Not every trophy animal dies honorably; starvation, disease, predators, hit by a car, any number of things can happen between coming of age and appearing through your scope or bow sights. That seems to be the story here.
A lady walking her dog happened across the buck in a field back in early February. There is no apparent cause of death such as a bullet wound or contusions from being struck by a vehicle. The son-in-law of a neighbor green-scored the animal at 247 which potentially makes a new state record for Michigan. Boone and Crockett recognizes such trophy finds as a “pickup” and are eligible for official record status.
The son-in-law has the antlers while waiting for the 60-day drying period. In the meantime, he has his fingers crossed for an offer from Cabela’s!
Check out more photos after the jump.
Thanks to Mark Phillips for sending this in! You can follow Mark on Twitter: @HDX1
Read more…
Campfire Stories
found, Michigan, record, whitetail deer
When you’re from Texas, you have big expectations. Those expectations stick with you, even when you venture across the state line. A man’s gotta have standards, after all.
Wesley O’Brien of Lexington, Texas drove 750 miles to Richardson County, Nebraska (as far southeast in the state as one can be) to hunt private property with a buddy who knew the landowner. The sun had not set on the first day of gun season in Nebraska, November 14, before this buck was on the ground. Heck, the truck had not even cooled down when the buck stepped out at 100 yards.
O’Brien’s buck green-scored 281, besting the standing Nebraska record of 279 7/8. That deer, known as “Old Mossy Horns” was taken with a bow 47 years earlier. The Nebraska record for a non-typical firearm deer is 242 5/8 way back in ‘61. The drying period has past though there’s no word yet on the official score of the O’Brien buck quite yet. If you’ve heard anything, please let us know in the comments!
The Lincoln Journal Star reported that due to his economic situation, O’Brien has hired an agent to consider offers for the antlers once they’re mounted.
Until then, check out more photos of the O’Brien Buck after the jump.
Read more…
Deer
Nebraska, record, whitetail deer
Strange goings’ on in the foothills of North Carolina. So strange in fact, a local paper has dedicated a page to mapping sightings of a piebald deer along with a contest to name the creature for a grand prize of ten dollars.
Cleveland County, home of Bridges Barbeque in Shelby, is about an hour west of Charlotte. According to the map, this deer has covered quite a bit of territory, ranging as far as Lake Wylie (southwest of Charlotte) to South Mountains State Park (south of Morganton). The majority of the sightings are in the Shelby-Cherryville-Gastonia triangle.
This may not mean much to you but it sure does to my Mother, who sent me the map. Click here to check it out, it really is kinda neat.
Sightings
North Carolina, oddities, whitetail deer
There is nothing more endearing than the twinkle of a tear in a grown man’s eye as he admires the largest buck ever to cross his property on a day when his wife told him to get the kids out of the house…..
That’s probably not quite how this went down and I’m sure McKenzie’s father, Phil Barker, was quite proud of her when she knocked down this grand buck. That’s right he’s happy for her. Tickled pink. Proud papa. What’re you laughing at?!
Hey Phil, wonder what it would score?
Thanks to Beach Billy for sending in this photo!
Deer
kids, whitetail deer
A sad end to a giant of a buck. From the author:
The news is out. After keeping this brute a perfect secret all throughout the season “Big Louie” was found dead by pheasant hunters on my friends neighboring property. The 250″ buck was discovered by my friend Darin and his neighbor Mark. Here’s the story.
Early season I received a phone call from Darin, my good buddy. His voice sounded as if he had just shot a buck so i asked him what he got… He told me that nothing was dead but to get to his place as soon as I could so he could show me something. I drove over and looked at his computer and saw the biggest buck i had ever seen on a trail camera.
We sat there and talked about how he was going to hunt him, how to stay calm, how to go about the whole process of getting this buck, and how we couldn’t even speak of this Monarch. From then on
Darin told me he was in bowhunting mode and would settle for nothing less of the buck that had been named “Big Louie” by Mark.
All season I heard the stories from them both and saw that no matter what they tried, it was always outsmarting them. He wouldn’t be that big if he couldn’t outsmart them…Darin didn’t use a firearm all season. He told me that he was not going to go out and hunt during the firearms season and had to just sit around and pray that “Big Louie” would make it through. They would see him plenty during the bow season, but never in range.
Later in the season, just about a week or so ago the buck was found dead by pheasant hunters on John Grosboll’s property in Petersburg . The property was right next to Darin’s lease… Either way, it was a tragic way to see this monster go down. They ruled the death as natural causes.
More photos of Big Louie after the jump…
Read more…
Campfire Stories
trailcam, whitetail deer
Here’s one that’s making the rounds this season and with no luck confirming the story, it undoubtedly remains an impressive buck.
Here are some early photos of a great deer taken during the youth hunt this year. This buck green scores 203 Typical, NET, not gross. If so, this would place this buck in the top Three typical all time in Wisconsin , and that includes the great Jordan Buck at 207 that was world record for decades. These pictures were taken in front of the Cabala’s store in Prairie du Chien. The hunter shown in the Picture a 15 year old Williams’s boy from Millville , WI the deer was shot between Millville and Woodman the buck was shot with a rifle during the youth Hunt in early October. This deer has 16 inch tines. The manager at Cabelas Offered him $25,000 on the spot the day the pictures were taken. Cabela’s offer included making a replica set of antlers that look identical to the originals and the hunter would be able to keep the cape. The boy and his father turned down that offer. The manager then called the Cabelas headquarters in Nebraska and immediately got permission to offer the boy $61,000 for the rack. He still said no. Writers and photographers from various deer magazines descended on Wisconsin to see the deer so I’m sure you will see more about this buck in the upcoming days and Woodman. The buck was shot with a rifle during the youth hunt in early October.
There are a couple more photos of this great buck and fortunate young hunter. If you know anything about them, please let us know in the Comments!
Read more…
Deer
kids, whitetail deer, Wisconsin
Iredell county rests in the piedmont area of North Carolina, within an hour of the mountains and just northwest of Charlotte. It’s not the first place folks in these parts think of when discussing big NC deer, but any day in the stand sure beats a day at work.
Congratulations to the Iredell hunter who bagged this buck, a trophy in any part of the state.
Deer
North Carolina, whitetail deer
