Ok, so I finally getting around to posting some pics of my last ND excursion.
The first pic here is the buck that I and my buddy Paul have been chasing all Fall. This pic does not do this buck justice but you get the drift. This buck was taken by Paul’s neighbor from a hay field at the top of the hill South from Paul’s house (.5 miles). That is the farthest North we have heard the buck has been. This guy shot him with a rifle as he was driving by and saw 2 bucks fighting out in the cut hay field on the go road. This buck pictured was tangling with a giant 5×5 and had kicked the 5×5 over the paved road and was making his way back to tend the hot doe that started this whole fight this is when this guy took advantage of having permission to hunt the hay field that this bruiser was now standing in. The guy said this buck could not even pick his head up from the exhaustion of fighting the 5×5. As he lined him up in his scope he whistled to get him to stop, but the buck still hung his head as he looked down the barrel of the guys rifle. The guy shot and the buck went around 75 yards where it expired. The guy knew he was a big buck , but had no idea the magnitude of the deer he just harvested until he walked up on him and saw the junk hanging off and the deer’s head was propped so high off the ground from one of the stickers that had dug itself into the ground.
It was a very sad time for myself and especially Paul , who has spent countless hours scouting this deer since first seeing him last Winter. It was guessed that this deer was in the 150″ class last year. Stacie and I had this Deer @ about 5-6 yards on Halloween morning if I recall right. Only able to gather enough light to see him with the binocs to identify him. I watched him walk away as my heart was a thumping and that familiar sick feeling hit my stomach . The deer that we thought was a 20 point buck actually had 22 scorable points. I say had, cause he had busted off a 7-8″ brow tine that had a total of 4 scorable points on it. From the sounds of the battle this buck had just before being harvested, I would not doubt it if it was laying in that Hayfield . This buck has been green scored @ 179 and some odd inches as a non typical. . We guess he lost over 10 ” with the busted brow tine and had a base 5×5 frame
Man when I saw this rack the other weekend I was amazed and sadden all at the same time. But I know he got his chance to spread his genetics around the last 2 years. Truly a monster buck that I will never forget pursuing and having that encounter with Halloween morning of 05 ! Congrats to my buddies neighbor( I forgot his name)