Az strip cactus buck

[Larry Landgren]

I just got this pic today. It is of a Cactus buck that was killed here in Az off the strip

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Larry, a few big cactus bucks are taken from the Strip each year and most of them are pretty impressive -like this one. A muley hunter from back in the day has a theroy about how these bucks happen to lose their gonads. He insists that dominate master/breeder bucks go out of their way to seek out buck fawns, knock them down and actually bite their scrotums off, turning them into cactus buck. Now the master buck has less competition.
I don't know if this is true or not, and I'd have to see it before I'd believe it. It's either that, or it may be genetics -or maybe coyotes trying to yank them down- or maybe they aren't born with any berries in their sacks. Very unique. DD

 

[carbonarcher]

Very cool set of horns, thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[cjcj]

Bow season EH?..I have seen some near Wolf Hole years ago... they are impressive..

I think its more from Fighting than genetics though.

 

[Big Sky]

Considering deer don't have any upper teeth biting the gonads off anything would be a pretty good trick.

 

[AZ402]

I'm not sure if there are a couple a year killed on the strip or not. I haven't seen many come from there personally. I shot a buck up there a few years back that was in full velvet in Nov. He wasn't mutated like a lot of cactus bucks. He had testicles but they weren't fully developed. The biologist aged him at 4 1/2-5 yrs.

 

[Oak]

He insists that dominate master/breeder bucks go out of their way to seek out buck fawns, knock them down and actually bite their scrotums off, turning them into cactus buck. Now the master buck has less competition.

Funny, Greenhorn said he uses that tactic, too.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Like I said, I'd have to see it to believe it. I only mentioned it because the guy who insists that big bucks do that to fawns has actually published a few books on the subject and some people apparently believe him. The guy made a ton of money saying wild stuff like that, and I was hoping someone could or would disprove his theroy. (The guy's name is Kirt Darner.)
It's also true that deer don't have any top front teeth, but I fed some celery and carrots to a penned pet buck once and he snapped and crunched through those crisp veggies pretty good.
I've had the opportunity to inspect a cactus (someone called him a stag) blacktail someone shot. Where he should of had "a set" -there was nothing... no scars or tearing. I had to leave, so I didn't find out if he had a pair of testicles hidden anywhere else. Until I can prove otherwise, I will consider cactus bucks genetic hybrids that simply aren't born with any nuts... unless they simply never dropped them since birth.

 

[noharleyyet]

Looks like it might've been married to my first wife.

 

[AZ402]

Funny, Greenhorn said he uses that tactic, too.

Now that's funny

 

[Big Sky]

Isn't Kirt Darner and his wife both sitting in jail right now? If I recall correctly making stuff up and a tendency to lie a lot, was part of what landed him there. So consider the source.

 

[Ithaca 37]

Isn't Kirt Darner and his wife both sitting in jail right now

I had not heard that. Is it true?

 

[AZ402]

Not sure about jail but I know he was in trouble..

 

[jkhunterid]

That sure is a wild looking deer.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Didn't mean to pull this so off topic. Ol' Kirt is currently doing the "indictment shuffle" and is all lawyered-up. Seems he has a lot of time on his hands and spends alot of it dreaming up stuff that gets him in trouble sooner or later.
Still, quite a few folks take whatever he wrote as gospel. Somehow or another he managed to shoot quite a few giant bucks and appeared to be an authory on the subject. I don't know what he or anyone else would gain by making up the "biting bucks" bit... and nowhere in his book did I read that he said that he actually observed big bucks doing this.
I also like how cactus bucks grow wild looking, twisted-up main beams.

 

[MarvB]

Darner's tit has been in a ringer for about a year now...kind of came to a peak with the case below and then when it was investigated, more chit showed up under the shovel:

GRAND JURY INDICTS GAME PARK OWNERS IN ILLEGAL ELK TRANSPORTATION CASE

GRANTS – The owners of two private elk hunting parks were indicted Wednesday by a Cibola County Grand Jury on a total of 41 felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with an alleged operation to illegally drug and transport wild elk, and for allegedly receiving stolen bighorn sheep heads.

Kirt L. Darner, 66, and his wife Paula D. Darner, 49, owners of the 40-acre Lobo Canyon Ranch north of Grants, were charged with several felonies, including receiving stolen property, transportation of stolen livestock, and tampering with evidence. They are accused of illegally moving as many as four state-owned elk from the Lobo Canyon Ranch to the Pancho Peaks ranch and game park in southeastern New Mexico in 2002. The Pancho Peaks Ranch is owned by Steve W. Lewis of Artesia.

Lewis, 46, was indicted on two felony counts of conspiracy in connection with his alleged role in acquiring or providing the animal tranquilizer, xylazine hydrochloride and its reversal agent, yohimbine. Zylazine hydrochloride, a state and federally controlled substance, allegedly was used to sedate the large bull elk so they could be moved.

Department of Game and Fish officers who executed a search warrant at the Darner property in February 2005 also discovered a desert bighorn sheep head and a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep head inside a vehicle. Further examination of the heads indicated they allegedly were stolen from a Montrose, Colo. , taxidermy shop in 2000.

“These are serious crimes that we intend to vigorously prosecute,” Cibola County District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said. “We need to send a strong message that we won't tolerate it when people try to illegally transport, drug and profit from wildlife that is owned by the citizens of New Mexico .”

If convicted, Kirt Darner could face a maximum 33-year jail term on nine felony charges, Paula Darner could face 24 years in jail on six felony charges, and Lewis could face 3 years in jail on two felony charges. The Darners and Lewis are expected to be arraigned in Cibola County District Court sometime in the next few weeks.

In you want to read some other interesting "entertainment" on Darner, here's a link below to a story I followed for awhile:

http://hunts.net/darner.html

 

[Delw]

Darner's tit has been in a ringer for about a year now...kind of came to a peak with the case below and then when it was investigated, more chit showed up under the shovel:



In you want to read some other interesting "entertainment" on Darner, here's a link below to a story I followed for awhile:

http://hunts.net/darner.html

Thanks for the link, I just spent 1 hour reaidng the 14 pages LOL

Damn theres alot of scams in the hunting industry

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Ya' know, I just figured out something. I think I just realised why Darner wrote that fable about cactus bucks! By dreaming up a totally fictitious explaination about what causes them AND attaching his name to it; it means that each time we see or hear about cactus bucks -we think of Darner! Hell, even I did it and I've always had a few reservations about the guy. Self-promotion by association -at its worst... especially when someone invents a senario that can't be proved OR refuted. I'll snag his book back from my cousin when he's done with it and qoute what he said.

 

[MarvB]

Man, no kidding Delw- seems like most of these "experts" will do anything to buy themselves some cred in the eyes of sportsmen...too bad they don't understand the meaning of "sport" to begin with...

 

[Delw]

Marv
I used to think the fishing world was the only sport with out the DRAMA, Screw that these clowns are worse than hunters LOL

Dave,
I thought it was clever about the negitive deal( Ie flipping it over to make the buck look different) these guys will try anything to look good.