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To all the bucks I’ve loved before………

This buck i had no history with. Named him billy goat. Showed up September 2020. I had just had heart surgery when i he showed up. He was daylighting in one of my food olots every morning but i couldnt yet draw my bow back. A couple weeks later he was gone- he was never killed to my knowledge……
 

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Ski said:
There are pockets of TN like this where you can't hardly bust 120", and 30 miles away be in an area that's producing booners. Makes zero sense to me and I'd have never believed it possible had I not lived here to experience it.
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I know one here will argue the point, but I still believe it has to do with the distribution influence from them restoration project so many years ago.
 
Planking said:
Had alot of history with this mountain buck. My buddy had a clean miss the year before on him and so he went nocturnal. He was not at all afraid of cameras but he certainly was of daylight. I don't know that i ever had more pics of a deer than this guy. I guess you kind of get used to seeing them and miss them when they are gone. He made it through that season but i never saw him again.
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Same with the big 7 I posted. He was in front of my cameras every day or 2 sometimes multiple times a day and once October came in it was like he knew only to come out at night.
 
Ski said:
Whew what a thread and some amazing bucks posted!

Only one really haunts me. Growing up in rural southern Ohio I've had more than a lion's share of opportunities at some superb bucks. But one above all others bothers me, and for many layers of reasons.

Long story short while mushroom hunting my brother found a single shed that measured 87". Understandably he was obsessed and spent all summer learning as much as he could about the buck. He started hunting him on archery opener but never saw the buck so he invited me Thanksgiving week up for a second set of eyes & fresh opinion. My first sit was an evening hunt and sure enough the buck comes straight to my rattling horns. I made what I thought was a great shot and there was lots of blood and a crash site but no dead deer. Next day we bump him up while tracking. The buck stands up, groans, then wanders off straight away from us. I broke off in a dead sprint after him but never did see the buck again. Never in my life have I seen a deer bleed so much without dying.

It was the only time I've ever had a legit 200"+ buck in front of me while hunting, and I screwed it up. Not only did I feel like donkey punch for wounding the animal, but I felt even worse knowing how invested my brother was in hunting him. He's the one who discovered, scouted, and studied the deer. I only hunted him by invite for a couple of hours. I still feel horrible. Best and worst hunting experience of my life all wrapped up in one.
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Was the buck ever spotted again or would assume he died somewhere
 
backyardtndeer said:
I know one here will argue the point, but I still believe it has to do with the distribution influence from them restoration project so many years ago.
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I agree. That's my theory as well and what makes most sense. I'm sure soil conditions factor to some degree but this is a glaringly obvious difference that soil conditions alone can't explain.
 
killingtime 41 said:
Was the buck ever spotted again or would assume he died somewhere
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Unfortunately no. And not for lack of effort. I spent all winter searching for that deer and most of the following fall hoping to see some hint that he was still alive. Never did see him again and never heard of a buck of his caliber being killed in the area. So I guess I'll never know.
 
tree_ghost said:
Dude that 8pt is what my future dreams are made of!!! if I ever find one that breaks 150" my wife will have to file a missing persons report on me 🤣🤣
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He is the second giant 8 that's been on the property since 2019 and I wasn't able to get either one. Got some this year that if they survived and don't add any extra tines I think will maybe bust 150 next year as 8pts. I'm certainly hoping!
 
Ski said:
Those deer are on my Ohio place.

I know deer get big in areas of TN but this part of Coffee Co. isn't one of them. I love hunting here and still chase the oldest bucks I can find, but I don't expect them to be big in body or antler. Hunting three farms that collectively reach around 600acres, I see a couple bucks on average each season that I'm confident are 5yrs+. Once about every three years one of those bucks will have a rack I feel confident will bust 120". In my 10yrs here I've yet to see in person or on camera a buck that would threaten 130". It just is what it is.

I've hunted deer from TX up to WI down to here and all in between. Never have I seen a state with such diverse variations in buck antler quality according to area. There are pockets of TN like this where you can't hardly bust 120", and 30 miles away be in an area that's producing booners. Makes zero sense to me and I'd have never believed it possible had I not lived here to experience
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wcw280 said:
Looks an awful lot like a deer I killed several years back. What year? Lol
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Did he have a wound on brisket area?
 
Here's another one I blew an opportunity on. This a buck I named "Trainwreck" due to all his drop tines. I located this buck back in a swamp system in Oct of 2022. He was bedding up in an area of about 15acres that was very hard to access and had really limited opportunities for a stand. I narrowed down his access trails and decided to hunt him on a shallow crossing at the river. In order to get to the tree I wanted to hunt him from I had to wade chest deep for about 1/4 mile. The cool thing was my stand location was 1' off the river bank so ground scent wouldn't be an issue. On Oct 17, 2022 I had the right wind and made my move on him. 30 minutes before dark I see him get up 80 yards from me. He slowly made his was towards the creek crossing I was sitting over. With about 10 minutes of shooting light to spare I had him at 25 yards on the river bank with no clear shot. I needed him to actually get into the river to have a clear shot and just as he was about to make his decent into the water the wind swirled on me. He instantly locked up and didn't move a muscle inside the cattail and sawgrass until it was pitch black. I never got a picture of him again at that location. Fast forward to Nov 15 and I decided to use the other pinch point I had him on going into the swamp. This spot was more open than I typically like and I was set up 40 yards from the scrape and trail I wanted to shoot him on. At 3:30pm I watched him materialize from the thicket. He walked to the scrape and began to work it. I had ranged that scrape 100 times and knew it was 40 yards. I drew my bow and settled my 40 right on him I touched off the trigger and watched my arrow fly 1" below his brisket…he bounded off 15 yards not 100% sure of what happened but it was enough commotion in that swamp I never seen him again. When I got down to access why I missed I discovered there was another scrape around this rose bush that had opened up since I was last there, it was 8 yards behind the one I thought he was on!!!! Totally my fault!!! I was hoping to pull more pictures from my old laptop but I can't find the charger…

Lessons learned…
1- don't hunt the upstream side of a river crossing at last light. Thermals will drop and follow the flow of the river over the predominant wind.

2- if you shoot at a deer with a bow and he's farther then 30 yards take the time to range him or don't shoot!
 

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Ski said:
Whew what a thread and some amazing bucks posted!

Only one really haunts me. Growing up in rural southern Ohio I've had more than a lion's share of opportunities at some superb bucks. But one above all others bothers me, and for many layers of reasons.

Long story short while mushroom hunting my brother found a single shed that measured 87". Understandably he was obsessed and spent all summer learning as much as he could about the buck. He started hunting him on archery opener but never saw the buck so he invited me Thanksgiving week up for a second set of eyes & fresh opinion. My first sit was an evening hunt and sure enough the buck comes straight to my rattling horns. I made what I thought was a great shot and there was lots of blood and a crash site but no dead deer. Next day we bump him up while tracking. The buck stands up, groans, then wanders off straight away from us. I broke off in a dead sprint after him but never did see the buck again. Never in my life have I seen a deer bleed so much without dying.

It was the only time I've ever had a legit 200"+ buck in front of me while hunting, and I screwed it up. Not only did I feel like donkey punch for wounding the animal, but I felt even worse knowing how invested my brother was in hunting him. He's the one who discovered, scouted, and studied the deer. I only hunted him by invite for a couple of hours. I still feel horrible. Best and worst hunting experience of my life all wrapped up in one.
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I feel for you Ski. Deer hunting for mature bucks can be the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Back in the day, we never even thought about getting tracking dogs like today. I've often thought about a few very disappointing hunts that might have been victorious with the right dog. It seems like the ultimate waste to have a deer go off and die in a thicket or eaten by coyotes when he could be eternally valued on my wall. But that's hunting!
 

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