Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mule Deer.

There's something wrong with this picture.

SCI has a record listing for estate raised animals. Wonder what that guy paid for the deer.
Shows what one can grow with the right genetics, age, and supplements though.

That was my first impression. Still, an impressive buck and I would be stoked to shoot one like that.

The accomplishment in a successful hunt has no relation ta the size of antlers, but only to the disadvantages overcome in making the hunt successful.

I don't understand the idea of looking for YUGE, weird antlers. Going for a Trophy animal is one thing, but I don't consider antlers to be valuable, especially when they are atypical. A good Trophy should have a decent rack, but if it's a skinny buck with a giant, deformed rack that's an odd choice for a Trophy. I thought they usually cull the odd deer to improve herd genetics, IE Eugenics...but I'm a layman when it comes to ranching & hunting. Anyone care to shed some light?

Livestock, not game. I want no part of that stuff.

Somebody’s ALWAYS got to stir the pot! 😏

That’s a monster but SCI is a clue that it was NOT free range. High fence irregardless of the vast acreage it roams allows them (rancher) to supplement their diet with added minerals for antler growth….plus having readily available fresh water year round in an environment where water is scarce also reduces stress and helps to promotes overall health of the animals as well as antler growth.

He’s definitely a beautiful beast…if it was a potential Boone & Crocket or in this case a Pope & Young entry instead of SCI I’d be “jealous”.

That was the arrangement a couple of us had
some years ago on various ranches. Couldn't
shoot the big boys. Spikes, does, and strange
non-typicals only. Hasn't been that way for
years. Many of those same places get a grand
or more for deer we used to shoot for free.
There wasn't all the trophy rack videos and
television shows back then like there is now.
About the same with bird hunting. Most of the
maize fields we used to hunt are now gated
high dollar subdivisions and luxury office
complexes
Oh well. . .

Yep. “Long-armed it”.

There’s a poster on the Fire that does that with every fish picture he posts. 🤪

I don't see the long arming thing going on in the pic, but that doesn't mean there isn't something goofy going on with it. Compared to the bow, it looks to have a coues deer sized body.

It looks to have been in Sonora which kind of makes sense but I would be shocked if that estate deer hadn't been human altered somehow, either through selective breeding, special feed, or whatever else. It may not have basically been an agricultural operation like elk and whitetail sometimes are, but mule deer do exist on estates in the west.

Good on the hunter, but it ain't for me...

I would chit myself if I ever saw a buck like that in the wild.

Some Canadian provinces.
Was that taken in Mexico I wonder.

Yep. He's hiding his thumbs behind the frame. It looks like his thumb and middle fingers could easily encircle the beams.

Yeah, I'm not in it.

Any legal buck can be considered a trophy, but some are more bigger trophies than others, thus more rare, thus more desirable, ....

Not impressed with the hunter or the hunted. 👎

Right on Mike. Then you add Wade Lemon into the mix and no telling what the actual story is. He got caught red handed down there turning out high fence/pen raised deer into a pasture for clients to come shoot, and come off as free range hunts.

LoL, you're right, it's AI, the deer has no thumbs.

maybe dessert mule deer are smaller-bodied than their northern cousins.