgia on Halloween day that scored 142 4/8". This will be my first mounted deer, been doing rack mounts myself. He weighed 220 on the dot at the processor after losing a TON of blood. And I mean a TON!
Thank God for another day in the woods among these amazing creatures. This buck's will to live was absolutely incredible, I hope I never come across one as tough as this again!
Since someone mentioned BobinNH I had to go dig up this thread, one of my favorites. Just reread the whole thing while my wife and son napped. Still just as good
Here is a buck I saw elk hunting this year. These two pictures don't show how big he really is. He's not extremely wide, but his deep forks and mass make me think he's a 195" typical, possibly a bit more. I had him at 238 yards and I can say definitively these pictures make him look deceivingly small.
Here is a buck I saw elk hunting this year. These two pictures don't show how big he really is. He's not extremely wide, but his deep forks and mass make me think he's a 195" typical, possibly a bit more. I had him at 238 yards and I can say definitively these pictures make him look deceivingly small.
Here is a buck I saw elk hunting this year. These two pictures don't show how big he really is. He's not extremely wide, but his deep forks and mass make me think he's a 195" typical, possibly a bit more. I had him at 238 yards and I can say definitively these pictures make him look deceivingly small.
Just like my promiscuous sister, this buck's out of your league. You're just going to have to deal with it.
Thanks! I put a lot of miles on before I got either of those. passed on some really nice ones, but was holding out for a jumbo. This year I'll be after the ones I passed!
Good fortune this fall Colorado. I hope those good ones you passed last year and huge this year.
What cal, and distance, please. I wish you would tell the story on that monster.
I have passed on several 27 inch 4x5 Texas count big muleys and only once saw one again the next year.
This was my first big west Texas muley with a 36 in neck iirc but his rack was over the hill. I was driving and looking for quail when he was near a dim ranch road pushing his does. A nice buck was behind the does and i almost missed seeing this one staring at me from the mesquite brush. I had my WBY Varmint master in 22-250 and found a hole through the mesquite to his neck.
Son had to come from 60 miles away to help me get him out of the brush to get a pic. Not a real big rack but thick and a real big buck. [video:youtube][/video]
Good fortune this fall Colorado. I hope those good ones you passed last year are huge this year.
What cal, and distance, please. I wish you would tell the story on that monster.
I have passed on several 27 inch 4x5 Texas count big muleys and only once saw one again the next year.
This was my first big west Texas muley with a 36 in neck iirc but his rack was over the hill. I was driving and looking for quail when he was near a dim ranch road pushing his does. A nice buck was behind the does and i almost missed seeing this one staring at me from the mesquite brush. I had my WBY Varmint master in 22-250 and found a hole through the mesquite to his neck.
Son had to come from 60 miles away to help me get him out of the brush to get a pic. Not a real big rack but thick and a real big buck. [video:youtube][/video]
well it was the 5th day of the season, I planned to make a quick pass through the neighboring ranch at sunrise before work. So far since opener I had been hiking roughly 6-8 miles per day in rugged country and glassing hiking and glassing on this ranch. The day before I rested up from the brutal 3 days of struggling through blowdowns and jagged rock. I took a long winding road up to the top of the ridge that fed into a series of canyons of the property. I was just about to take a cutacross road to check the biggest canyon, 300 yards from the gate I see 2 does at the edge of some thick brush that fades into another choked canyon. I watch them for a few minutes and then I see this dandy of a buck start sniffing and nudging them. I could only see his left side and saw he had a huge 3 point side, not what I was looking for, but he was pretty big and I figured I'd watch a little longer. he goes back and forth in the brush until he steps out into the grassy clearing and turns towards me, I see he's got something caught in his rack, but when he shook his head I saw it didn't move. Droptine! I look a little more and see he's got a really strong right side and is fairly wide. I shuck the rifle, get a rest and shoot just before he steps off the ridge into the really thick stuff. one more second and he would have been gone. I walk up to him and he keeps getting bigger and bigger and it wasn't 1 droptine but 4! The irony is I hunted hard for days on this ranch, and when I found him he was by the two track road right where I was starting to hunt. range was maybe 225 yards. berger 168 VLD from a savage hog hunter 308 behind the front shoulder and he fell on the spot. had almost no teeth sticking above the gumline, he wouldn't have made it through the winter. neighbors had seen him, but never for long and always from a distance. no one knew he had the droptines.
Here's a couple more, I wouldn't call them really big. Crafty photo taking make them look bigger. they were dandies though. The mulie was with my bow last december, he'd probably score in the 150 gross range. no idea on the WT that was a couple years back, but probably 140ish
Good fortune this fall Colorado. I hope those good ones you passed last year and huge this year.
What cal, and distance, please. I wish you would tell the story on that monster.
I have passed on several 27 inch 4x5 Texas count big muleys and only once saw one again the next year.
This was my first big west Texas muley with a 36 in neck iirc but his rack was over the hill. I was driving and looking for quail when he was near a dim ranch road pushing his does. A nice buck was behind the does and i almost missed seeing this one staring at me from the mesquite brush. I had my WBY Varmint master in 22-250 and found a hole through the mesquite to his neck.
Son had to come from 60 miles away to help me get him out of the brush to get a pic. Not a real big rack but thick and a real big buck. [video:youtube][/video]
Thanks for the mulie pics. I've seen plenty of big whitetail but haven't had the chance to go mule deer hunting. I really enjoy seeing the big wide frames
It sure skipped a beat that's for sure. Prior to what little video I got, I was watching him at a whopping 70 yds for a couple of minutes. I started trying to get pics and video from there to no avail....nothing would focus right. I grabbed my spotter and tripod and attempted to get in the back of my truck (very flat ground where I was) and attach my phone to the spotter with my phoneskope. When I got out of the truck the small herd didn't like it so they started moving off.
If you look at the last part of that video, as he's going away you will see him lay his ears out pretty flat for just a second. I've killed enough of these big sandhills bucks, and seen plenty more killed to know when they lay their ears out flat they will be at least an honest 24"-25". If you can pause that video it looks to me like there's at least 5" (outside spread) outside of his ears on each side. Puts him at least in the 35-36" class, likely a touch wider.
The only other buck I've seen in my life that I know was wider was this buck from several years ago. I apologize for the terrible video, but I was holding a camera up to my spotter and that's hard for me to do. We never did kill him either.
Woo boy this was from yrs past 1999 if I remember correctly possibly 2000 central oregon public lands in the Grizzly unit. I was still stationed up at ft lewis. Anyhow I picked my friend up and we decided to go try out an area that morning. We spotted this guy, funny part I was waiting for my friend to shoot and he was waiting for me to shoot lol. I used a rem 700 adl in a 25-06 with 120gr remington cor-lokt. I think the rifle had a tasco word class on it, or possibly a simmons scope. At the time I was just a meat hunter never thought twice about a shoulder mount. Every time i look at that picture i shake my head going I should of got a shoulder mount. But broke Soldier making $335 every two weeks a shoulder mount was not in my budget lol.
Nothing huge like you guys are posting. My daughter shot this deer when she was 6-7 years old during youth season in September and I remember trying to get him in the truck I didn’t weigh him but he was pretty dang heavy. It was kinda cool getting to shoot him on the home farm and he was fighting a little bit right before she shot him with another buck that was pretty decent too
Jesus Christ uncle Johnny, these all Texas bucks???
Yes, believe it or not.........
West Texas has some really good muleys running around. I hunted north of Van Horn for close to 30 years. We killed several big ones. We had one that we never did kill that was just as wide as that 36" buck. We named him Casper because he turned into a ghost once the season started. I attached a couple of my bucks.
Beautiful bucks Dub. Did you ever see any desert bighorns in that Van Horn country? They are supposedly doing really well here in Texas.
We never saw any bighorns on our lease. We did have our share of Aoudad though. They were almost, if not more, fun to hunt than the muleys.
I did see some desert Bighorn when I drew a muley tag for Sierra Diablo WMA back in 2011. I saw one perched up on a rock outcropping as we drove through one of several ranches to access the WMA. I watched a herd of about 20 bighorns in my unit for the 3 days we hunted the WMA and one was going to be a real hoss of a ram. His curl had already swung down below his jaw and was coming back up at the end of his nose. I'm a sheep nut, having hunted Dall sheep in the NWT back in 1995 seeing those bighorn was a real treat. A local fireman and friend of mine drew a one of the first bighorn tags in Texas and killed his at Elephant Mountain I believe. I know of a rancher that used to have the ranch south of us in Van Horn. He sold that place and bought another one close to Sierra Blanca. He's shown me some pics of Desert Bighorn that roam his place. I'd give my right one to hunt them.
This west Texas bruiser got away from me. I had watched him all day across a canyon at 330 yards. I should have taken the shot, but wasn't sure how I was going to get him out. He finally got up near dark, went to the top of the mountain and looked over into a box canyon. This pic was taken at 553 yards. I should have taken the shot, but wasn't sure about the wind up where he was. What I should have done was taken the shot when he was at 330 yards and worried about how to get him out for the next day. That's the last time I saw him for the rest of the 2 week season.
Those are my mule deer hunting buddy's bucks, Big Al. I've been with him on all of those hunts except for the one of far left in which his daughter shot. We've hunted mule deer together for 16 years now.
Got last year's KS deer back from the taxidermist last week. Can't rightly call him really big but can say he was really old. Tooth sample/report should finally be back in a couple of weeks.
Love those knarly old KS bucks Scott. Our TX panhandle place is only about 40 miles S of KS line and we see some of those types of deer there. Those KS bucks are brutes!
Got last year's KS deer back from the taxidermist last week. Can't rightly call him really big but can say he was really old. Tooth sample/report should finally be back in a couple of weeks.
I found a picture on my phone of a couple West Texas mule deer for your viewing pleasure. I apoligize for the quality, but the morning was foggy and the phone was all I had available.
This bruiser showed up a couple of days ago. Now I know why my bird feeder raiding welfare bucks have been absent lately and the ones that do show up have busted horns.
He's a butterball and wide and old. The first I've see of him up by the house or down in the canyon by the water this year. He's got serious business going on.
I was dropping off at the taxidermist a whitetail I had shot this morning while hunting in Georgia. While I was waiting to be helped I started talking to a guy who shot this mule deer deep in the desert of Senora Mexico.
It’s been a pretty good year for me so far. My first whitetail client showed up on November 14th and shot a beauty of an 8 point that came with a 9” drop tine, the buck grossed in the 170’s
Then, as luck would have it my client that was supposed to show up on the 20th missed his flight so I was able to get out for a day Hunting, it was an amazing turn of events. The monster buck I had been after for three years picked this day to make his once a year slip up and I was there to see it!
It’s been a pretty good year for me so far. My first whitetail client showed up on November 14th and shot a beauty of an 8 point that came with a 9” drop tine, the buck grossed in the 170’s
Then, as luck would have it my client that was supposed to show up on the 20th missed his flight so I was able to get out for a day Hunting, it was an amazing turn of events. The monster buck I had been after for three years picked this day to make his once a year slip up and I was there to see it!
With over 50” of mass it grosses over 200”
If I glued together all the racks on the bucks I've killed in my life they would gross score about the same as your's.
The may be a slight exaggeration but you get the idea.
It’s been a pretty good year for me so far. My first whitetail client showed up on November 14th and shot a beauty of an 8 point that came with a 9” drop tine, the buck grossed in the 170’s
Then, as luck would have it my client that was supposed to show up on the 20th missed his flight so I was able to get out for a day Hunting, it was an amazing turn of events. The monster buck I had been after for three years picked this day to make his once a year slip up and I was there to see it!
It’s been a pretty good year for me so far. My first whitetail client showed up on November 14th and shot a beauty of an 8 point that came with a 9” drop tine, the buck grossed in the 170’s
Then, as luck would have it my client that was supposed to show up on the 20th missed his flight so I was able to get out for a day Hunting, it was an amazing turn of events. The monster buck I had been after for three years picked this day to make his once a year slip up and I was there to see it!
WOW!!!! Nice dear guys !!! I'm 68 & not likely going to get anything like those bucks. Best I ever done was a 10 pointer nice big deer but we don't often get big racks around here. Deer maybe 180lbs but spread was maybe 12-14 inches. Good going guys way ta knock em down. Bill out. 🐾👣🇨🇦
Thanks to all, I like and enjoy seeing BIG deer even if I can't qualify. I kill the biggest I can find. Hopefully I'll have another entry before this season ends.
Thanks to all, I like and enjoy seeing BIG deer even if I can't qualify. I kill the biggest I can find. Hopefully I'll have another entry before this season ends.
Thanks to all, I like and enjoy seeing BIG deer even if I can't qualify. I kill the biggest I can find. Hopefully I'll have another entry before this season ends.
Jerry --------------------
Keep hammering buddy!!
Thanks Jud
Don't misunderstand - I ain't ashamed of my better bucks -- they're not AS big as many here. You can't kill what you don't have.
ATST I have killed the biggest bucks on 2 diff leases in diff years.
2007 - I schlepted this 130 class, 8 pt while he was bedded with a hot doe. 270 W on the run.
In 2008 I intercepted this 194 # 10 pt, 300 WM, 180 yds. My heaviest buck.
He's on a tailgate of F 150 4X4 for reference.
In 2009 I knocked this 6pt -- 17 1/2" spread off a hot doe. 300 WM
In 2010 I surprised this 8 pt, 17 3/4 spread. 300 WM I'm proud of that rack.
In 2014 I stopped this narrow, heavy horned, 6 pt. 175 # buck, 7mm RM. He was running 'somewhere' ? He came home with me.
I have an 8 pt mounted I killed in 1989. No Pic. He and the 194 # 10 pt were the 2 biggest bucks killed on different leases.
Thanks to all, I like and enjoy seeing BIG deer even if I can't qualify. I kill the biggest I can find. Hopefully I'll have another entry before this season ends.
Jerry --------------------
Keep hammering buddy!!
Thanks Jud
Don't misunderstand - I ain't ashamed of my better bucks -- they're not AS big as many here. You can't kill what you don't have.
ATST I have killed the biggest bucks on 2 diff leases in diff years.
2007 - I schlepted this 130 class, 8 pt while he was bedded with a hot doe. 270 W on the run.
In 2008 I intercepted this 194 # 10 pt, 300 WM, 180 yds. My heaviest buck.
He's on a tailgate of F 150 4X4 for reference.
In 2009 I knocked this 6pt -- 17 1/2" spread off a hot doe. 300 WM
In 2010 I surprised this 8 pt, 17 3/4 spread. 300 WM I'm proud of that rack.
In 2014 I stopped this narrow, heavy horned, 6 pt. 175 # buck, 7mm RM. He was running 'somewhere' ? He came home with me.
I have an 8 pt mounted I killed in 1989. No Pic. He and the 194 # 10 pt were the 2 biggest bucks killed on different leases.
Yeah.... I'm still at it.
Thanks
Jerry
You’ve done well buddy, nice bucks you got there!!!
Those last 3 bucks did not come from my lease. I was texting with Drum about that pic since he knew the guy.and I tole him that I trade big buck pics with our game warden quite often, and those 3 were from him. Same area, not the same ground I hunt though. The game warden does not tell me specifically what ranches the deer come from, and that's the way I want it because I don't want him telling others where our big deer come from either. That's the way it should be IMO. I love seeing big bucks, especially big muley bucks, so I post 'em for all to enjoy.
I posted those to show "representative adult bucks" where I've hunted the last several years. I've never hunted ag producing areas. They can produce monsters.
I truthfully stand in awe and respect of the GREAT bucks posted here.
Guys I'm specifically hunting THIS buck only - unless there's another one 'CLOSE' to his size.
I could have shot him (illegally) during our Oct. Doe ONLY season. I don't regret passing. From this pic ( I TOOK ) he may be my biggest ANTLERED buck. His body size is not exceptionally heavy.
I know he's still alive. A relative saw him late one afternoon recently.
Seems like a lot of the respondents focused on "big" antlers. If bodies count too, I submit these three hogs taken in a howling blizzard in Montana one morning last October:
Seems like a lot of the respondents focused on "big" antlers. If bodies count too, I submit these three hogs taken in a howling blizzard in Montana one morning last October:
First year hunting my new place in KS. Not saying this is really big, but biggest I have on camera so far. It will be interesting to see if any giants show up in Nov.
First year hunting my new place in KS. Not saying this is really big, but biggest I have on camera so far. It will be interesting to see if any giants show up in Nov.
Hmm, well, I'd shoot it. Bigger than anything I've seen this year (trail-cam or live).
Maybe not “really big” but pretty big. Pre-cell phone, early 90’s traditional archery whitetail, just 2-3 mi into SD from Iowa after a snow storm. -20* day but in the rut and killed about 10:00 a.m. A doe came and laid down about 20 ft. from the base of my tree while I was shivering ucontrollably about 15’ up. He came by nose down and stopped near the doe allowing about a 8-10 yard shot. I could barely get to full-draw on my 57# recurve as I had been sitting since 6:30. In fact, I was about 60% draw and the hit was not where intended as I hit him through the neck. I had been after him awhile as were some others.
First year hunting my new place in KS. Not saying this is really big, but biggest I have on camera so far. It will be interesting to see if any giants show up in Nov.
Hmm, well, I'd shoot it. Bigger than anything I've seen this year (trail-cam or live).
As would I lol. But he isn't agreeing to be around during daylight.
First year hunting my new place in KS. Not saying this is really big, but biggest I have on camera so far. It will be interesting to see if any giants show up in Nov.
Hmm, well, I'd shoot it. Bigger than anything I've seen this year (trail-cam or live).
As would I lol. But he isn't agreeing to be around during daylight.
He’s a hammer buddy! I hope you get a crack at him!
Maybe not “really big” but pretty big. Pre-cell phone, early 90’s traditional archery whitetail, just 2-3 mi into SD from Iowa after a snow storm. -20* day but in the rut and killed about 10:00 a.m. A doe came and laid down about 20 ft. from the base of my tree while I was shivering ucontrollably about 15’ up. He came by nose down and stopped near the doe allowing about a 8-10 yard shot. I could barely get to full-draw on my 57# recurve as I had been sitting since 6:30. In fact, I was about 60% draw and the hit was not where intended as I hit him through the neck. I had been after him awhile as were some others.
This is from last year on the main ranch I hunt on the west side of South Texas. I let him go so he hopefully will make some more 6x6’s. He had some gashes from fights. So hopefully he lived to this year.
The shorter G2’s are a very distinctive characteristic of deer in the area.
He was distracted by does in the first photo. The sound of the cell phone had caught his attention at over 100 yards away in the second photo. These older deer are very smart.
Not huge by any standard but big, old, and tough for the area he was taken. He was the alpha buck for the area. Big bodied. I got him the year we lost High Brass. The 760 was his favorite rifle and used his handload.
Nice one. Even Wooters said big is what’s big where you hunt. Old ones are always tough to take, even old does.
I have said the same. Some areas just don't grow 180" deer.
We have some big deer right around home but go 50 miles or so North and you see even better deer. Go south and you will see some nice bucks but overall not as many as around home.
Nice one. Even Wooters said big is what’s big where you hunt. Old ones are always tough to take, even old does.
I have said the same. Some areas just don't grow 180" deer.
We have some big deer right around home but go 50 miles or so North and you see even better deer. Go south and you will see some nice bucks but overall not as many as around home.
Well truth be told if you go back and read the OP, this wasn’t about score. It was about “big” deer.
I posted somewhere in there a buck i shot in MN in 2014z it probably doesn’t score 100” but it weighed 204 pounds field dressed.
That’s pretty awesome that you guys get to kill those monster bodied deer, unless you have to drag them. . The absolute biggest bodied buck I ever checked when we had the state check station was 178lb dressed, an old bruiser 11 pointer. Over the years of checking deer and filling in the books I found that the average buck killed here weighs about 115 dressed. The average mature buck, nice but not huge just the ones you can tell are 4-5 years old, will go about 130 dressed. Does average about 80, biggest I ever checked was 124 and the biggest I ever shot was 101.
We do get some nice racks, lots of nutrition and a 2 buck a year limit with only one being a rifle kill, plus generally easy winters. Everyone has a trail cam pic of a 150 or better incher coming to their feeder but most of them don’t get killed.
I jettisoned the cams years ago and never really started with the feeders. I instead decided I really like to just hunt and when I go out to hunt the goal is an old mature buck. They’re smart and fun to try to outwit, anybody can kill a forkie or basket rack.
This guy won’t make the book and he probably weighed 130lb dressed. But he was scar faced and worn toothed, had a doe he was riding herd on and fending off a younger buck. Plus I had my favorite accomplice in tow.
That’s pretty awesome that you guys get to kill those monster bodied deer, unless you have to drag them. . The absolute biggest bodied buck I ever checked when we had the state check station was 178lb dressed, an old bruiser 11 pointer. Over the years of checking deer and filling in the books I found that the average buck killed here weighs about 115 dressed. The average mature buck, nice but not huge just the ones you can tell are 4-5 years old, will go about 130 dressed. Does average about 80, biggest I ever checked was 124 and the biggest I ever shot was 101.
We do get some nice racks, lots of nutrition and a 2 buck a year limit with only one being a rifle kill, plus generally easy winters. Everyone has a trail cam pic of a 150 or better incher coming to their feeder but most of them don’t get killed.
I jettisoned the cams years ago and never really started with the feeders. I instead decided I really like to just hunt and when I go out to hunt the goal is an old mature buck. They’re smart and fun to try to outwit, anybody can kill a forkie or basket rack.
This guy won’t make the book and he probably weighed 130lb dressed. But he was scar faced and worn toothed, had a doe he was riding herd on and fending off a younger buck. Plus I had my favorite accomplice in tow.
Hey that’s a cool buck!
I think the spirit of this thread is big where you’re from. A 178 pound bucks is over 200 live weight for sure.
The 204# buck I did have to drag quite a ways. But I shot him at like 11:45 AM. I think IIRC I got to my truck about 4 PM. I had to drag him about 1/2 mile before I could load it on the wheeler. Luckily the wheeler was about the same height as the tailgate.
Interesting forked horn blacktail I got this weekend. Saw him first in the morning and finally got him about 5 pm that evening. Great hunt.
Nice Buck ! what caliber is the 99?
Thanks. It was a really great hunt. The 99 is a 284. I load it with 4831 SC and 145 grain Speer BTSP. Probably the most consistent hunting rifle/ammo combo I've ever used.
Interesting forked horn blacktail I got this weekend. Saw him first in the morning and finally got him about 5 pm that evening. Great hunt.
Nice Buck ! what caliber is the 99?
Thanks. It was a really great hunt. The 99 is a 284. I load it with 4831 SC and 145 grain Speer BTSP. Probably the most consistent hunting rifle/ammo combo I've ever used.
4 point restriction meaning must have at least 4 points on one side.
This reminds me of some of the yahoos in my neck of the woods that "practice deer management". ......."We only shoot eight points or better"
Likely half of the 1.5 y/o bucks around here are 8 pts (might different in your locale). So, pass on the seemingly genetically inferior spikes and forks to shoot the better potential 1.5 y/o's.
I get the spirit of the restriction, I just see a lot of holes in it. And JDK's son's buck is another example - a hefty, mature buck that would have lived an entire life as a 6pt.
4 point restriction meaning must have at least 4 points on one side.
This reminds me of some of the yahoos in my neck of the woods that "practice deer management". ......."We only shoot eight points or better"
Likely half of the 1.5 y/o bucks around here are 8 pts (might different in your locale). So, pass on the seemingly genetically inferior spikes and forks to shoot the better potential 1.5 y/o's.
I get the spirit of the restriction, I just see a lot of holes in it. And JDK's son's buck is another example - a hefty, mature buck that would have lived an entire life as a 6pt.
4 point restriction meaning must have at least 4 points on one side.
This reminds me of some of the yahoos in my neck of the woods that "practice deer management". ......."We only shoot eight points or better"
Likely half of the 1.5 y/o bucks around here are 8 pts (might different in your locale). So, pass on the seemingly genetically inferior spikes and forks to shoot the better potential 1.5 y/o's.
I get the spirit of the restriction, I just see a lot of holes in it. And JDK's son's buck is another example - a hefty, mature buck that would have lived an entire life as a 6pt.
Couldn't agree more Scott. We ALWAYS use age first and foremost when determining whether to try and kill it or not. Lot's of people around this board would be the exception, but I'm betting the vast majority of hunters can't tell the difference between a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old.
Here's another old, old buck I helped a friend kill several days ago. He's at least 6.5, more likely 7.5 IMO.
4 point restriction meaning must have at least 4 points on one side.
This reminds me of some of the yahoos in my neck of the woods that "practice deer management". ......."We only shoot eight points or better"
Likely half of the 1.5 y/o bucks around here are 8 pts (might different in your locale). So, pass on the seemingly genetically inferior spikes and forks to shoot the better potential 1.5 y/o's.
I get the spirit of the restriction, I just see a lot of holes in it. And JDK's son's buck is another example - a hefty, mature buck that would have lived an entire life as a 6pt.
Couldn't agree more Scott. We ALWAYS use age first and foremost when determining whether to try and kill it or not. Lot's of people around this board would be the exception, but I'm betting the vast majority of hunters can't tell the difference between a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old.
Here's another old, old buck I helped a friend kill several days ago. He's at least 6.5, more likely 7.5 IMO.
Yep, and regulations don't dictate whether you shoot a 1.5 yr old as compared to a mature buck. Scott, I forgot how jealous I am of those whopper whitetails you've taken.....Shazaaam!
You posted a photo a few years (?) ago that might have been a Saskatchewan buck and likely member of the 300# club. Please repost a photo of that one if you will.
It's likely this one that I shot in Ontario. The surprising thing is he was a relatively young deer but was killed a week before rutting commenced and crash diet ensued.
Oh, hell no. That's fake. Isn't there a photo of that deer laying down with you behind it - snowy maybe?
Ahhh, that one. Manitoba. He didn't quite make 300#. Were he not one of the shortest (lengthwise) bucks I've ever seen, he'd have easily dressed north of 300#.
vast majority of hunters can't tell the difference between a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old.
Here's another old, old buck I helped a friend kill several days ago. He's at least 6.5, more likely 7.5
Could somebody explain to me, why guys feel the need to add a '.5' to the year of a deer? How do you know that it wasn't born a .3, .4, .6 or a .7? Are your kids aged as 11 and a half year olds? Do they get half-year birthday parties, too? I don't know anybody but deer hunters that do this stuff. Farmers, ranchers and any other normal folk, say their animals/kids are yearlings, two/three/four year olds without having to embellish an extra half year. But rock on, if it makes you feel superior......
vast majority of hunters can't tell the difference between a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old.
Here's another old, old buck I helped a friend kill several days ago. He's at least 6.5, more likely 7.5
Could somebody explain to me, why guys feel the need to add a '.5' to the year of a deer? How do you know that it wasn't born a .3, .4, .6 or a .7? Are your kids aged as 11 and a half year olds? Do they get half-year birthday parties, too? I don't know anybody but deer hunters that do this stuff. Farmers, ranchers and any other normal folk, say their animals/kids are yearlings, two/three/four year olds without having to embellish an extra half year. But rock on, if it makes you feel superior......
Laffin'. No superiority Don. Eastern thing - age during the hunting season. Same sort of colloquialism as 10pt vs. 5x5.
Oh, hell no. That's fake. Isn't there a photo of that deer laying down with you behind it - snowy maybe?
Ahhh, that one. Manitoba. He didn't quite make 300#. Were he not one of the shortest (lengthwise) bucks I've ever seen, he'd have easily dressed north of 300#.
vast majority of hunters can't tell the difference between a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old.
Here's another old, old buck I helped a friend kill several days ago. He's at least 6.5, more likely 7.5
Could somebody explain to me, why guys feel the need to add a '.5' to the year of a deer? How do you know that it wasn't born a .3, .4, .6 or a .7? Are your kids aged as 11 and a half year olds? Do they get half-year birthday parties, too? I don't know anybody but deer hunters that do this stuff. Farmers, ranchers and any other normal folk, say their animals/kids are yearlings, two/three/four year olds without having to embellish an extra half year. But rock on, if it makes you feel superior......
I thought everyone knew that the vast, vast majority of deer are born in June. That would be the half year thing. It's not rocket science.
4 point restriction meaning must have at least 4 points on one side.
This reminds me of some of the yahoos in my neck of the woods that "practice deer management". ......."We only shoot eight points or better"
Likely half of the 1.5 y/o bucks around here are 8 pts (might different in your locale). So, pass on the seemingly genetically inferior spikes and forks to shoot the better potential 1.5 y/o's.
I get the spirit of the restriction, I just see a lot of holes in it. And JDK's son's buck is another example - a hefty, mature buck that would have lived an entire life as a 6pt.
We have antler restrictions here too but I can’t imagine a buck like that living till old age in my area where deer drives are still common. Buck that large running through the woods on a drive would likely get ground checked.
Oh, hell no. That's fake. Isn't there a photo of that deer laying down with you behind it - snowy maybe?
Ahhh, that one. Manitoba. He didn't quite make 300#. Were he not one of the shortest (lengthwise) bucks I've ever seen, he'd have easily dressed north of 300#.
Oh, hell no. That's fake. Isn't there a photo of that deer laying down with you behind it - snowy maybe?
Ahhh, that one. Manitoba. He didn't quite make 300#. Were he not one of the shortest (lengthwise) bucks I've ever seen, he'd have easily dressed north of 300#.
I wouldn’t want to wrastle that bad buck...He’s above my weight class, so I’m safe.
East TN. 7 years old from our extensive camera history. I have seen and passed this deer 20 times past 3 years. This time he walked in when I was having a bad day and a itchy trigger finger. Not a huge deer. But old and mature for eastern Tn where deer are small. His tooth was sent as well
Oh, hell no. That's fake. Isn't there a photo of that deer laying down with you behind it - snowy maybe?
Ahhh, that one. Manitoba. He didn't quite make 300#. Were he not one of the shortest (lengthwise) bucks I've ever seen, he'd have easily dressed north of 300#.
Man, what a buck. The body on that ol' boy is amazing.
Oh, hell no. That's fake. Isn't there a photo of that deer laying down with you behind it - snowy maybe?
Ahhh, that one. Manitoba. He didn't quite make 300#. Were he not one of the shortest (lengthwise) bucks I've ever seen, he'd have easily dressed north of 300#.
Manitoba my eye ! You know you shot that buck in the Texas Hill Country around Fredericksburg ....
It's likely this one that I shot in Ontario. The surprising thing is he was a relatively young deer but was killed a week before rutting commenced and crash diet ensued.
Do you know the main beam length on that buck? It looks pretty impressive in that side view.
Oh, hell no. That's fake. Isn't there a photo of that deer laying down with you behind it - snowy maybe?
Ahhh, that one. Manitoba. He didn't quite make 300#. Were he not one of the shortest (lengthwise) bucks I've ever seen, he'd have easily dressed north of 300#.
Yeah, but it's only an 8 pointer... Kidding Scott, kidding. I'm more than a bit envious. Thanks for posting stuff that most of us can only aspire to.
It's likely this one that I shot in Ontario. The surprising thing is he was a relatively young deer but was killed a week before rutting commenced and crash diet ensued.
Do you know the main beam length on that buck? It looks pretty impressive in that side view.
It's likely this one that I shot in Ontario. The surprising thing is he was a relatively young deer but was killed a week before rutting commenced and crash diet ensued.
Do you know the main beam length on that buck? It looks pretty impressive in that side view.
Just measured it - 24.25" Here's another pict:
Awesome buck, Scott. If that buck was a yellow perch, it'd be a jumbo. Job well done
Not very wide. less the 16" after drying down. Still grossing a bit over 160. Not bad for a 4 x 4.Nicest deer I have taken for sure Icing on the cake to take him with the CZ 527 Chambered in 6mm ARC. First season for this rifle. Had little or no Idea this deer was in using the parcel of public ground I was hunting until the 2nd morning of the of season.
It's likely this one that I shot in Ontario. The surprising thing is he was a relatively young deer but was killed a week before rutting commenced and crash diet ensued.
Do you know the main beam length on that buck? It looks pretty impressive in that side view.
Not the biggest deer but my daughter’s first. She used a 257 roberts put together by her grandpa who was with her on the hunt. I was across the farm hunting with my youngest daughter - will always remember the excitement in her voice when she called to tell me she got one!
Not the biggest deer but my daughter’s first. She used a 257 roberts put together by her grandpa who was with her on the hunt. I was across the farm hunting with my youngest daughter - will always remember the excitement in her voice when she called to tell me she got one!
Not the biggest deer but my daughter’s first. She used a 257 roberts put together by her grandpa who was with her on the hunt. I was across the farm hunting with my youngest daughter - will always remember the excitement in her voice when she called to tell me she got one!
That's awesome. Makes me smile. Thanks for posting it!
The biggest deer I have seen are a couple of non-typical pick ups in Indiana. The beam widths are 3 times the shoulder width of the holder and don't appear to be wide angle lens distortions. The number of tines and thickness of beam and tine is very much larger than anything I have ever seen.
I don't recall if I ever posted this buck earlier in this thread but he's one of the bigger bucks I have ever seen in a general unit/public land. Season was closed and I filled my tag with a 170ish buck a week earlier anyhow.
I've posted this in other forums here, not sure if I posted it here. Nevertheless, when they get this big they're worth another mention.......didn't kill him, never saw him again.
I've posted this in other forums here, not sure if I posted it here. Nevertheless, when they get this big they're worth another mention.......didn't kill him, never saw him again.
Here is a video taken last year by a friend on the main ranch I hunt in South Texas. This ranch has some nice deer, but this one really popped some nice antlers.
Haverluk, what part of Va was the buck taken? I lived in Stafford since around 2008 and man, I hunted around Stafford and also down in Caroline County and some of those bucks I saw come out of the woods were just hammers!
Haverluk, what part of Va was the buck taken? I lived in Stafford since around 2008 and man, I hunted around Stafford and also down in Caroline County and some of those bucks I saw come out of the woods were just hammers!
I too lived in Stafford and Prince William Co on and off since 2003. Took some great bucks on Quantico and some great bucks in Stafford, Prince Willam, Spotsylvania and Fauquier Counties. Never hunted Caroline Co. My buddy shot this buck in Caroline Co.
Haverluk, what part of Va was the buck taken? I lived in Stafford since around 2008 and man, I hunted around Stafford and also down in Caroline County and some of those bucks I saw come out of the woods were just hammers!
I too lived in Stafford and Prince William Co on and off since 2003. Took some great bucks on Quantico and some great bucks in Stafford, Prince Willam, Spotsylvania and Fauquier Counties. Never hunted Caroline Co. My buddy shot this buck in Caroline Co.
No kidding! That is darned cool. I know some of the horns that came out of those woods would make folks eyes cross since they barely weighed but 150lbs most of the time, but man they packed on some horn.