The agony of defeat

[BSK]

Another thread got me thinking (I know, very dangerous). Let's see pictures of all the great bucks you HAVEN'T been able to kill. Oh, the agony of defeat...

Here's a few of mine:

 

[southernhunter]

wow. you have had some good ones . the pic of the one i posted .is the best one i have ever had and i aint had but a couple that ever came second to him

 

[Brisco Darlin]

man those are some great ones.

 

[BSK]

Oh, it's cool to have big bucks like that, but darn frustrating not to be able to kill them! So far, we've only been able to kill two of those highest-caliber bucks over the years (a 157 and a 156).

 

[WMAn]

Didn't ya'll miss an opportunity to kill the buck pictured in the daytime with the strange kicker off his left antler last year? Brings up another question, how many of those bucks were seen while hunting but not killed?

 

[BSK]

Didn't ya'll miss an opportunity to kill the buck pictured in the daytime with the strange kicker off his left antler last year? Brings up another question, how many of those bucks were seen while hunting but not killed?

My brother missed this buck clean at 80 yards with his MZ last year:

This buck was seen at long range (down a power-line right-of-way) at 4 1/2, but was never seen at 5 1/2 or 6 1/2:

4 1/2

5 1/2

6 1/2

I passed this buck up at 3 1/2 (because I had already killed a big mature buck that year), but he was not seen at 4 1/2 or 5 1/2:

3 1/2

4 1/2

5 1/2

I tried to get my MZ on this scrawny 3 1/2 year-old but couldn't pull off the shot. He turned into a pretty good buck at 4 1/2:

3 1/2

4 1/2

This 150-class 5 1/2 year-old was killed on a neighboring property:

 

[geezer]

Heres one for me.......

And another......

here they are together in October...

 

[guthooked]

Quite a few solid deer there.

 

[primos32]

Wow! Awesome set of bucks! Makes me wonder how many good bucks like that statewide get away every year..

 

[WMAn]

BSK,

What did that 5 1/2 yo do to get himself killed by your neighbor?

 

[Shed Hunter]

The agony of defeat.. aka every buck I've gotten on trail camera.

Here is the biggest but he was seen this week running across the road right at the trail I park at.. I was in the woods too! I guess he ran behind the ridge I was watching though.

btw-I saw him last year as a 4.5 (the only time he showed himself last year) and 90% he was 160.

 

[northeasthunter]

lots of good ones

 

[BSK]

BSK,

What did that 5 1/2 yo do to get himself killed by your neighbor?

Good question.

 

[BSK]

Wow! Awesome set of bucks! Makes me wonder how many good bucks like that statewide get away every year..

You wouldn't believe how many mature bucks I see on trail-cameras across the state, and the vast majority of those mature bucks--a few in the 150s to low 160s--are never seen or killed by hunters.

 

[BSK]

btw-I saw him last year as a 4.5 (the only time he showed himself last year) and 90% he was 160.

Yeah, that buck is pushing 160s.

 

[southernhunter]

Bsk, i been using trail cams for awhile , and running them this year since bow season til present . I have only got a pic of one nice deer the 3 1/2 year old on a farm that's 230 acres. that's joined by a other large tracts of land , til hunting season starts I set the cams up on baited sites , or food plots , I said all that to ask how many times to u see big deer killed in a area that no one ever got a pic of ? Or are there just that few of mature deer in my area ?

 

[woodsman87]

I wish I had some big ones to post about my agony of defeat. I just get does and little ones.

 

[Hollar Hunter]

This is why cameras are a LOVE/HATE relationship! LOL


These are all my 2012 4.5+ targeted heartbreakers! We have some others that are 4.5+ but were kind of week on the horns. I would still shoot them in a heart beat but these are the biggest I have targeted this year.



This fella I seen during bow twice both times about 70 to 80 yards, Also seen him opening morning of Muzzleloader but only long enough to get my gun up and he was through the only hole I had. He was also seen twice crossing a grown up field during muzzleloader from the car.

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This one I've never seen..

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Than there's THE MAN! My biggest upset to date! I seen this buck twice during bow both times I had to watch him for about 45+ minutes. I should have killed him the second time I seen him but I won't go into that to painful!!! As of 2 weeks ago he was still alive spotted on the adjoining farm which rarely gets hunted. I'm hoping in the next couple weeks he will come home to roost where he spent all summer and most of Oct. I'm not even hunting the area he lived in till he shows back up on camera just to keep any pressure off the area. BSK what would you age this guy at?

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This guy I think is some how related to the buck above as they have the exact same small fork on the right side G2 tine! No one has ever seen this fella!

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This is the only mature buck 4.5+ we had targeted that actually bit the dust this year!

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[BSK]

Bsk, i been using trail cams for awhile , and running them this year since bow season til present . I have only got a pic of one nice deer the 3 1/2 year old on a farm that's 230 acres. that's joined by a other large tracts of land , til hunting season starts I set the cams up on baited sites , or food plots , I said all that to ask how many times to u see big deer killed in a area that no one ever got a pic of ? Or are there just that few of mature deer in my area ?

Tough question to answer. Undoubtedly, I hear all the time about bucks being killed that were not on a hunter's trail-cameras. However, in my own experiences, I've been inordinately lucky to get the vast, vast majority of bucks on camera before they are killed by hunters. Over 13 years, on my own property and on clients' properties where I run the camera census (I place and check all cameras), 97% of hunter harvested bucks were previously photographed.

Now sometimes, it's a very close call, especially around the rut. Many bucks suddenly expand or even shift their seasonal range right at the beginning of the rut. This will cause a sudden surge of "new" bucks to start crossing a monitored property, and in the areas where I do most of my work, this also occurs just about the time MZ season is about to start. What happens--and this happens amazingly often--is a hunter kills a buck I did not have on camera. However, when I run the cameras the next time, there he is. He JUST showed up on camera (and probably just started using the property) just days before he was killed.

Unfortunately, learning where to place cameras to run a good non-baited census is a real learned art. It's taken me years to learn the best camera locations, and every year I learn something new that is added to my repeteur. Its a never-ending learning experience. For those that are killing a lot of bucks they didn't have on camera, the problem is usually improper camera placement or not moving cameras frequently enough. However, rut-season "range-shifting" bucks can also suddenly bring new harvestable bucks onto a property that can be hard to get on camera before they are killed.

 

[BSK]

WOW Hollar Hunter! Those are some amazing bucks!

Honestly, I don't think that palmated buck is that old. I would say no older than 4 1/2 in those pictures.