Big buck you couldn't shoot

Aceman · May 30, 2023

How many have had a tag and saw a big buck but you were unable to fill your tag? I am posting a picture of a nice buck that was in my neighbor's yard during 2nd season and I had a tag. The buck was in city limits. The buck was taken just out of city limits. The local game warden said it measured 205 and change. Oh well

Founder · May 30, 2023

In 2009, I had a CO muzz tag and had found a 190ish 5x5 scouting. Hunted him for 9 days. Saw him 3, maybe 4, times, all within range, but he lived in the pines and aspens and either the trees were too thick to shoot through or too dark to see him well with open sights. It was frustrating, but I tried. It was fun.

MuleyFreak72 · May 30, 2023

MuleyFreak72 · May 30, 2023

This fella shows up behind the house right after season closed!

Tikka · May 30, 2023

This one lived behind my house for awhile… City limits keep him alive for a few yrs… Then one day he was gone, then he appeared at the expo as a shoulder mount… I’m not sure the final story behind his demise…

CFMuley · May 30, 2023

Tikka said:
This one lived behind my house for awhile… City limits keep him alive for a few yrs… Then one day he was gone, then he appeared at the expo as a shoulder mount… I’m not sure the final story behind his demise…View attachment 111689 View attachment 111690

He was a fraction of that when he was killed if I remember right.

Tikka · May 30, 2023

CFMuley said:
He was a fraction of that when he was killed if I remember right.

That’s correct, he had busted off a lot of inches…
CF, do you know the story?

CFMuley · May 30, 2023

Tikka said:
That’s correct, he had busted off a lot of inches…
CF, do you know the story?

I don’t know exactly, but I seem to remember him being killed on the rifle hunt, which seems odd for where he was living.

JB48 · May 31, 2023

Years back a friend and I hunted Kansas. His family had small tracks of ground all over the place in Western Kansas. First morning we decide to hunt some CRP next to a harvested milo field. We are west coast blacktail hunters so we hit the CRP. About 50 yards in I find a massive buck, with a doe at 50 yards. I get him in the scope and something isn't adding up. The buck I estimated 35"-36" wide massive bases, and trash everywhere. Oddly the rack was only about 24" tall as the rack pushed more straight out and not so much up. It was a mule deer buck, which I did not have a tag. I watched that buck for a few minutes before he followed his doe off.

BradA · May 31, 2023

I was in Colorado a few years ago and had a buck that was 500 yards from public that was in the 180 class range and then on that same piece of land there was a double dropper that was cool to see and watch but knew he would never leave the private also not far from there was a buck that wasn’t a good scoring buck but had a forked 12 inch or so dropper on one side, just a cool buck, he was about 200 yards from being on public and I cut his tracks in the public but it never worked out hunted them and probably used up to much time during that hunt chasing/watching them at distance hoping they would cross over.

backcountrybutcher · May 31, 2023

BradA said:
I was in Colorado a few years ago and had a buck that was 500 yards from public that was in the 180 class range and then on that same piece of land there was a double dropper that was cool to see and watch but knew he would never leave the private also not far from there was a buck that wasn’t a good scoring buck but had a forked 12 inch or so dropper on one side, just a cool buck, he was about 200 yards from being on public and I cut his tracks in the public but it never worked out hunted them and probably used up to much time during that hunt chasing/watching them at distance hoping they would cross over.

still have dreams of some of those bucks!

backcountrybutcher · May 31, 2023

To add to the list... i had a buck in my crosshairs @ 100 yards that had 19 scorable pts that the outfitter told me I "couldn't" shoot.... he was too paranoid about his client getting hers first. Funny enough, her buck was knocked down and this bigger buck stood up at the shot and he thought it was hers that she "missed." It wasn't pretty and wont use that outfitter again. Those kind of experiences have really made me more hungry as a hunter and to grit it out in hopes of another opportunity like that someday.

BradA · May 31, 2023

backcountrybutcher said:
still have dreams of some of those bucks!

You and I both buddy !

Blackie6 · May 31, 2023

On my dads LE tag a few years ago, this was his number 2 buck. We could find this buck most days. He would always bed in the same area. I thought a dozen times we could kill him, but he always slipped away some how every time.
He was later wounded by a muzzeloader hunter.

Jgill19 · Jun 1, 2023

This guy was on the wrong side of the road. He was duck soup if he wasn't. We were in the absolute middle of nowhere, would have been easy to make the wrong decision, someday's I look at this picture and wonder if I made the right one.... By far still the biggest buck I've seen on the hoof.

DaveD · Jun 1, 2023

Too many times to count. Most memorable one was what we guessed as a 190" typical that was very wide. He stayed on the wrong side of the fence by just a few feet numerous times.