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Fitting end to a giant buck... I guess.

chrisw

By chrisw,
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chrisw Mentor

chrisw

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Long story short. I have a buddy that lives in Michigan, he has access to a lot of hunting land and they do really well managing it for deer. He has killed some great bucks but never a true "giant." A couple of years ago now he got some pics of a phenomenal 2yr old (what he thought was 2) that deer would show up and disappear, show back up etc. This went on for 3 more seasons, my buddy and his neighbor who have a large chunk between them had both gotten pictures but neither had ever laid eyes on the deer. They kept their mouths shut so word wouldn't spread. Last spring my buddy found one side of his rack while shed hunting but could never find the other. That summer he showed back up larger than ever and hung around into deer season then vanished mid season which wasn't overly uncommon for this deer but oddly enough was never seen again. Noone reported killing a giant so he feared the worst. Recently he got word that the neighbors who don't hunt or allow hunting found a huge buck dead in one of their fields while brushhogging. It was him. The deer he lost sleep over for years, the deer he let other 130"+ deer walk for. I guess it's sort of poetic, a deer of giant proportions, all wild, no fences, seemingly dies of "old age." That's probably the way that deer would've wanted to go. Noone will ever have the satisfaction of walking up to him after pulling a trigger. The buck rough scored 214." Here's a few pics.MFDC0322_2.jpegMFDC0321_2.jpegMFDC0320_2.jpegIMG957074_2.jpeg

 

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chrisw Mentor

chrisw

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Helluva buck    Do they have any indication of cause of death..??  Funny that he would die of natural causes in the middle of a field...  Perhaps a bullet or a broadhead in his guts ??
The people that own the property don't hunt or allow hunting, I guess they never examined the carcass for any signs of being shot or anything. It wasn't really a field but a real thick brushy area they were clearing with a brushhog I'm assuming. They'd have found him a lot sooner if it was a field probably.

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Pygmy Experienced

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In that case I am guessing that it is no more than 50/50 chance that he died of natural causes...

Nobody will ever know...  I would guess that as big as that buck was, probably SOMEBODY other than your friends knew he was there...There are a lot of  people out there suffering from  ANTLER SICKNESS that would do unscrupulous  deeds to get a buck like that...

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chrisw Mentor

chrisw

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In that case I am guessing that it is no more than 50/50 chance that he died of natural causes...
Nobody will ever know...  I would guess that as big as that buck was, probably SOMEBODY other than your friends knew he was there...There are a lot of  people out there suffering from  ANTLER SICKNESS that would do unscrupulous  deeds to get a buck like that...
Nothing would surprise me, I'm sure more people knew about it than they realize too, if it was a shady act that ended up killing him I'm glad the scum never got to put their hands on him. I'll admit, the "unknown" is sometimes the worst part. The woods will feel lonelier for my buddy this fall for sure...

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chrisw Mentor

chrisw

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Where's the lower jaw?
Not sure, he didn't mention it in the talk radio blurb he did on it. I just listened to it actually, apparently the locals nicknamed him "Zeus". The guy who found it said he'd been seeing him for several years under his apple trees and he estimated he was at least 5 or 6+. My buddy who is neighbors with the guy on one side has pictures at least 3 years back also.

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Lawdwaz Grand Master

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41 minutes ago, chrisw said:

Not sure, he didn't mention it in the talk radio blurb he did on it. I just listened to it actually, apparently the locals nicknamed him "Zeus". The guy who found it said he'd been seeing him for several years under his apple trees and he estimated he was at least 5 or 6+. My buddy who is neighbors with the guy on one side has pictures at least 3 years back also.

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Looking at the upper jaw, although SERIOUSLY unscientific, could yield an idea of his age.  The oldest buck I've killed was aged at 5.5 by the DEC and I still have that lower jaw and if you compare it to the upper jaw (attached to the European mount) you can see that they are a "match".  If you can look at the skull/horns, you might be able to judge for yourself how old he is.

I've seen with my own eyes the growth that can happen between what anybody would say was a 2.5 year old (by trail cam videos and his shed horns from said year) to an absolute GIANT 3.5 year old.  Bizarre isn't a stretch........UNREAL is a better description. 

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Lawdwaz Grand Master

Lawdwaz

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Some may doubt the above statement but this is previously not shown (other than to a few members here via a PM basis) video from a couple years ago.  Although I had tons of velvet footage, I never had a single hard horned video.  Rumor has it he was killed to the north west of this location, some were in Ontario County by an as of now unknown hunter.  That said, he could have easily been poached by a neighbor and that wouldn't surprise me in the least......

Hopefully this works:

 

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LET EM GROW Experienced

LET EM GROW

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Such a shame. Never know what could have taken him, a misplaced legal shot, rushed shot with little opportunity, poacher.. just saddening finding them dead like that. been there with a 167 10 pt"..   

The shed he is holding reminded me a lot of one of our current bucks, especially that brow tine. this is off a 4yr old

2018040295180638.jpg

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chrisw Mentor

chrisw

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Run that video and tell me what he'd score............
Wow that's an awesome deer anywhere, I'd throw a guess up somewhere near 200", it makes you wonder for sure when they disappear seemingly quiet. I don't know many or any hunters that would legally kill a buck like that and be able to contain the press on it. Last fall my buddy heard a rumor that someone had shot and killed the buck he was after, months went by with no news or pictures. He was going nuts trying to figure out what happened, and noone will ever know now for sure. But he's for sure dead.

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The_Field_Ager Newbie

The_Field_Ager

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16 hours ago, chrisw said:

 The woods will feel lonelier for my buddy this fall for sure...

Yep, an old Buck I had been pursuing for 4 or more seasons failed to show up on camera last season. I knew his routes, would often see his camel sized hoof prints and would get 3 or 4 decent pics usually during the season, but always at night. Last season there was no more sign, no prints no pics. I had actually reached the point were I was enjoying his ghostly presence and was no longer sure I even wanted to harvest him. In any case, it looks like nature and time played out for him, whatever happened. 

His passing did did free up my hunting mind-set tho. I became somewhat obsessed for a few years and let all kinds of decent Bucks walk, waiting for him. 

This is a still from the last video I ever got of him in 2016:

 

 

 

BIGBOY_2016_NOV_12.jpg

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dbHunterNY Proficient

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the biggest deer i know of don't ever see the light of day. they're enjoyed but keep a secret sitting in someone's trophy room or even better a basement to collect spider webs. not a single one is poached either. midwest or out of state bucks, holy hell it's like the thing has it's own "local" facebook page.

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dbHunterNY Proficient

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i love it how in larry's video and the OP trail cam photos both aren't wide open woods with little to nothing growing in the under story.  hard to get a buck to just 4.5 yrs old around here without it being legendary. lol  i just hope to see one that big that's free ranging some day. it'd be nice to take it but i'd be happy just to see it and get the heart rate up. 

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WNYBuckHunter Experienced

WNYBuckHunter

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1 hour ago, chrisw said:

Wow that's an awesome deer anywhere, I'd throw a guess up somewhere near 200", it makes you wonder for sure when they disappear seemingly quiet. I don't know many or any hunters that would legally kill a buck like that and be able to contain the press on it. Last fall my buddy heard a rumor that someone had shot and killed the buck he was after, months went by with no news or pictures. He was going nuts trying to figure out what happened, and noone will ever know now for sure. But he's for sure dead.

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I dont know if I could keep something like that quiet, its hard enough for me to not show my trailcam pics to everyone lol. I learned my lesson on that though. I know a bunch of guys that have shot bucks that would make most peoples jaws drop, but the only people that know about them are people that are close to them.

I know of one particular hunter that has a pile of 150+ bucks, and a couple of legit booners that are only known of by family, close friends and the taxidermist that mounted them. All of them taken legally, mostly off of his chunk of land, which contains a funnel or two that are unreal.

It happens

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