buckeye

I would like to know of the mature bucks you have taken, had you ever saw the buck previous to harvesting it? Also, what was the date and state of the harvest.

Lets say for this question a "mature buck" is 150# dressed.


I have taken two and never saw either one before the shot.

Both were from Ohio and one was taken Oct. 13th and the other Dec. 1st.

Shootem up870

grandpa of mine shot a 13 pointer last year. never ever seen the buck until it went under his stand 10 minutes before he could see his pins. it came back by again an hour later chasing the same two does that it was chasing the first time it went throuh. he shot it on labor day.

Bukmastr

I have taken 17 record bucks, most in Wisconsin. All but a few were seen, scouted, and being hunted when they were taken. My best hunting has always been opening weekend. Several of my big ones fell opening day of Archery. However, I have never gotten a big buck opening day of Gun season, always towards the end for some reason. I have sheds, trail photo's and video of most of the bucks. Here is an older photo of me with some of the bucks.

http://bloodbro.com/trophyroom/pages/image0.htm

IL-Cornfed

Some awesome bucks there "master, CONGRATS!!!! Obviously a man that KNOWS how to hunt big mature bucks. Only 2 of my record bucks I actually "got to know" before I managed to put arrows through 'em. I had last seen the first buck on Nov.2 but he showed up at a late season food source on Dec.11 and I made the shot count. The second buck I had spotted several times over the first month of bow season and last seen him the day before I was able to stalk him on Oct.29. It certainly brings on a even higher level of excitement when you KNOW that a particular buck is using an area. This year I'm workin' on some big fellas that I seen a few times last year, then found there late season "hang out" and some of their sheds. I really have my fingers crossed that I can put something together for atleast one of 'em. Good luck to all of ya

Deerslayer_37

i think mature would be around 180 or 200 lbs, not 150. I've killed one over 180, and he was a 140" 9 point weighing around 215 or 220 field dressed. I got him December 8, 2002 in Allamakee county, Iowa. i had never seen him before.

bukmastr, congrats on all those fine bucks!! You must have really put in the hours in scouting.

slayer

buckeye

Most 3 1/2 year old bucks in my area weigh between 145 - 165 field dressed.

A 200 pound buck dressed is just huge, regradless of antler size. I would love to arrow a 200 pounder, but it isn't common place for that body weight here.

We grow some huge antlers here but not alot huge bodies.

TXhighrack

i think mature would be around 180 or 200 lbs, not 150



Actually the body weight of a deer is a very poor way to determine the age of that deer. The only way to tell if a deer is mature is by looking at its body characteristics and at the deers tooth wear.

Every year I shoot several mature bucks (5 1/2+) each year, and about 90% of them are bucks that I've been watching year after year waiting for them to mature. On occasion I have shot big trophy class bucks that nobody on the ranch had ever seen before. Where did they came from I dont know. But we have alot of big bucks running around that we never see, the only way we know there out there is because of there sheds and sometimes we find there skulls.

buckeye

TXHhighrack

Not to be arguementative but how many bucks are taken in texas that weigh 180 to 200 pounds?

I really do not know. I have never hunted there but they all seem to be smaller bodied that I see taken on the hunting programs.

Going by what you say this almost 190 inch buck isn't mature. It went 178 pounds dressed.

TXhighrack

Buckeyebuckhntr:

"I think mature would be around 180 or 200 lbs, not 150"

Actually this is a quote from Deerslayer_37, I was just quoting what he said. If you would have read my entire post then you would have read what I said in the next sentence........... "Actually the body weight of a deer is a very poor way to determine the age of that deer. The only way to tell if a deer is mature is by looking at its body characteristics and at the deers tooth wear".


You asked:

"Not to be arguementative but how many bucks are taken in texas that weigh 180 to 200 pounds?"

Deer in North and South Texas can and do easily reach this weight. The biggest buck that I know of that was killed around here last year was 220 field dressed. In years when we get rain and are not in a drought situation, seeing bucks in the 180#+ range is common. One of the cull bucks I shot last season was 7 1/2 years old and field dressed over 190. But in other regions of Texas, like central Tx, mature bucks dont get much bigger then 120-140#.



"Going by what you say this almost 190 inch buck isn't mature. It went 178 pounds dressed."

No, what I said is that the body weight of a buck is a very poor way to age him. Just because your buck weighted 178# dosent mean he was mature, but it dosent mean that he wasent mature either. If your going to age a deer you cant go by what he weights. As I look at your picture, the size of the horns tells me that he was atleast 4 1/2. Most bucks that are
3 1/2 or younger tend to have very little mass. And the chances of killing a buck that scored 190 and that was 3 1/2 or younger is about 1:billon.


Just to clear up every thing, I willl once again say that the weight of a deer is a very poor method to use when your aging that deer.

buckeye

TEX

I see what you are saying.

I didn't relize you were using that as a quote from him. I agree with you about weight not being a totally accurate way of determing a mature animal.

I wasn't exactly looking for scientific results from this thread, just to see how many of the bigger bucks the members have taken were spotted previous to harvest.

No hard feelings just a misunderstanding.