RobertD
Well-known member
Wrapping up:
When I got to my buck on the ground, I actually started laughing a bit. I was immediately excited and pleased, because I'd gotten so focused on filling the tag and ending the season that I'd really just honed in on him being a mature buck and assumed he was just "okay" in the antler department. The shadows had made it difficult to really study them, and I had mostly not cared anyway. But when I saw him up close, I said "Damn! Not bad, not bad at all!"
I hastily took grip and grin using my phone timer to send to my wife, my dad, and to that rascal @CowboyLeroy, who called to say how glad he was I could stop focusing on deer and start preparing to hunt turkeys with him.
My dad and another buddy showed up soon after and requested that we stage a few better photos. So we did. His idea to position the shot to capture the full moon in the background.
Another angle
This buck has a fair amount of what makes a "trophy": Pretty good mass, decent width and of course, tall tines. But he also has some really unique traits: A very weird crab claw on the end of his right main, a butcher knife for a left G2 (it's extremely bladed along the entire tine), and some of the most gnarled and wildest looking antler bases I've seen on a deer that wasn't 160"+.
The combination of big and funky this deer carried makes him a really cool buck that I'm very satisfied with. It felt good to cap my season off with a buck like that.
Notes upon cleaning the buck: "Autopsy" revealed that either of the first two shots that hit him would've been enough to kill this buck, as they both found vitals. The final shot actually broke his neck. Technically unnecessary, but it sped up the dying process and didn't waste any meat, so I am glad I did it.
He was also pretty run down, probably in a post rut state. His upper digestive tract was full of water oak acorns, and the limited amount of body fat he carried was stained orange, like you might find on a wood duck. I've never seen a deer show that much orange in their fat.
When I got to my buck on the ground, I actually started laughing a bit. I was immediately excited and pleased, because I'd gotten so focused on filling the tag and ending the season that I'd really just honed in on him being a mature buck and assumed he was just "okay" in the antler department. The shadows had made it difficult to really study them, and I had mostly not cared anyway. But when I saw him up close, I said "Damn! Not bad, not bad at all!"
I hastily took grip and grin using my phone timer to send to my wife, my dad, and to that rascal @CowboyLeroy, who called to say how glad he was I could stop focusing on deer and start preparing to hunt turkeys with him.
My dad and another buddy showed up soon after and requested that we stage a few better photos. So we did. His idea to position the shot to capture the full moon in the background.
Another angle
This buck has a fair amount of what makes a "trophy": Pretty good mass, decent width and of course, tall tines. But he also has some really unique traits: A very weird crab claw on the end of his right main, a butcher knife for a left G2 (it's extremely bladed along the entire tine), and some of the most gnarled and wildest looking antler bases I've seen on a deer that wasn't 160"+.
The combination of big and funky this deer carried makes him a really cool buck that I'm very satisfied with. It felt good to cap my season off with a buck like that.
Notes upon cleaning the buck: "Autopsy" revealed that either of the first two shots that hit him would've been enough to kill this buck, as they both found vitals. The final shot actually broke his neck. Technically unnecessary, but it sped up the dying process and didn't waste any meat, so I am glad I did it.
He was also pretty run down, probably in a post rut state. His upper digestive tract was full of water oak acorns, and the limited amount of body fat he carried was stained orange, like you might find on a wood duck. I've never seen a deer show that much orange in their fat.
