2010 Archery season buck

[rcer450r]

This is the buck I harvested last saturday. Tell me what you think :)

[Pappy]

Damn nice buck!!!

[450rdr424]

Nice deer, i wouldnt have passed him up

[Pappy]

Our archery season starts tomorrow. Im not super excited yet, the pre rut is when I get wood:p The big boys just dont move much during the day until the poonani gets to them:devil:

Caught this one last night on the game camera

http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/MDGC0217/1049037656_BAxam-L.jpg

[rcer450r]

Nice buck pappy! Wouldnt have a problem stickin that one lol

[Pappy]

Honestly, if I thought he would make it or atleast had a better then average chance i would let him go one more year. He is 3 1/2 I figure and next year would give him more mass. He is going to go about 18-20 inches wide and I cant tell if he has a kicker off his right main beam just above his hairline. I know his daddy has a few nice kickers but that ol' boy dont move during daylight!!

If we get a crack at him he will be taken no doubt!

[HondaRacing83]

rcer450r,what part off pa are u in????cant wait till rifle.hopefully i drop a big one! :)

[rcer450r]

Yeah I know what you mean pappy, You almost cant let a decent buck pass you in pa. A guy quarter mile down the road will shoot him or they get shot at night. Kind of sad really...I live in bellefonte, right near State college

[tayyo789]

Poked this muley at 54 yards this year. He was a 3x4 until he fell down a shale slide 250 yards :(

<a href="http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u276/ramco17/?action=view&current=untitled-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u276/ramco17/untitled-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Pappy]

Well, they say ya cant eat horn but they didnt say anything about cooking it:devil: :D Nice Muley!

[ohsobad_chevy]

I killed my first deer with a bow last weekend. 3 pt weighed 80 lbs. Good eatin!!

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d44/ohsobad_chevy/10-23pt80lbs3.jpg

[ZeroLogic]

Nice bucks! I have no luck with archery season for the passed two years.:ermm:

[rcer450r]

Haha nice man, congrats on your first deer

[CJM]

Very nice bucks guys. I havent had much luck the past few years with rifles in PA. Seems I dont see any deer..

Anyone know why honesdale PA area has nada..I never see any-even when I go there off season and there is usually tons, game cams pic up a few if that too. Few years back it was easy pickins!

[Pappy]

Originally posted by rcer450r
Haha nice man, congrats on your first deer

+1:D

[3400ben]

Originally posted by tayyo789
Poked this muley at 54 yards this year. He was a 3x4 until he fell down a shale slide 250 yards :(

<a href="http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u276/ramco17/?action=view&current=untitled-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u276/ramco17/untitled-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Are trying to Do a skull mount?

[Pappy]

I'd be ordering some beetles to chew that meat off thar:p

[tayyo789]

I was boiling it for a european mount. It helps clean it all off the skull

[3400ben]

We throw are head in the pond in the spring. Two weeks and no work and they come out spotless.

[Pappy]

Im doing the beetles this year. They aint that much and will eat every scrap off there. Some taxidermist will charge you for that service (feeding their bugs LOL!)

[tayyo789]

I use a bleaching kit to really get the shine out of it. It comes in like a paste that you rub in once its bare. Turns out nice

[3400ben]

Originally posted by Pappy
Im doing the beetles this year. They aint that much and will eat every scrap off there. Some taxidermist will charge you for that service (feeding their bugs LOL!)


More info. Website?

[Pappy]

Search for Dermestid beetles, they are even on ebay

:p

You could actually charge for teh service if you have enough buds around. I know i want it for fox skulls and such that I kill or even road kill skulls. They eat it clean!

[Pappy]

Im begining to think there isnt much I dont know atleast something about:p :blah:

[CJM]

Originally posted by Pappy
Im begining to think there isnt much I dont know atleast something about:p :blah:
jack of all trades, master of none eh? :D

[JJs450r]

our rifle season started today, i seen a little doe figured id pass up on her maybe too see something nice this evening

[Tommy Warren]

Originally posted by Pappy
Im begining to think there isnt much I dont know atleast something about:p :blah:
what are your thoughts on the hadron collider?:D

[wilkin250r]

Originally posted by Pappy
Im begining to think there isnt much I dont know atleast something about:p :blah:

Ok, perfect. Because I'm designing a high-voltage converter here really soon, and I'm having a little trouble getting the windings on the transformer to give me the waveform I'm looking for, I'll be giving you a call... :devil:

[ben300]

Originally posted by CJM
Very nice bucks guys. I havent had much luck the past few years with rifles in PA. Seems I dont see any deer..

Anyone know why honesdale PA area has nada..I never see any-even when I go there off season and there is usually tons, game cams pic up a few if that too. Few years back it was easy pickins!

this is because the game commission here in PA completely screwed up our deer herd here some 9 years ago when they hired gary alt to come in and supposidly fix the dear herd with all this point restriction and massive ammounts of doe tags....


its simply didnt work...they were supposed to grow all these huge bucks, and well..i hate to say, but ive seen some big bucks but i havent seen what they promised..not to mention, when is tarted hunting when i was 12, and it wasnt common to go out and see 15-25 deer in an evening...now, im 24, and some days id be luck to see 5 deer, morning adn night combined.


what they needed to do was completely take away the rifle season... repeal the point restriction have a 1 week shot/gun muzzle loader season to shoot off all these little scrub bucks... they also need to lengthen the archery season and have a 3 day doe season...

this would take away some of the pressure on the herd, which would help them grow...you konw..do the same thing that ohio, illinois, kansas, and iowa have been doing for decades...

[Pappy]

I believe Ohio has point and size restrictions and they are getting some massive bucks now.

Culling small bucks has been proven wrong by so many biologists that it shouldnt even be discussed.

The buck to doe ratio is the key to a healthy and growing herd. The issue with PA was that the hunters went out and killed the does like the DNR wanted...i.e. there is less deer overall. They also (like so many hunters) killed any legal buck and the majority are 1.5 year olds, small bucks just to kill a buck.

I went to work on the Does here starting in 2004 and left the little bucks to grow

2005
http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/2a162ex/1049949234_kTos6-M.jpg

2006
http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/2967205334c394ed9f06o/1050052449_trybz-L.jpg

http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/3056241360983c6eaf83o/1050052543_Qnd7Y-L.jpg

2007
http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/207898198693858a0ee9o/1049993356_hRYD5-O.jpg

2008
http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/29051485365653236746o/1049938591_LitE5-M.jpg

2009
http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/2009-Deer-Cam/MDGC0155/983389497_gxd8y-L.jpg


Im pretty sure this is the same buck(below) that is now a big 9 point pictured below. I passed him up rifle season last year. he was 1.5 and now as a 2.5 year old he has filled out. If he could get another 2 years on him he would be a monster...nice buck by anyones standards

http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/2009-Deer-Cam/MDGC0012/983666444_YHQKH-L.jpg

2010
http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/MDGC0101/1049945197_QXEhR-L.jpg

In 2003 when I bought my place, the biggest buck we saw was a small basket racked 6. This is out my kitchen window
http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Private-Gallery-2/dilla1892/1050055663_7biHh-O.jpg

[ben300]

Originally posted by Pappy
I believe Ohio has point and size restrictions and they are getting some massive bucks now.

Culling small bucks has been proven wrong by so many biologists that it shouldnt even be discussed.

The buck to doe ratio is the key to a healthy and growing herd. The issue with PA was that the hunters went out and killed the does like the DNR wanted...i.e. there is less deer overall. They also (like so many hunters) killed any legal buck and the majority are 1.5 year olds, small bucks just to kill a buck.

I went to work on the Does here starting in 2004 and left the little bucks to grow


Ohio has no current point restriction on their bucks...what helps the deer herd in ohio to produce massive bucks is that they do not have the pressure that the deer herd in pennsylvania sees. it is scientifically proven that when an animal, such as a white tail deer, lives a stress free life, s uch ans penned deer, or deer on private ranch's and such, that they grow healthier, larger, and have bigger racks than that of pressured or stressed deer or animals.

this goes back to ohio's shoot muzzloader and shot gun seasons, each of which are only 5, and 7 days long. this is stark difference compared to here in PA where we have 3 week rifle season, a one week early muzzle loader season, and a 2 week late muzzle loader season...this promotes way more pressure on the herd than is in ohio.


i also agree that good management practice is to have a proper doe to buck ratio, however, that was taken to extreme here in PA. i simply do not believe that eliminating does from a herd results in larger bucks or healthier herds. the 300+ acres that my family land manages for hunting purposes has for about 7 years now only let youth hunters that hunt on the land harvest does. This practice, along with food plots have resulted in numerous pope and young class bucks harvest, and other large bucks harvested as well( which do not make book cause they were taken in gun)...only recently have we started to shoot does because the rut has come in late, two years in a row, and we are noticing that numerous, and i mean numerous does are having twin fawns, very late. i have seen fawns, as recently as last weekend with spots still on them. This comes as a problem because the does are being bred to late because of 1) the late rut and 2) because there are enough does in the area that a good number of does are being bred later than usual...this is a reason we felt that we need to be able to start harvesting does more frequently

i disagree also on eliminating little or inferior bucks from the herd. i have been to seminars and read articles by biologists who specialize in white tail deer who believe in eliminating genetically inferior bucks from the heard. Currently here in PA, especially on the western side, we have a large abundance of 1-4 year old 4-6 point bucks that do not have any brow tines and, will never grow brow tines. these bucks typically will never score higher than 110 inches gross in their life time.

these genetically inferior bucks will then breed does and pass this gene trait along, which we are now seeing successive generations of bucks with this trait. i can not personally stand seeing any more 1.5 to almost 2 year old spike and 3 point bucks...

if we would simply get rid of the point restriction for a couple of years and limit the doe tags, a vast majority of these bucks would be harvested, thus eliminating a good potion of this gene from being passed on. and i also understand that this gene can be passed through does, but if it is eliminated at teh source, then you can reboot the breeding process to allow bigger bucks with the potential of growing brow tines and become more mature deer.

killing smaller genetically inferior bucks is a typical, common practice out west with land managers, ranchers, and the like who bring people onto their properties to hunt. pro's liek lee and tiffany lakoski, michael waddel, stan potts, greg miller and warren strickland are all big proponents of eliminating inferior deer genetics from the heard

i agree with in the past, we saw less big bucks on average because the hunters would kill the first buck they saw, but now this old practice could be an almost necessity to eliminate these bad gene traits from these deer.

also i believe that allowing a year or so of non point restriction hunting would be better for the hunting economy in pennsylvania and would also be better for the youth hunters. alot of kids are currently getting discouraged because thei either a) are not getting a doe tag to kill a doe if they dotn get a buck or b) are not seing big enough bucks to shoot.


i have seen towns like marienville or tionesta, have their economies completely destroyed because of the lack of deer in pennsylvania. these places used to be booming areas during hunting season, and now they are dead, ghost towns compared to what they were.

if you could shoot me a PM and explain to me how to post pictures, cause i seem to be that computer illiterate at times, i would post pictures of some of the bucks that we have killed off of our land using our management techniques.

[Pappy]

Just a few points...

What makes the average joe hunter qualified to say a buck is inferior? Nothing...

Ohio is a shotgun state and a wee bit smaller then PA with better AG production =better and healthier deer

The proof is in your own statements, let the bucks live longer with better nutrition and they will grow. Wild deer and penned deer...see the difference? Ofcourse it takes control from hunters to not shoot spikes (which by the way is proven to not be a trait passed through genetics) and for better food sources but wild deer can be much better if you let the little bucks grow the hell up!

The killing of inferior bucks on a managed ranch where the deer are monitored is a far cry from hillbilly john judging a deer at 100 yards on opening morning. That is exactly what happens here. There isnt a crop field within 20 miles of my place, merely letting the small bucks walk works!

There is a thread in the how to section where you can learn to post pics. Love to see them!!

http://nighthawkpublications.com/journal/393/journal_4.htm

http://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/deermanagement/NAW_cull_1206/

http://www.buckmanager.com/2009/02/11/culling-of-white-tailed-bucks-is-not-a-myth/

[HondaRacing83]

ya pa's restriction is has to have atleast 4 on one side?(didnt read ben300's post,it was to long ahha)doesnt matter to me i can still shoot anything till im 16,i love rifle season,we do it pretty hardcore,last year it got to the point where we were walking through swamps up to our waist....walking through cricks,rivers

[ben300]

here all all bucks taken off of the same 100 acre piece of property in a 4 year span using our land managing and qdma techniques (same ones used by many hunting pro's)

[ben300]

this is my biggest to date..shot him a 4 years ago, next to the last saturday of our archery season, grossed 150 5/8" and netted 146 5/8".




we estimated him to be 3-3.5 years old

[ben300]

this is a prime example of a buck we like to get kids on the property to get rid of...


2.5 years old roughly....no brow tines, less than 30 scorable inches..

[Pappy]

And im doing as well with 15 acres:p

You cant argue the studies that have been done Ben, science isnt in your favor on this one. The science suggests that if you would have allowed some of those smaller bucks to grow up you may have way more big ones to choose from!

[ben300]

Originally posted by Pappy
And im doing as well with 15 acres:p

You cant argue the studies that have been done Ben, science isnt in your favor on this one. The science suggests that if you would have allowed some of those smaller bucks to grow up you may have way more big ones to choose from!

and i totally disagree....ive done research...my family has...we're well read...attended seminars....have talked to biologists.....have grown the bucks....worked with white tails unlimited and the rmef.....but w/e....

it seems that your an expert in the field of wildlife biology, among just about everythign else, but, i think both of our results speak for themselves....two methods..both well documented..

[Pappy]

You cant argue the facts though:D

Trust me, I was brought up thinking the same as you...and I was wrong:blah:

[ben300]

i also disagree with buck rack traits not being genetic..


we have a buck in our woods...we nick named him "lucky"...dad missed him last year in archery...and he caught me drawing back on him last year in archer...hense the name lucky...but we've been watching him grow for a couple of years..

whats unique about luck is that his right side rack is main frame 8...he has one one side, the right, has four points.. a brow tine and three tohers..real nice, nice mass, good lenght.....the other side however...is freaking he has a main beam that is pal mated like a moose, he then has another beem sticking out and hooking around to the front, an dthen another stick off to the back...just a truly unique buck..

well last year..we observed what was to be a 2.5 year old buck (we estimate from footage, that lucky is about 4-5), that has 4 points on one side, and a similar three beam on the toher side..one with pal mation...

then we say an even younger buck...3 points on one side..wtih a similar 2 beam, one with pal mation on the other side...

now i suppose that all three of these bucks could have all been hit by cars and had a hurt right side, which would have caused the left side to grow all freaky or deformed, which we have observed in the past with a couple big bucks. but i find it more of a believable scenario that lucky bred does that gave birth too two bucks with similar traits....kinda of like for say two humans having a kid, show physical traits of each of the parent

i dunno...maybe its just voodoo tho

[Pappy]

Again, and dont get upset...

You need to verify these traits scientifically not just "I think" in order for them to be bonafide.

We had a buck years ago called the freak..2nd year he was still a freak but alot bigger and so on and so on. No one ever killed him that we know of, but we never saw any little "freaks" running around.

^ If thats the way the real world worked, my findings negate yours:p

There is no doubt genes are passed ofcourse, and there are bucks that will never mature into a wallhanger, thats just nature, but the facts dont fudge the reality that the vast majority of hunters think just like you do(and I did) and kill bucks that would have become decent racked bucks. Is it an exact science on a public scale? NO! With private and public land it would be almost impossible to properly "Cull" a buck or bucks to help the local gene pool. Where they do get the studies from is a very heavily managed operation where the deer are monitored by biologists...check out a few of those links I posted.

Think this conecpt is hard? Try getting 75 year old men to change their view! And try getting them to shot doe fawns instead of the adult doe to better the herd...but thats another subject:eek: :D

[rcer450r]

We manage a 300 acre lot of property for whitetail and are about the only area around that maintains over 25 nice rack bucks. This comes from years of passing smaller bucks up, staying out of bedding areas and only entering the woods in afternoon time and being stealthy. We also take alot of time with crops and food plots as well as putting in ponds for water sources. It seems like taking the time to do these things has been doing wonders for the property. I still believe that staying out of the bedding areas and woods and fields during morning and evening times has a huge impact on these bigger bucks staying on the property. If you bump a large buck from his area over 2 times you will not see him anymore or he will become nocturnal. I guess it just comes down to just being smart when it comes to deer :D

[ben300]

Originally posted by rcer450r
We manage a 300 acre lot of property for whitetail and are about the only area around that maintains over 25 nice rack bucks. This comes from years of passing smaller bucks up, staying out of bedding areas and only entering the woods in afternoon time and being stealthy. We also take alot of time with crops and food plots as well as putting in ponds for water sources. It seems like taking the time to do these things has been doing wonders for the property. I still believe that staying out of the bedding areas and woods and fields during morning and evening times has a huge impact on these bigger bucks staying on the property. If you bump a large buck from his area over 2 times you will not see him anymore or he will become nocturnal. I guess it just comes down to just being smart when it comes to deer :D

pressure man..they are all about not being stressed....if you put stress on them..they're gone...

tehy will move....biologists have studied mature bucks, and they will travel up to 24 miles in a day to find food, safety and the proper breeding environment..

we do a ton every year with food plots...we feel it makes a difference with our bucks. we find that it is not necessarily a better food supply than the surrounding thousand plus acres of farm land....but it gives the deer a more safe, stress free environment to feed.....plus it makes for some great footage of the deer.

by the way, that was a pretty nice buck you shot...ive seen three shooter bucks so far this season on our properties...only problem is that none of them have given me a close enough shot with m bow yet

[CJM]

I agree with ben, in the past there was no issue and plenty of large bucks around. Infact there were more deer overall than in recent years.

I have my cabin and 30 acres to hunt on, its abutted by another 30 of the same original parcel, a cornfield and other peoples property. A few years back I was seeing at least 20-40 deer a day. Mostly in small 3-10 doe herds with a buck straggling along. Now Im lucky if I see 10 deer the whole time I am out there (usually a week). The ones I do see have very small racks usually 4-6 pts but overall small sized.

This is the point restrictions at work imho. I went from seeing a few monsters in the off season and a few here and there when out hunting (my woods is very dense and its a shame but sometimes there is no shot :( to seeing nada. Infact I am not even seeing does anymore. A few years ago they finally relaxed the doe permits and actually began handing some out, I have got a doe permit everytime I applied in the last 5 years. In PA you must send away and pay them a few bucks and you get put into a lottery of sorts and you might get one, least thats how it used to be-now liek I said I pay in I get one no issue. My dad, brother, cousin, grandfather all got one for 3 years in a row..

Also my issue with my land not generating anything is nothing is promoting the deer to move I think. Our neighbors have stopped hunting pretty much and one parcel that was hunted by a club is no longer used. my buddy who lived 5 miles from us seems to never fail to get one-but they are nothing to write home about.

[rcer450r]

It is most def. all about pressure. I read an article on this and most big bucks can handle one bump but if you bump them twice they are gone. I do have to say though, I have seen more deer in our area in the last year or so then I have ever seen. We also run a 400 acre lot of property that was just recently logged off to make a clear cut. This was done 2 years ago and it is amazing how many deer we have been seeing there. Not to mention how many nice shooter bucks. I sat in a stand there last rifle season and saw over 50 deer in about 3 hours. More deer then I have ever seen in PA. I think that the clear cut did a wonder for that area.

[ben300]

Originally posted by rcer450r
It is most def. all about pressure. I read an article on this and most big bucks can handle one bump but if you bump them twice they are gone. I do have to say though, I have seen more deer in our area in the last year or so then I have ever seen. We also run a 400 acre lot of property that was just recently logged off to make a clear cut. This was done 2 years ago and it is amazing how many deer we have been seeing there. Not to mention how many nice shooter bucks. I sat in a stand there last rifle season and saw over 50 deer in about 3 hours. More deer then I have ever seen in PA. I think that the clear cut did a wonder for that area.

clear cutting does do wonders for habitat....out west they have biologists totally dedicated to doing things like clear cutting and forest burning to help new vegetation grow and build habitat for animals..

i though at the beginning of the season, things were gonna change adn we were gonna be able to see deer numbers this season similar to teh way they were 8 years ago. We had this real nice stand on a tree line boarding a 10 acre soy bean field....

at the beginning of the season, the soy beans were about done and it was a perfect time to hunt the stadn cause the deer were comming in...on teh first saturday evening we saw 18 doe, to **** bucks, and two bucks boarding 130" +/-....next couple of days my dad hunted the stand and saw tons of deer and on of those bucks two more times....

now...havent been seeing much....little scrub bucks...but thast about it..

[Pappy]

Originally posted by CJM
I agree with ben, in the past there was no issue and plenty of large bucks around. Infact there were more deer overall than in recent years.

I have my cabin and 30 acres to hunt on, its abutted by another 30 of the same original parcel, a cornfield and other peoples property. A few years back I was seeing at least 20-40 deer a day. Mostly in small 3-10 doe herds with a buck straggling along. Now Im lucky if I see 10 deer the whole time I am out there (usually a week). The ones I do see have very small racks usually 4-6 pts but overall small sized.

This is the point restrictions at work imho. I went from seeing a few monsters in the off season and a few here and there when out hunting (my woods is very dense and its a shame but sometimes there is no shot :( to seeing nada. Infact I am not even seeing does anymore. A few years ago they finally relaxed the doe permits and actually began handing some out, I have got a doe permit everytime I applied in the last 5 years. In PA you must send away and pay them a few bucks and you get put into a lottery of sorts and you might get one, least thats how it used to be-now liek I said I pay in I get one no issue. My dad, brother, cousin, grandfather all got one for 3 years in a row..

Also my issue with my land not generating anything is nothing is promoting the deer to move I think. Our neighbors have stopped hunting pretty much and one parcel that was hunted by a club is no longer used. my buddy who lived 5 miles from us seems to never fail to get one-but they are nothing to write home about.

So youve blamed alot on the dnr and such but the last sentence you state the land does nothing for the deer.....do you see the real issue? Youve seen monster bucks but not during season...they are still in the area....more then likely nocturnal if they have any size.

Make the land better for the deer, build it and they will come I promise! Youve answered 99% of your issues in that last sentence!

[rcer450r]

Originally posted by ben300
clear cutting does do wonders for habitat....out west they have biologists totally dedicated to doing things like clear cutting and forest burning to help new vegetation grow and build habitat for animals..

i though at the beginning of the season, things were gonna change adn we were gonna be able to see deer numbers this season similar to teh way they were 8 years ago. We had this real nice stand on a tree line boarding a 10 acre soy bean field....

at the beginning of the season, the soy beans were about done and it was a perfect time to hunt the stadn cause the deer were comming in...on teh first saturday evening we saw 18 doe, to **** bucks, and two bucks boarding 130" +/-....next couple of days my dad hunted the stand and saw tons of deer and on of those bucks two more times....

now...havent been seeing much....little scrub bucks...but thast about it..

It is so true that clear cuts do wonder for not just deer but big bucks. When big bucks go to bedding they go for area of security and when the clear cuts begin growing up it makes a perfect bedding area for these bucks. Not to mention the vegetation for them. They love areas such as grown up clear cuts and high grasses and thats where you find them as long as no one is pressuring them. We try best not to pressure the center of these clear cuts and hunting the edges makes for great hunting anyways, especially during rut when they are cruising. Makes you want to be in the stand as much as you can ;)

[ben300]

My buck i shot satruday at about 8:45AM.....got the whole thing on film...

[ben300]

i still dont know how to put two jpg's in one thread slot

[Pappy]

Nice!

You can only add 2 images if you host them on like photobucket etc.

[ohsobad_chevy]

Wow!! Nice buck, Ben. Have you scored him yet. I would put him at ~135.

I seen a good 8 point last night, but couldn't get a shot. I hope he shows himself. Should get better since we have a cold front coming in soon.

[ben300]

Originally posted by Pappy
Nice!

You can only add 2 images if you host them on like photobucket etc.

thanks pappy...


...ya i kept on trying to put the two pictures in the one slot, and it didnt work, but now i understand.

[ben300]

Originally posted by ohsobad_chevy
Wow!! Nice buck, Ben. Have you scored him yet. I would put him at ~135.

I seen a good 8 point last night, but couldn't get a shot. I hope he shows himself. Should get better since we have a cold front coming in soon.

haha, thanks man.

racks can be very decieving. when he first came in, and when we watched the film of the hunt, we though that he was in the 130" range. my bigger buck i shot a few years ago was in the 140's. this one doesnt quite have the mass or the spread that that buck has. so when we found him, he had soem ground shrinkage, but he stills scored fairly well. He ended up scroring 118 2/8'", which still isnt bad and is just shy of the 125" minimum for pope and young record book.


Im still extremely happy, cause i havent had much timet to hunt the past two years between work adn college. So this year i havent been working, so i have had more time to hunt.

my old man took him to the taxidermist this morning. im thinking about getting him done in a half sneek, but im not sure. I'll decided when i go back over thanksgiving break to let him know.

[rcer450r]

Very nice buck ben! I would say that the rut is clearly coming in early this year. Judging by the size of the bucks neck its not far off. I was very surprised at how big my bucks neck was and that was 3 weeks ago I shot him. I believe we are going to have an early and good rut.

[ben300]

Originally posted by rcer450r
Very nice buck ben! I would say that the rut is clearly coming in early this year. Judging by the size of the bucks neck its not far off. I was very surprised at how big my bucks neck was and that was 3 weeks ago I shot him. I believe we are going to have an early and good rut.

thanks man. ya the ruts definitely coming in my area...i don think the does have been bread yet, but i have seen some bucks chasing does.

friday night i saw a real nice buck at about dark chasing some does.

[rcer450r]

the night before I shot my buck I had a buck chase a doe right under my stand. I couldnt believe they were chasing already.