Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Impressive bucks without a lot of points

Was at a customers house yesterday, every time I'm there he has a buck on the wall we always discuss. It's a main frame 6 pt. I don't care what it scores, it would still be impressive to me.

But just for reference. It green scored over 140. After 6 mo's drying there was a local sportsman dinner and there was an official boone and crocket man there to score any racks people brought in.

Official gross was 138, he has a 3" kicker off the rear tine on the one side so when that was deducted he scored 135. It's one heck of a buck with what's there to work with. Love to look at those big heavy older bucks.

When we were in high school my buddy shot an ancient old 6 pointer. He was likely 8 or 9 years old and dressed about 40 pounds heavier than a normal nice sized buck around here. He had huge bases and was about 18” wide with big heavy beams and brows about 5” long.

We weren’t big on binos back then and I’m sure he just saw a big framed buck and shot it. Pretty cool trophy.

We got a few pics of this guy[son and I].
He's not massive but pretty impressive for a six pt.


I got him last year-came out in the exact spot that all of our pics caught him.
I feel confident that I had a chat with him one morning on my way out our drive heading to work.
Told him that I hoped to see him soon under different circumstances. It took a year.
He was the biggest[body & antlered] spike that I had seen, maybe 14" wide.
Almost 16" inside the next year when I could actually put tape to him.

Sadly, we have nothing but basaltic soils in this region. If we had some limestone, we might grow some really great bucks like those on Utah's Antelope Island or Colorado's Arsenal.

A couple mulies here in SE Oregon that Cookie ran down this fall.






Never scored an animal to date, so no idea how these might measure up.

Big 8s are Where it's at for me. Not crowded with points.

My biggest 8 was 135sh green, less than 12" inside. Never officially scored.

I have been Bowhunting since 1979 along the Big Sioux River in Eastern South Dakota.
Here is my biggest 4X4 to date, 19 inch inside spread and scores 153 3/8" Pope and Young.

A friend of mine shot a big fork horn last season. 18" inside spread, heavy beams, just crab claws on the ends. Field dressed 160 lbs. Another friends father killed the biggest six point I've ever seen. Heavy beams, 19" spread, 14" G 2's. A very impressive looking buck despite the lack of points.

I don't have any pics, but my cousin shot an 8pt years ago that grossed 181 and netted 176 IIRC. Still the biggest framed rack I've every held.

I would love to see a picture of that deer.
A 170s 8 point is my dream buck.

I know some Cooks from Vale. Any relation?

Don't know if you're impressed, but the kids sure seemed happy!

Dog, too.

My favorite….

The muley below hung out around our property for at least 3 years. He never changed from the big forky you see and every time I saw him he still had velvet no matter the month. My guess is he didn't have nuts. He hung around with does and small bucks and seemed really submissive to any buck that even looked at him funny, despite the fact he dwarfed everything around. An absolute tank in body-size when standing beside a normal sized buck.

Pic was taken in snow-storm is why they look so grainy.

Oh Baby….. Forks, forks and more forks. That’s a beaut. 😁

Lonny:

Given those guys? don't wear themselves out with the rut, they do get huge. Never shot one, but I suspect they're packing serious fat.

Holy smokes - pretty sure that'd be the holy grail for me. Gobs of mass, big main beams and seriously long 2's and 3's.

I will see if I can track any down, but I doubt it. The mount hung in a gas station/archery shop for years, which was fortunate as his house trailer burnt down. Not sure if he ended back up with it or not when the shop closed.

Crazy story, he bought a shotgun and tag the night before opener. Went out on his dad's property with his girlfriend. They were sitting on a log smoking cigarettes when she said there's a deer, shoot that one. Bang at 30yds. He wasn't going to get it mounted as he didn't have the money. The local taxidermist/meat processor offered to do it for free if he could use it in some taxidermy contests.

Maybe an antlered doe, given the behavior? That does happen once in a blue moon.

My first mule deer, shot when I was 14 or 15 was a 27” forky with a little crab claw on one side to make him a 2x3. I had missed a smaller buck the day before and was pretty bummed. When I saw him stand up out of the oak brush I just saw that he was wider than his ears and let him have it and was shocked when I walked up and he didn’t have any points.
Know a guy who did the same thing on a buck back in the 70’s. Jumped him and shot him from behind because he was super wide. Walked up on a 40” wide 2x2.