Whitetail Buck of a Lifetime

[psinclair]

We need to do one of these threads for elk….
17 days to go until opening day..

 

[cgasner1]

We need to do one of these threads for elk….
17 days to go until opening day..

Nooooo

 

[BAKPAKR]

I know this thread isn't about back stories but since I'm couching it...
That other buck i posted scored 152. It was the first morning of a three day hunt on a BMA. I watched him at first light make his way in to 200 yds. I almost didnt shoot him, thinking I have time to find a better buck. glad i did, that would have been bonehead decision of the century for me.
This buck( second best) scored 146. No good field pictures for a reason. Drove 5 hours through terrible winter storm. Arrived at camp spot to shovel two feet of snow, temps at -20, tent poles imploded. Slept in two sleeping bags, still cold. Water froze, camp stove froze. Got up and trudged off in to the timber without breakfast. Cut tracks and stalked this buck with does. Snowing. Caught up with him at 20 yards, gun over shoulder. When he raised his head to rake a branch in one motion swung the gun and shot him. It was so effing cold, I hardly bothered for pics. Rancher shook his head, " can't believe you slept in a broken tent in that weather last night".View attachment 382336

I like the stories, too.

The buck in the photo I posted earlier was just dumb luck. My dad was a logger, and, as the son of a logger, that is what I did when I wasn’t going to school. That fall, I was starting to get into bow hunting and handgun hunting pretty seriously, and I was not even planning on doing any rifle hunting for deer. Matter of fact, I didn’t own a rifle at the time (I still kick myself for selling a super-accurate 300 Weatherby). We were taking logs off of some property my parents owned and my dad had been telling me about the big buck that was up there. I asked him how big it was. He told me he wasn’t sure because he had only seen its track and it was a big track. One afternoon in early November, I was going up the skid trail on the bulldozer and, all of a sudden, all I saw were antlers. There was Dad’s big buck with a bunch of does. My dad always had a rifle in his truck during hunting season so I set the brake on the dozer, ran back to the landing, grabbed Dad’s Parker-Hale, then ran back to the dozer. The deer were gone. I walked a little farther up the hill and there he was. Had I known about long arming back then, this thing would have been a giant!



My most memorable buck that I actually put on the ground was one I got with my muzzleloader at the end of a rainy day of elk hunting. Because it was raining, I ended up walking right up on him. Also because it was raining, just my cap went off despite my best weatherproofing. As he swung his head around to see what the pop was, I squatted down behind a windfall that was right in front of me. I put a new cap on and then peaked over the windfall. He was still there but he was looking right at me. I couldn’t chance raising up enough to shoot him in the chest so I shot him in the white spot just under his chin. I was a few miles in so it was well after dark when I got back to the truck. My brother* came up to the cabin I was staying at and we packed him out the next day.



The next fall, I was back at it and rattled this one in. No rain, and my muzzleloader went off. He didn’t drop in his tracks like the buck from the previous fall, and he ran a little ways but I still watched him drop. I was within radio range of my buddy’s cabin so I was able to have my brother and friend meet me for the drag out (almost all steep down hill).



My first bow kill was not a huge buck but I shot him while still hunting on the ground during rifle season. So, that made him pretty special. He was a mile or so in and my mom, who was not really outdoorsy in a hunting sort of way, surprised us by volunteering to help pack. She ended up with the head and cape on her pack. On the way up the hill, Mom leaned back against a tree to rest. The antlers must have flexed a bit because they went around the tree and she was stuck to it when she tried to start back up. That is a good memory, and I will have to remind her of that when I call her tonight.



All my deer hunts haven’t had a happy ending. My most memorable buck was one I did not get. On a snowy Thanksgiving morning, I saw what I am sure would have been my best buck — a true B&C monster. After spotting him, I had to hike down one trail then up another for a total of about 3 miles. I then made a really good stalk but had a hang fire at about 50 yards. Even though that was more than 30 years ago, I can still, in my mind, hear that pop, see the buck take off, and hear the boom like it was yesterday. Sorry (really sorry), I have no photos of that buck. I guess that is why they call it hunting.

*Edit - I had to change “my bother” to “my brother”. He quit being a bother at about age 14.

 

[psinclair]

Will you adopt me? I’m 38 and semi house broken.

 

[psinclair]

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Have only killed two wt bucks. A generous 124 2/8" for the two combined. Whitetails don't really do it for me, unlike a big mule deer.

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

We need to do one of these threads for elk….
17 days to go until opening day..

23 days

 

[beagle001]

@psinclair is a bonafide terror on big cervids… uffdah!

 

[Letthemgrow]

23 days

12

 

[BAKPAKR]

23 days

If elk season is 23 days away, why aren’t you tagging along on a sheep hunt about 10 days away?

 

[Sask hunter]

We need to do one of these threads for elk….
17 days to go until opening day..

5 days in Sask

 

[Bambistew]

I love hunting deer, especially whitetails, and have been lucky to take some really nice ones for the area I hunted most. This is one of the best that I killed. Right at 150 iirc. I spent countless days hunting, scouting and watching deer and can think of only 2-3 that I saw bigger. I can’t believe this was 20 years ago now.

 

[Stackem]

Biggest overall-Indiana Harvest
165" gross

 

[Stackem]

Biggest Ohio Harvest
154"

 

[JohnBud]

This is my dad’s best. Hasn’t been scored. View attachment 382236

Love the color in that rack!

 

[PoleX]

A couple of my dads best:
Not sure what they score but I’m sure it’s great. My dad cut the horns off the bottom one so I (many years later) mounted them to an artificial skull.

My best. Not sure what it scores. Hoping to make it back to Ohio one of these years. My MIL has some great hunting land in the Hocking hills of Southern Ohio.

 

[Rack Daniels]

Second buck in my life. First was a yearling. Lol

Taped him just under 140”
One day I hope to get a 160”+

 

[noharleyyet]

I love hunting deer, especially whitetails, and have been lucky to take some really nice ones for the area I hunted most. This is one of the best that I killed. Right at 150 iirc. I spent countless days hunting, scouting and watching deer and can think of only 2-3 that I saw bigger. I can’t believe this was 20 years ago now. View attachment 382399

Symmetry & mass...nice

 

[noharleyyet]

CSB time: I once held a 180 class 4x4 (8 point in TX vernacular) euro, IIRC it was in the 90's. It was the most impressive Whitetail rack I've ever seen. It had almost beer can sized bases that held mass all the way thru the frame with ridiculous brow & G tines. Killed less than 50 miles away in a huge pasture from a windmill. Wish I had a pic.

 

[KDOG247]

Top buck 186+ bottom never scored.