My quest for a 10 point buck mocks me.

[Grouse]

I've been striving to put a 10 point buck on my wall for 53 seasons now and have yet to do it.  Yesterday, my BIL in PA sends me this pic of a deer 25 yards behind his house he photographed from his 2nd floor balcony.  He sees lots of nice bucks near his home, which is out in the sticks.  He doesn't hunt anymore.  His place is 5 hours away.  I'm seriously considering hunting PA next year when I have retired.  I'm getting desperate.

[maddie]

now that's a stud deer. good luck, hope you get one.

[airedale]

That guy is a heavyweight.

Al

[wolc123]

I’m after an 11 myself.  By random chance, my current collection of shoulder mounts is otherwise complete, from 6 to 12 points, with no duplicate counts.  This 3-1/2 yr old (9) from two falls ago would have cost me the $500 or so, had I got him before the rut, and he still had the two points that got deducted from fighting.

 

That was a close call.  My wife prefers the Euro mounts that only cost us 45 minutes of my time and a quart of gas for my power washer:

Edited November 10, 2023 by wolc123

[landtracdeerhunter]

I'm being greedy, I want 180 or larger. I don't care how many points it takes. 

Do you think I should lower my limits?

[Four Seasons]

1 hour ago, wolc123 said:

I’m after an 11 myself.  By random chance, my current collection of shoulder mounts is otherwise complete, from 6 to 12 points, with no duplicate counts.  This 3-1/2 yr old (9) from two falls ago would have cost me the $500 or so, had I got him before the rut, and he still had the two points that got deducted from fighting.

 

That was a close call.  My wife prefers the Euro mounts that only cost us 45 minutes of my time and a quart of gas for my power washer:

Pic’s. We all love looking at pic’s of mounted animals ??

[landtracdeerhunter]

My last buck is a 10 pointer. I'm guessing 2 1/2 year old. He could have been my 180 at 5.

[Four Seasons]

2 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

My last buck is a 10 pointer. I'm guessing 2 1/2 year old. He could have been my 180 at 5.

He is a beauty. 

[wolc123]

10 hours ago, Four Seasons said:

Pic’s. We all love looking at pic’s of mounted animals ??

Here you go:

left to right: 7, 12, 9, 10

7 was my first legally antlered bow buck (naturally my first bow buck was a button). 

 12 was a road kill that bought it around the corner from our place.  I knew a taxi who mounted deer for $125 back then, and it seemed a shame not to get that heavy “driftwood rack”  non-typical 12 mounted.  

9 was my largest racked buck. It took me (9) 16 gauge slugs to put that one down for good but he was only hit with the first and the last.  1st shot broke his front leg at long range.  He had a rear hoof shot off the week before.  I was a little faster back then than he was on just two good legs and eventually caught up to him for my last shot.  
 

Split double brow tine 10 was the most points I ever got.  I thought it was a doe at the time of the shot (head was behind a tree) and I was surprised by all the points.  Killed same year as 7 on left on opening day of gun (7 was killed on opening day of bow).  I got a “package deal” from another guy to mount both cheap (the $ 125 ea guy had died a few years prior).  I think he charged around $175 ea and his normal price was $200.  

8: 

My first Adirondack buck currently resides maybe 40 miles NE of your ranch.  Father in law likes to decorate his place with “native local species” 

 

6:

My first legally antlered gun buck (my first gun buck was also a button).  I mounted this one myself into a head that was given to me by a buddy.  He had a big rack, from a buck killed by his grandfather, put on a new larger cape.  He was going to throw the old mounted head away, but gave it to me instead. My dad made the walnut board cut the back on that one:  
 

Each of these was  “special” in some way (first, etc.) and like I said, the numbers thing was just a random chance.  Hopefully, if I ever do get that 11, it will be up north.  We don’t have much extra wall space back here in WNY.