Author Topic: What tha heck! (Read 3102 times)

qmastersgt · « **on:** December 18, 2007, 03:16:39 PM »

It was about 3 this afternoon. I had been setting in my stand for about one and a half hours. Out of the left side I caught the first sight of him. He was crossing left to right, about 30 yrds from me. As he waked through the pines, I raised my 30-06 and sighted in a few feet ahead of his path and waited for him to walk into my cross hairs. I could see that he had a nice rack. More than 8 points I supposed. I was very excited to see such a nice rack in the hills of Mississippi. I squeezed the trigger and dropped him in his tracks. While I waited for him to die, I counted points through my scope. I had never killed a deer with such a nice rack. He was huge, his neck swollen from the rut. I could already see him on my wall.
After about 30 minutes I could wait no longer to put my hands on his antlers, and admire my handy work. I climbed down and walked up to him. I could see that if he was symmetrical, I had a 14 pointer. My heart raced in anticipation, as I grabbed hold of the antler, to look at the other side.
What tha heck, where the hell is the other side? It was completely gone. It made my heart drop. My adrenaline rush came to a screeching halt.
He weighed in at 210lbs. Not a lot of hill deer that big around here. The biggest one killed in my club this year. Not too bad for the only female member. Still, I can't help but be a little sad. Maybe I could get the taxidermist to split the head length ways and mount it side view. Don't ask, don't tell.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #1 on:** December 18, 2007, 03:43:47 PM »

Last Christmas I had something similar. I saw a nice big 8 point buck run into the woods behind the old house. I snuck in and had a doe with a red dot on her head run by me. Four more steps in and at the base of a tree was the right side of the rack with blood still on it. I was surprised to see a deer shed that early and asked others in the area if it was common.
Well I took the antler home with me and my 12 year old cousin was arriving that night. I got home just after they got home and I visited with them for a while till my Uncle asked about what I have seen up at the farm.
I said I picked out the perfect 8 point deer for Alex and ... Wait I have it in the truck. Went to the truck and returned with the antler. Said I saw this one snuck up on him and took the right side off so the other hunters would not shoot him and showed them the blood on the end.
Had my uncle going till my cousin said " Oh come on Dad!" But it's nice to know my Uncle thinks I can sneak up on deer and get that close to wrestle an antler from one.
Look around at the base of some of the trees you may find it. Hurry though as the rodents chew on them.

beemanbeme · « **Reply #2 on:** December 19, 2007, 05:36:39 AM »

Had he shed it? Or was it broken off? If shed, you may be able to back track him and find it. They usually drop them fairly close together. Don't know if I'd mount him as a "conversation piece" or what. Anyway, you go girl.

qmastersgt · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2007, 03:53:47 AM »

He had one very small hook shaped antler on the other side. A good friend of mine said he had a picture of it on his trail cam. I looked at it and sure enough, it's him. Stranger than all this, is that he has a picture of another one antlered deer on the same roll of film. It has about 5 points ,as far as I can tell on the pic. Now I wonder if it is a congenital defect, being passed along. If I had a scanner, I would post the pics. What are the chances?
Sami

30-06man · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2007, 04:35:11 AM »

If he had a hooked shaped antler then it was some sorta defect. I would go for a skull mount and have him sitting there on the mantle or something.

beemanbeme · « **Reply #5 on:** December 20, 2007, 07:23:02 AM »

sounds like genetics to me. I've got a big cow horned @#%!!*# around here I'm gunnin' for. I am told that sometimes if they hurt the antler buds weird things can happen but to have two deer alike is pretty remote for that to be the case.

30-06man · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2007, 01:42:14 PM »

I shot a spike one time that's antlers had mass and were very tall. He looks like some African game animal. He is still mounted. I think he looks good for such a strange deer.

qmastersgt · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2007, 02:56:48 AM »

Cow horns are the old guys that have gone back down hill. Problem is, around here, we can't shoot anything with less than 4 points. I'm sure they were not thinking about these old boys when when they wrote the law. But, it would be pretty hard to explain it legally. Aways too much room for mistakes.

30-06man · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2007, 03:05:31 AM »

We don't have that law. This buck was only 1 1/2 years old by looking at his teeth and just how he looked. It was a young deer but strange. He had bad gens and I didn't want him with my others. He still looks neat.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2007, 03:07:47 AM »

had a cousin kill a beautiful 8 point , only odd thing was its a doe !

30-06man · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2007, 03:21:45 AM »

Did he mount it? My brother killed a nice buck and it turned out as a doe and the game warden didn't count it as anything towards his limit. I think it was a 12 point. He wasn't happy.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2007, 06:16:21 AM »

yep ! she did ,

PartsMan · « **Reply #12 on:** December 21, 2007, 06:38:15 AM »

Here in OK the tags say antlered or antler less.
No matter what the sex.

When I was younger I shot a nice three point that I thought was a six.
His had been broken off.
Also passed on a very nice 5 on one side this year because he had lost the other.
Next year may be different.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #13 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:05:41 AM »

must have same printer in Va.
they say the same !

backstrap · « **Reply #14 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:27:48 AM »

Here in Okla the deer u see like that has been in a bad fight or has had it broken off when it was in velvet. we dont have the genetics mix up like some state or right here were i live any ways because there is to many does and buck for a buck to be breeding his mom or sister or so on, thats just me though i have never seen it here where i live in the state any way

30-06man · « **Reply #15 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:31:32 AM »

I don't see that much here in SC but sometimes you will if you are in the upstate.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #16 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:34:06 AM »

Gee !
let me make a note , Go to OKLA. and hunt the perfect deer !
guess the deer in okla have higher morals !

PartsMan · « **Reply #17 on:** December 21, 2007, 07:53:58 AM »

I wouldn't say our deer are perfect.
Saw a spike this year that his tines crossed when he looked toward me.
Maybe I should have taken him out of the gene pool.

backstrap · « **Reply #18 on:** December 21, 2007, 08:12:39 AM »

Just because it was a spiked buck one year dont mean he needs to be taken out just yet give him a few more year and see what happens i have seen buck that u would think wouldnt be any good and next year or two have a nice rack,i am not saying or deer are perfect but they are a hell of a lott better here than alott of other states y are we seeing so many people from Texas,Flordia, Georgia, comeing here to Northern Okla because we have Big deer and lotts of them

backstrap · « **Reply #19 on:** December 21, 2007, 08:30:32 AM »

Oklahoma is become know for big Trophy buck like iowa,Kansas and Illinois, there calling Okla the sleeper state a lott of hunters dont know that there is big Trophy bucks here. Thats if u can get on the land there on is the sad thing about this, i know of a guy 4 years ago that was head hunting these big trophy buck from around here poaching these big buck and cutting there heads off selling them to guys back to the eastern state guys for big money thousands of dollers because there racks arent that big

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #20 on:** December 21, 2007, 08:37:12 AM »

maybe !
they tell us it has as much to do with food and minerals as it does who mates who !

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #21 on:** December 21, 2007, 08:39:38 AM »

back east has some big racks ya just got to pay your dues ! and hunt a lot !
the poacher and the buyer are slobs ! no matter where they hail from !

beemanbeme · « **Reply #22 on:** December 21, 2007, 12:19:51 PM »

Yeah, considering that the folks in Okla stole the land from the Indians in the first place, they sure are tight when it comes to letting someone else set foot on it. They'll even post land that don't belong to 'em just to see if it'll fly.

Anybody want to know what the term "Sooner" means?

qmastersgt · « **Reply #23 on:** December 21, 2007, 01:23:21 PM »

Damn it man, we stole this whole country from the Indians. Ok, I guess that could be another thread. I belong to a club in Mississippi. A lot of it is because of lawsuits against land owner, when they got hurt on his land, and bad sportsmen having no respect for him, his property, or the law. Guess I cant' blame them. I wouldn't want a bunch of yahoos on my land shooting cows and one another
Sami

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #24 on:** December 23, 2007, 05:54:04 AM »

We didn't steel anything we traded blankets and beads for it , sounded like a bad deal for years !
But the new casinos are raking in the doe !

qmastersgt · « **Reply #25 on:** December 23, 2007, 09:00:03 AM »

That was Manhattan I think. They could have kept that. Fact is, few Indians enjoy that benefit. Most are still getting screwed by not getting the money for oil leases, operated by the US gov., for the property legally owned by them. My son works for the Seminoles in Fla. He does well. Not as well as they do. I don't begrudge them a dime. The are supposed to be sovereign nations. U.S. Indian Affairs still tells them what they can do.

Dave in WV · « **Reply #26 on:** December 23, 2007, 04:53:58 PM »

"Cow horns are the old guys that have gone back down hill."

Not necessarily. It depends on several things and genetics is one of them.

Congrats on your buck. He's still a trophy even if he isn't a wall hanger. Old ones are harder to get.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #27 on:** December 24, 2007, 04:20:52 PM »

Dave is correct many time genetics is the kicker when it comes to antler formation. I have watched the bucks from this strain for about 20 years. Great-Grandpapa was a real monster with higher, heavier rack one side and a club on the otherside.

Then there are those that are caused by accident. There was cute 2x2 in velvet hanging around late in the spring with his newly forming horns. One morning one side was broken with the horn hinged down on his forehead. The next time I spotted him the broken upper part had drop off and he had become a 2x1.

Congratulations on your buck.

The Gamemaster · « **Reply #28 on:** December 25, 2007, 03:55:31 AM »

You cant eat the antlers.

I have boiled them, cooked them, fried them and they all taste the same!

Forget about trophy hunting and get down on your marrow bones and thank god for giving you such a nice deer and all that meat to eat in the coming months.

30-06man · « **Reply #29 on:** December 25, 2007, 05:02:26 AM »

Whats the matter with trophy hunting? I do it all the time but the meat goes to a good cause. I don't think trophy huntin is wrong.