A Buck That Roamed Too Far

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I have several good bucks that have been hanging around our property most of the season, but I got excited about a new buck yesterday. After the hunt, I pulled a camera card from a camera at the intersection of 2 strip food plots, where there is a big scrape. At lunch time, I checked the card, and on that card was a picture of a real stud that showed up for the first time all year at 2:40 am on Thursday morning. This might be the biggest buck we have gotten on camera on this property. We are not in a big buck area of the state, and there is considerable hunting pressure in the area. Immediately, I knew this buck was at least a 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 year old buck.




The other bucks I've been chasing are 3 1/2, and I knew this guy was in a different class. I began thinking about saving my last tag for this bruiser. With a little more excitement than normal, I hit the woods for the afternoon hunt settling in a ground blind in some planted pines since it was so windy. About 4:30 came a text from genesis27:3, "Dad, who never hunts, hit this buck coming home last night (Friday) on Hwy 49 at 10 pm." Now, his Dad lives right next to him in Concord, almost an hour away from our hunting property. The general location he said that he hit it is 15-20 minutes away, so I didn't think much of it. I look at the picture and think, "Man that's a nice one!", but as I study the rack, sitting on the tailgate, my heart begins to sink a little. 5 on the right, 4 on the left. Wide. Some blading on the end of the beam. Good brows, and that one even has a little crook on the end just like.... Oh CRAP!:( I pull up the 2 photos and begin flipping back and forth, and sure enough, it's the same deer I had just viewed a picture of for the first time hours before. I asked him some more details about the exact location, and sent him the picture, and he confirmed that's the same deer. genesis27:3 had the rack in his possession, so I called him after the hunt and asked him if he would put a tape to it. His green score came up with 141" gross and 135" net, 19 5/8" inside.



This morning I'm still shaking my head. What are the odds? Of the thousands of people that drive Hwy 49 every day, and of all the hunters in the woods, and of all the deer roaming millions of acres, what are the odds that his Dad, who lives an hour away hits THIS buck and he sends me the picture within a day of me getting him on camera? That's the shortest-lived excitement over a buck on camera EVER. He said he had just told his Dad, "Some hunter has this buck on camera somewhere and is going to be disappointed." He had to call him back and say, "Hey Dad, you know when I said that some hunter probably has that deer on camera? Well, I found him!" I'm not sure the exact location of where he hit him, but it has to be about 1.5-2 miles from where I got the picture on our property a day and a half before. He wasn't living on our property, he just roamed through, just like he roamed across 49, but it still got me excited for a few hours. Now is the time to catch a bonus buck roaming - get out there if you can.
 
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bshobbs

Old Mossy Horns
That's a hoss..

I always say the biggest bucks get hit on the highway usually by granny.
 
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MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
That's a wild story, hate it ended that way but at least you found out what happened to him.
I have had WAY to many bucks in camera just disappear never to find out out where they went, I assume there shot but usually never know.
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Great deer, and a great example of why hunters need to be in the woods as much as possible in Nov. You just never know when a wandering buck will come.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
That's a hoss..

I always say the biggest bucks get hit on the highway usually by granny.

Yeah, this time it was grandpa. :)

Great story, to bad he went down that way. Would rather of seen pics of you with him.

So would I...:( I would rather anyone have gotten him.

It's always good to know though. At least now I won't be holding out for him and wondering what happened to him. I guarantee a few other hunters have him on cam somewhere too, as much ground as he covered.
 
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NCST8GUY

Frozen H20 Guy
Great big buck! Sorry that it happened that way, but much better than you spending time hunting and never knowing.
 

stilker

Old Mossy Horns
What a story!...hate it happened that way for you and genesis's dads vehicle but like you said,at least you know and you won't be hunting a ghost.
 

genesis27:3

Old Mossy Horns
Although this buck is in my freezer? I still hate that it was not killed by a hunter. This buck deserves more than being hit by a truck. I will say that my dad was pretty excited about it because he thought that it was a pretty "good dear" but I don't believe he can appreciate just how big it really is. I would much rather see Skyhawk or someone else kill him.
I was amazed yesterday when I text 5 different people this picture ,and it ended up being one that Skyhawk had a picture of. I had just told Dad couple hours before then that someone had a trail cam picture of it and was hunting as we were talking about it. Little did I know it would be somebody that I actually knew and that was hunting property over 40 miles away, and I had no idea that he was hunting there.
Anyway, the meat was destroyed in the collision but I will do a European mount for dadlso Skyhawk knows where I live and he can come over here and look at it! LOL

Dad is one of those guys who lives to work and loves it. He is 71 years old, with no plans of retirement and he now has a pretty good "deer story" to tell now.
 
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GotNoRules

Ten Pointer
Man that's tough, but a great story. No telling where some of these "rut" deer come from.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
That's a nice buck but he isn't 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 years old, more like 2 1/2 - 3 1/2...

See that flat belly on the first pic??? That's the key...

Neat story though...
 

HorNhnTr

Twelve Pointer
That's prolly my biggest question with deer right now is their travel .
I was really hoping this was a thread where you killed the deer!
 

dpc

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Great story! great deer!

Seems like a lot of real nice bucks taken this season by car or hunter.
 
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genesis27:3

Old Mossy Horns
Have you got a better picture I don't think it's the same deer

As much as I wish that was true, there are a few things about the rack that are exact. The left brow tine has a little sharp bend on last inch. The left G3 also is exact with a bend. But, the biggest thing was after asking my dad about where exactly he hit it on 49, it has been narrowed down to almost the exact same location has Skyhawk's property. So unless there are two identical bucks on his property, it's the same one
 
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n.d.woods

Eight Pointer
Salt in a painful wound. Just had biggest buck ever had on camera. Had him in daylight several times when I couldn't hunt. He crossed major highway I knew he was bedding against and was killed by a hunter I know yesterday morning, saw photo on FB. Oh well, he gone, wasn't in the cards.
 
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