Really? Surely you had a guess.
Obviously you thought he scored less than the good doctor's buck.I can't believe the top buck is a 95" buck...
Which buck?
- Thread starter EliAGrimmett
- Start date
Really? Surely you had a guess.
Obviously you thought he scored less than the good doctor's buck.I can't believe the top buck is a 95" buck...
EliAGrimmett
Member
Oak: We thought he was in the 88-90 range.
Yeah, it really wasn't even a contest between the two - the #2 buck was just one of many we had in the running that we had to get closer to and get good photos of for better analysis.
The only other buck that was close to the one Doc killed was this buck below...
We had this buck in the 92 range. No one killed the buck. We filmed him last year as well and he had regressed immensely which was very sad to see - maybe down to 85 - and again no one killed him. Maybe he'll have a bounce back year this year, but I kind of doubt it since this coming year will be the 4th year we've seen the buck. Which would mean he was at least 2 the first year and more likely 3 years old because the first year we saw him he was about 88 inches. If he was 3 the first year he'd be 6 years old this year and most bucks aren't on their way up when they hit 6 years old unfortunately.
Yeah, it really wasn't even a contest between the two - the #2 buck was just one of many we had in the running that we had to get closer to and get good photos of for better analysis.
The only other buck that was close to the one Doc killed was this buck below...
We had this buck in the 92 range. No one killed the buck. We filmed him last year as well and he had regressed immensely which was very sad to see - maybe down to 85 - and again no one killed him. Maybe he'll have a bounce back year this year, but I kind of doubt it since this coming year will be the 4th year we've seen the buck. Which would mean he was at least 2 the first year and more likely 3 years old because the first year we saw him he was about 88 inches. If he was 3 the first year he'd be 6 years old this year and most bucks aren't on their way up when they hit 6 years old unfortunately.
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EliAGrimmett
Member
What's funny is that we named buck #3 Lumpy 2 after a buck killed in the early 90's and then when we found Fin's buck we named it Lumpy 3 because of their resemblance and similar mass.
Lawnboy
Well-known member
Wow you'd never guess their size from the side photos. I think if I saw number 1 looking at me straight on, I might of gone number 2 in the pants.
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
Wow. Those are all monsters, which is kinda what I expected. That AZ buck you say shrink'd so much is my favorite of them all.. though I can see where he's going to loose some score in the upper mass measurements compared to the one the guy killed. He's really pretty and huge. Funny you say he shrunk so much.. the biggest buck I've ever seen in MT shrunk about 10 inches in one year.. from 87+ range down to mid to 70s.
EliAGrimmett
Member
Yeah, it was pretty sickening when finally found him. We were hoping he'd be the "auction tag" buck in 2009, but his bottom mass disappeared and his prong regressed a bit!
He retained most of his length, though not quite all of it. Unfortunately he wandered onto private property and we were only able to scout it on one short occasion with the ranch contact so the photos I took of him last year weren't very good at all.
In order from left to right is 2007, 2008, 2009
As you can see he had his one big BOOM year in 2008 and will probably never be that size again.
Looking at the cheek patches you'd never know it was the same buck, but that's what the different times of the year will do to an antelope's pattern and cape. It's interesting seeing the bucks on yearly basis and fun to watch and try to learn how they grow and what happens to them as they age. If I do ever write a book antelope aging will be a topic in it for sure!
He retained most of his length, though not quite all of it. Unfortunately he wandered onto private property and we were only able to scout it on one short occasion with the ranch contact so the photos I took of him last year weren't very good at all.
In order from left to right is 2007, 2008, 2009
As you can see he had his one big BOOM year in 2008 and will probably never be that size again.
Looking at the cheek patches you'd never know it was the same buck, but that's what the different times of the year will do to an antelope's pattern and cape. It's interesting seeing the bucks on yearly basis and fun to watch and try to learn how they grow and what happens to them as they age. If I do ever write a book antelope aging will be a topic in it for sure!
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Thanks for the humility. It wasn't like I was getting all uppity in my antelope judging prowess, but I suppose humility is good all the same.
I'm expect that you guys (at the Pronghorn Guide Service) are about as good at judging antelope as anyone. How close do you expect to be if you get a good look at a buck? What throws you the most? Just curious.
Thanks,
Carl
I'm expect that you guys (at the Pronghorn Guide Service) are about as good at judging antelope as anyone. How close do you expect to be if you get a good look at a buck? What throws you the most? Just curious.
Thanks,
Carl
EliAGrimmett
Member
Those are good questions. I guess it depends on how good the look is on both accounts. If we can close the distance to fifty yards in an area we are familiar with we will probably be +/- a half inch or one inch depending on the style of horns.
What throws us the most is mis-judging the bucks face and ear size. If we can nail those we should be able to hit the rest of the numbers.
The problem is that we are very rarely able to get fifty yards from these big bucks and get a decent look. So Anything farther is much tougher.
What throws us the most is mis-judging the bucks face and ear size. If we can nail those we should be able to hit the rest of the numbers.
The problem is that we are very rarely able to get fifty yards from these big bucks and get a decent look. So Anything farther is much tougher.
mconway951
Active member
Wow you'd never guess their size from the side photos. I think if I saw number 1 looking at me straight on, I might of gone number 2 in the pants.
I totally agree with you there if i just saw it running sideways and then he turned and stoped and looked back I would have had a heart attack for not thinking that much of him with the first angle.
mhungerford
Active member
EliAGrimmett,
the body size looks too be alot smaller then the goats here in wyoming, is that right?
the body size looks too be alot smaller then the goats here in wyoming, is that right?
EliAGrimmett
Member
Yeah the bodies are smaller, the head lengths are probably a bit shorter down south though a lot of the time they're similar, while the ears down south are usually a lot longer.
