Biggest/favorite bucks from past 5 yrs...

[wolc123]

I don’t run trail cameras, but I was fortunate enough to kill the biggest antlered and bodied buck that I saw while hunting, on (4) of the last (5) years.  Were it not for my damn smart phone, I’d have had that 5th one.  I should have just taken the 15 yard picture with that, rather than thrown it down like I did, and reached for the rifle in my lap. At least I’d have had a picture of it. I never even got off a shot with the gun.
 

One of these days, I am bound to regret a buck kill, because a bigger one will show up after I punched my tag.  Fortunately, that has not happened in at least the last 5 years.  

 

Third from the bottom was my 2017 crossbow buck.  Possibly the largest bodied deer I have ever killed, it sported a 43” chest girth, half way thru the rut, but had busted off a couple points. 

Next up is my 2018 gun buck.  Only deer in last 30 years that I weighed - 182 lbs field dressed on a “legal for trade” butcher’s scale, and had a chest girth just over 42”. I killed it post rut, after a couple points were busted off. I saw it a week prior, when it still had all its points. 
 

Next up is my 2019 crossbow buck.  I passed a scrawny 1.5 yr old 5 point “scout” 5 minutes prior. 
 

Above that is “Joe”, one of three deer that I have named after hunting buddy’s who have passed.  Both Joe’s may have passed at exactly the same instant (around 9:30 am on opening day of southern zone gun deer season in 2020).  
 

The buck Joe might still be kicking, were it not for my smartphone.  Without that, my gun tag would have been punched a month earlier, on opening day of northern zone deer season, in a significantly larger antlered deer (that was my “off-year”).

The top one is my 2021 gun buck.  I had two deer in the freezer, prior to the southern zone gun opener last year, so I didn’t even consider shooting at the little 4 point that I saw twice that day.  Glad I passed “forky”, because that 9-pointer (not counting two busted off points that would have made him an 11-pointer pre-rut), showed up 6 days later, from the same stand, 5 minutes after sunset.  Good thing they changed the rules on that last year, or that one would still be kicking.

The two on the bottom are from my last 2-antlered buck year (2016).  

Edited September 7, 2022 by wolc123

[BizCT]

Huh ?

The thread is about the ones that got away not killed


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[GreeneHunter]

9 hours ago, BizCT said:

The thread is about the ones that got away not killed


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Gotcha !

[WNY Bowhunter]

I was sent this cell phone video clip of a bonified Steuben County giant over the weekend. It's not a deer that I'll even be hunting but I was able to pick up a shed from him back in April. Looks like he added some inches!!!

[518BowSlayer]

Big 10 for my area. No other pics of him. Right behind a doe in the middle of the day. That neck is ridiculous!

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[Lucky118]

23 hours ago, WNY Bowhunter said:

I was sent this cell phone video clip of a bonified Steuben County giant over the weekend. It's not a deer that I'll even be hunting but I was able to pick up a shed from him back in April. Looks like he added some inches!!!

Holy crap!

[chrisw]

My favorite, public land. 3 photo mashup for different angles.

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