Here's a mule deer...

Awesome deer. Now, can you come up with more inches on a bighorn? I think it will be close. Well done.
 
Beautiful deer!! Good work! Doesn't surprise me though. Good luck on the sheep.
 
Well done. What did it score?



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195" gross....high 180's final would be about right. Both main beams were 27"+.
 
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I took these pictures on September 11th., 2010 from about 90 yards. I had my bow along and probably would have tried to kill him, but there was no way to close in on him. I figured I could find him again and wasn't too worried about it. As it turned out I only saw him one more time that year, on opening day of rifle antelope season. I never saw him again until September 4th of this year.

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Through the scope picture from about 700 yards out I took on September 4th, 2011. I don't think the points were much longer, but he was a little wider and a lot heavier. When I saw him on this evening, I was happy for not shooting him last fall. He was 6 1/2 years old now and probably at his peak. Question was could I find him again after the season opened?

I made several trips over there for the next four or five weeks without finding him and was back over there again on November 2nd. From my first vantage point that evening, I could see a handful of deer coming out to feed about a mile above me and to the east. The wind was steady and out of the south. Following a hunch, I decided to close the distance and get myself to a spot where I could shoot from, if he did come out right at dark. Coming in from the north took longer than I thought it would and when I finally got there, there was only a few minutes of legal shooting light left. I glassed the lower end of the opening and could see six or seven deer feeding about 350 yards below me. I quickly set up the scope to have a closer look. It showed only does and fawns. Back to the binoculars, I saw a lone deer moving towards the doe group from the south with his neck strectched out. Instantly I could tell It was him! I quickly got prone and found him in the rifle scope. He was 309 meters and walking directly away from me. I waited for him to turn broadside, aimed for his right front shoulder and fired, killing him instantly with my .260. It was all but dark by the time I got down to him for a closer look.....I couldn't believe the mass he'd put on over the year. I had nicknamed this buck,"twenty eight", based on how wide I thought he was. The name was appropriate....he was closer to 29" wide than 28, but he will always be twenty eight to me! I got a few flash pics, then field dressed him and covered up his head with my hunting jacket to keep the eyes and nose looking fresh. I decided to leave him there and come back the next morning for better pictures and pack him out then. It was the right call as the pictures from the next morning turned out pretty well....my field pictures mean as much to me or more than the trophy on the wall does.
 

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