Frank, the geriatric deer

[megalomaniac]

Actually, your best way to kill him is to put cams on your water sources and figure out which one he is hitting during dry periods. I guarantee that deer is drinking way more than the average deer (which is why he spends 30min at a time on salt). You figure out where he is watering and you can kill him during legal hours. Boring to sit on water holes, but I really do believe that is your best way to hunt him without pushing all the way into his bedroom.

Like you know, forget typical rut patterns, he isn't participating in the rut most likely.

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[Tn_Va_Hunter]

Looks like
He got married, had kids and promoted to a desk job. At least that's how I thought it effected me !

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Actually, your best way to kill him is to put cams on your water sources and figure out which one he is hitting during dry periods. I guarantee that deer is drinking way more than the average deer (which is why he spends 30min at a time on salt). You figure out where he is watering and you can kill him during legal hours. Boring to sit on water holes, but I really do believe that is your best way to hunt him without pushing all the way into his bedroom.

Like you know, forget typical rut patterns, he isn't participating in the rut most likely.

I don't disagree with your logic. And in middle TN or the midwest or even some farms around here that just might work. But in Frank's part of the world, trying to pattern a deer based on water sources would be a little like trying to pattern shore birds at the beach based on sand sources. He lives in the river bottoms. From that camera, he can walk 30 yards, mostly in ample cover, and stand chest deep in water. And he has a mile+ of waters edge that meets cover. He's on the edge of a bottom that is flooded throughout the fall and winter. Foot prints will hold water for most of deer season. In fact that salt lick holds enough water through the winter and into spring for a deer to get a drink anytime. Maybe that's part of his affinity for it.

 

[Snake]

Boy he is a tank ! He's probably sterile or testosterone levels extremely low , could be a reason he apparently don't fight or lose weight as the rut does not effect him . Heck of a buck though for sure .

I thought about that. He definitely didn't run himself ragged or act like much of a fighter. But I think "swelling" of their neck coming into the fall is directly tied to a spike in testosterone. And he's definitely got a neck.

This is true but he still could be sterile . Seen some really great bucks taken that the hunter said they were sterile for lack of rutting activity . King of the Hill bucks that are normal will rut and fight if a contender is around that's just natural , proven fact .

 

[TNTreeman]

Wow! I've got some pigs around here but that one takes the cake... Literally. I wander if he can actually chase does and if so mount them? Good luck with him next season .

 

[ADR]

Boy he is a tank ! He's probably sterile or testosterone levels extremely low , could be a reason he apparently don't fight or lose weight as the rut does not effect him . Heck of a buck though for sure .

I thought about that. He definitely didn't run himself ragged or act like much of a fighter. But I think "swelling" of their neck coming into the fall is directly tied to a spike in testosterone. And he's definitely got a neck.

This is true but he still could be sterile . Seen some really great bucks taken that the hunter said they were sterile for lack of rutting activity . King of the Hill bucks that are normal will rut and fight if a contender is around that's just natural , proven fact .

Wouldn't surprise me at all if that deer was cryptorchid. Sterile, yes if bilateral; full of testosterone, more so than most any other buck.

 

[Spurhunter]

I don't disagree with your logic. And in middle TN or the midwest or even some farms around here that just might work. But in Frank's part of the world, trying to pattern a deer based on water sources would be a little like trying to pattern shore birds at the beach based on sand sources. He lives in the river bottoms. From that camera, he can walk 30 yards, mostly in ample cover, and stand chest deep in water. And he has a mile+ of waters edge that meets cover. He's on the edge of a bottom that is flooded throughout the fall and winter. Foot prints will hold water for most of deer season. In fact that salt lick holds enough water through the winter and into spring for a deer to get a drink anytime. Maybe that's part of his affinity for it.

I don't think guys that have never hunted river bottoms like this can imagine the water. One of my leases is in the river bottoms with a river being one border. Another one is in a river bottom in MS. Both places knee boots are required year round. You have to navigate sloughs and ditches. If we get a big rain, the backwater is everywhere. Our logging roads and 4 wheeler trails look like boat trails through the woods most of the year. And the deer don't even notice. I guess it's all they've ever known, so it's normal.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Yep. The first small river rise we had this year I went into another farm just up river to pull a camera. I wore waders. Had to cross one drainage and got over my waders. I jumped deer the whole way. There are levees and high places they could retreat to, but they seemed content. This deer is a little different in that he hangs out where the low river bottom meets a piece of higher ground. But he would rarely have to move, and definitely wouldn't have to leave cover to get a drink of water even in the summer.

While on the subject, trying to figure out which way deer are most likely to approach an oak stand in the middle of a flat river bottom so I can hang a bow stand usually makes me wish I had a nice piece of hill ground with saddles and funnels and pinch points and such.

 

[Coker]

I would HATE to try and drag that deer out of the woods. A

 

[Stykbow]

That's the biggest deer I've ever seen! I hope you get him next year just so you can tell us his weight.


If you're going to be stupid, you'd better be tough!

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Everyone seems interested in Fat Frank, so here are a few more pics:

10/8 (when he first showed up). He was big then, but he really packed it on over the last 3 months:

11/24 - quite a bit of weight gain

Sparring with 2 yearlings, 2 on 1:

Small gnads:

 

[Southern Sportsman]

As far as I can tell, a button buck sucker punched him as soon as he dropped his antlers.

 

[MUP]

It's a glandular problem, that or he's just big boned.

 

[rem270]

That's a cool deer. Hopefully he'll show up for you next year!

 

[woodyard]

Old Frank is cool. I hope he doesn't get on the highway over there, he could cause a pile up.

 

[RUGER]

Wow, just wow!

Definitely never seen a deer like that in this part of the world.

 

[cbhunter]

I notice his tarsels aren't darkened much, if any.

 

[drawforce]

Dang is that a Tn. Deer?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

He looks fairly normal in the October and November pics. Something happened, it seems, between 11/24 and 12/14....LOL my goodness what a fat deer. He packed it on for whatever reason that is

 

[BULL MOOSE]

The other bucks are holding their horns behind him.

Has he always been fat every year, or is this the first year?