When's the last time you saw 2 giants?

fullthrottle

fullthrottle

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When is the last time you saw two GIANT bucks together during a hunt? Not bachelor up with other bucks. Lets say after mid October. You know, when they start looking as bad ass as they will all year long. No brainer, hard to make the decision on which buck to shoot, 190+ bucks. Unfortunately, I have only found myself in that position one time years ago. Found 2 bucks cruising together pre-rut. I can still picture them in my mind. One was a giant non-typical 220+, the other a perfect Typical 190+. They were a sight to see, like something from a painting. I ended up not getting either buck. This was probably 20 years ago. hasn't happened since.
 
Day before season started I saw a couple of big deer together a few years ago. I wouldn't call them giants but they were in the shoot opening morning class of buck for me. One was about 26 wide with good height and deep forks and the other was about 30 wide with good height and a little shallower forks. I guessed them in the 180s.
 
The best I can do on this topic was a hunt from 2007. Day two of the hunt these two bucks were running together. I originally wanted the wide buck, but my buddy did as well, so I shot the cheater buck, which was the one I had seen scouting that summer. Super fun day!!!

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Been in 1998 my son had his first buck tag in NV. Opening morning came over a hill and two bucks standing 150yds away, one a beautiful 4x4 30” wide and one 5x5 with huge droptines probably 38” wide. 5x5 was just a beast of an animal. Told the boy to take his time and he just threw up his gun and cracked off a round. Clean miss and we never saw that buck again. Biggest deer I’ve ever seen. Later that day he shot a nice 4x4 25” wide. Times were good back then
 
I just recalled another time (2010). Again, not giants, but big bucks. I spotted this buck pictured below and another. I got moving quick. They ended up laying down, so I was able to sneak in to rifle range. I knew one buck was better than the other by 10-12 inches. I think he had more extras and a bigger frame.
They bedded in some oak. I was darn sure I knew which one was the bigger buck. So, I shot, knew I hit, but out of the brush ran the buck I intended to shoot. He was easily over 190. I was sick to my stomach. The one I got was big, but the other was better.

This one was 187 I believe.

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Once in the early 90’s and killed the biggest a 219 gross buck from Oregon and most recent was last year in Colorado and killed the widest buck! Have also seen this during early archery seasons with just 2 big bucks hanging out together on three other occasions (Oregon, Nevada, Wa) but no dice. Fun times!
 
Twice for me.

Once in 2015, two bucks right at the 190 mark. My hunting partner killed one, I killed the other. We didn't know the second buck was there, he was bedded until the shot. He stood, I gave him a good looking over and dumped him also.

In 2013 I had a 220's buck and a 190's typical together. I shot the 220's buck.

Both times the bucks were gathered near does...


I've seen it a number of times with bachelor groups of bucks in velvet, Also a couple times guiding hunts on private.
 
Only in velvet. Saw big bucks on the same day, but not together on the days of the late Utah muzzleloader. Some of them are images you would never forget. But then the rifles were good to about 150 yds.
But archery, and scouting, I saw some serious ****!
 
Winter Range bucks in 2015... I can't find my photos of them. ? One was a Deep-Forked 4x4 main frame, 24" wide with three 2"-4" cheaters on one side, and four similar cheaters on the other. I figured he was a 165" main frame with roughly 20" of extras. One of the coolest bucks I've ever seen. His buddy was a straight 4x4, 28" wide and definitely over 180", not sure if he hit 190". The two of them lying side-by-side in the snow, then standing in the sun together was a sight to see... Scoured the same area 3 months later and didn't find any sheds from either of them...
 
In 1971 I saw a string of 10-12 big bucks going across a peak in the snow on opening morning. Not sure if any of them were giants but all seriously impressive bucks. A few years later I saw two big bucks together in some quakies below me at only 80 yards. They both looked to be at least 30" wide and one had several stickers but the deer opener was still a week away. I was elk hunting and seriously tempted.
 
2010 on the front late October. 2 big ole typical bucks sparring before the rut. Tried stalking them and they pegged me pretty quick.
 
Believe it or not this year 2022, it was the 4th day of the 2nd season. Me and a buddy were glassing some huge canyons about a mile away and my buddy says hey there's a couple nice Bulls and I really don't care about Elk so I just kept glassing and came across 2 giant Bucks together, I said holy s...!!!!! There's 2 giant bucks and I directed him to them and he said the same Holy sh..!!!! He said those were the 2 nice Bulls I saw:eek: they were bucks!!!! now I will never know how big or what they might have scored as that I tried to get around on them. It took me 5 hours to get the wind right and drop over on them, since I know the property well and have hunted the same property for over 30 years I knew where they were headed. As I got close I could smell Elk and i knew I was screwed. As I dropped over I jumped 8 cows and a spike Bull and the Bucks were nowhere to be found. I have glassed up hundreds and hundreds of nice bucks over the years and have killed a couple over 200'' These were easily in that range and with the DOW sh.. show in NW Colorado it was nice to see that 2 giants still roam out there, hopefully they made it through the seasons and hopefully they make it through this bad winter. I will be back after them in 2023.
 
In 2018 these two bucks spent all summer together and I thought there was no way they would still be together for my hunt. They were. On opening day I screwed up and missed the big nontypical and he ran right towards another hunter who killed him. A few days later I killed his buddy.
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Prior to cwd days I used to find groups of 2 to 4 B&C bucks on areas closed to hunting on the Front Range here in Colo. Unfortunately those days are gone from the culling projects they conducted back at that time.

Not 190 muley bucks, but I saw 3 x 80+ pronghorn bucks in 1 group a couple years ago. They spent most of the summer together. That’s the first time I’ve seen that many B&C antelope together in one group.
 
In Montana finding two big bucks together during the season is next to impossible. My father talks about those encounters happening in the 60's. I have seen two big deer together only during the summer and the winter. Mostly prior to when I had a camera capable of getting decent wildlife pictures.
The bucks in this picture both qualify as big in my book.
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Many years ago it wasn't that uncommon to see a couple (or more) big bucks running together; especially pre-season scouting. One year we got some early snow and the hunting was absolutely incredible. Never seen anything like it since (or before)! My buddy and I were able to connect on these two nontypicals. I'm the better looking one on the left. :cool:

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nontypical said:
Many years ago it wasn't that uncommon to see a couple (or more) big bucks running together; especially pre-season scouting. One year we got some early snow and the hunting was absolutely incredible. Never seen anything like it since (or before)! My buddy and I were able to connect on these two nontypicals. I'm the better looking one on the left. :cool:

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That's what I'm talking about, So awesome! I remember hunting with my dad before I could pack heat, and it felt like more than once we ran into some great bucks in the October snow. I can also remember numerous occasions hunting fishlake early 80's sitting in the treestand with dad, and having groups 6-8, 4 point or bigger bucks come right under the tree. That was so fun back then, and I couldn't even hunt. Lots of bucks were missed with zero let-off bows and open sights back then. Wish it was still that way!
 
I had early rifle high country tag in 2017. Had scouted quite a bit and not found the right spot. Finally got to a new place 5 miles in, 11,500 ft. Just before dark two big bucks popped out. A big 3 x 4 about 28" wide and huge frame, and 4x4 a little smaller. I was soooo excited. Hiked mile back to camp in dark and back the next a.m. to have breakfast and glass. Saw even bigger buck that I ended up killing opening day two weeks later. Never forget that feeling of "alright- found what I'm looking for, now to figure out how to kill one of them." First time I ever saw huge bucks in area I was hunting

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