One Smart Whitetail

[Bonebuster]

What a cool story.

And to think, with all the hazards these amazing animals have to endure, these die hard survivors are EVERYWHERE. Rare is the glimpse into the secret world of the elusive whitetail such as this.

I had a bad day at work, and this has made my day!

Thanks for posting this.

P.S. I`m kinda cheering for the buck. I`m betting ma nature is gonna take him.  

[peter c iacavazzi]

Mike,

Cool buck. Heck even in 06' he was twice as big as anything I saw in a week in Kansas this past Novemeber!! Hope you get him. PS...don't ever hunt Kansas!

Pete

[bentpole]

Wow that buck had to go nose to nose with a car or something.Looks like an old prize fighter.  The TIMEX BUCK takes a lickin' but keeps on ticken!

[bayoulongbowman]

Thanks for sharing ....and good luck...thats one smarty for sure...

[draco]

thats the greatest of challenges to find a big old buck and hunt him till you get him. But it sometimes keeps me from filling that tag at all. The big one this year is probably 6 1/2,heavy horned,nine pts.,with 11' brow tines. I keep passing some really good bucks up waiting for him. I hope you get him,it`s such a huge accomplishment to take one of the really old timers like I suspect he is. We call this one Stretch. When my brother in law seen him he remarked"Thats a whole nuther class of deer,right there".

Last year my wife killed a big 8 pt. and when Euro cleaning the skull I found the end of a .22 bullet sticking into the left eye socket about a 1/4 inch,did`nt seem to bother him a bit, Damn poachers.

[Herdbull]

Night Stalker- Yes Gene and Barry sent me pics of that deer too. Set cameras are kind of setting a new age of "hero photos". Ha! Ha! Actually Gary Logsdon, the Brothers of the Bow web designer is setting up a trail camera page on the site so we can show many more photos and stories of animals we have shared the woods with. It should be ready soon.

This thread as taken the fascination of a single whitetail and turned it into a celebration and respect for whitetails as a whole. The land is the key. I know there is much talk of food plots ect, but for us cover is more important. Cover is a valued commodity in our area. We have planted thousands of trees over the last few years and it is starting to pay off for the wildlife. We have the freedom to hunt and to kill, but sharing the woods with deer like The Whitey Buck or passing up young bucks like my brother did with the 10 point in this photo has made our hunting complete.

Oh, and even though I’m still in the ring swinging, I secretly have my money on The Whitey Buck too. Ha!
Mike

My brother passed on this buck in 2006.
 

[elkbow]

i'd set up a blind close to the mailbox,that buck is definately drawing a social security check,herdbull

[rg176bnc]

In my experience w/ older and wiser deer as they age their core area gets smaller, some even using only 1 bedding area.  Look in an inconspicuious spot.  You just might find him!

[wapiti792]

Great pics! What a hog...I shot a 6 1/2 year old deer 3 years ago that is not the highest scoring rack on my wall, but he means more because I knew him. I had laid in ditches to glass him, passed on other deer, and ate a tag more than once. When the day arrived that I got my shot and held that deer in my hands it was as emotional as it gets. I might kill bigger deer but I think arrowing one of these old warriors is as close to perfection as there is in what we do.

[Herdbull]

My oldest buck was 8 1/2. It was a basic 8-point frame in years prior, but the year I got him he grew a basic 3x3 with a drop tine on either side plus an addition drop out twoards the front on the left side. He stilled carried a good rack with 26 inch beams and 8 inch browtines. I think it grossed over 160 and netted 156 4/8. The funny thing is my brother shot the deer in the front shoulder neck area a few weeks earlier. On the day I took him, I was still hunting from a morning stand to an evening stand and shot the deer on the ground while it was tending a scrape. The broadhead was all walled off with connective tissue and there was really nothing wrong with the buck at all. I gave the broad head back to my brother. Ha!

[wapiti792]

We're due for some snow down here Mike and I have the right wind to hunt an old buck that made it through the gun season(s). He's got a busted G3 with scars on his back and face: an old and tough one. This is the third year that he has shown up in this area after gun season that I know of. He's no dummy, and I love the idea that he's survived this long. I'm kinda rooting for him too, but I'll take the gift if he wants to walk in front of me.

[Missouri CK]

Amazing pictures that tell quite a story.  A buck like that is a testimony to natural selection making them tough as nails.

Chris

[Whip]

What a brute Mike!  Not carrying the most inches in IL, but a very cool old dude regardless!

[Gun]

Man I love threads like this!

I sure envy you guys that are able to hunt the same Bucks year after year. I've only been able to see the same Bucks 4 different times. One for 3 years, I missed him when he was 4 1/2. Two others for 2 yrs. and another that I killed when he was 5 1/2 as a 3x3 which is all he ever was except the year before I got him, when he grew a short G3 on one side. He went around 107". I had seen him around the "Hood" for 3 yrs. He's still my favorite though I've killed bigger score wise too. I think I've only seen one Buck that I would guess was over 6 1/2.

[Gary Logsdon]

Mike, I bow shot a doe in the KY portion of TVA's Land Between the Lakes many years ago that got the attention of the TVA biologists at the North check station.  She was thin, ragged looking, with extremely worn down teeth. They extracted a tooth for cementum analysis to see precisely how old she was.  Turned out she was 13 years old and the oldest deer ever recorded taken there by any method.  I kept reminding my hunting buddies that I had taken a deer that "had been successfully avoiding public land hunters for years"; she HAD to be one sharp cookie.  On the other hand they kept telling me that she was "old and senile" and had probably "died of a heart attack" when she heard the twang of my bow string.  I'm sticking to my story:^)

[The Night Stalker]

Now thats a great story, Gary  She had Deer Dementia

[Herdbull]

I know what you mean Gary when you tell folks abouit taking an old deer, maybe with one eye, or bad leg etc. The response could go either way. Ha!

Mike , I know what you mean, the late season snow has arrived for us now too. Good luck.
Mike

[Herdbull]

My brother and I continued to hunt in the presence of the buck original to this thread through the rest of the 2007 season, but unfortunately I found his remains over a month ago while looking for shed antlers. He was tucked away on a side-hill as if bedded. The coyotes took care of some of the meat. But his antler was frozen to the ground. I am not sure of the cause of death. His teeth do not look to bad, and the dentine is slightly more than enamel. I don’t think he was older than 6 ½, but won’t know for sure until I send the incisors in for cementum analysis. We were lucky to share his world. Mike

[frassettor]

Nice pics, Its not always the size of the antlers that matter, but the journey.  

[Hawkeye]

Now we know...the REST of the Story"!

Thanks for following up on the great thread.

Daryl