# Big Buck



## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

Unfortunately, we found it dead opening day on the next door neighbor's
property. It appeared to be a few weeks old, and had a bullet hole right in the boiler room. A father and son hunted the property during youth season. The father said junior shot at a huge buck, but missed it. The stand they hunted was about eighty yards from the deer. The landowner called the Game Warden, and he came out to the property and gave him a tag for the deer so he could keep the rack. He estimated the deer at five years old.


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## River Anglin (Feb 18, 2008)

What a shame. I'm surprised the critters never found it.


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## Bischoff66 (May 25, 2007)

Thats sure is a shame. Some people just can't track deer worth snot. I experienced this three times this week. The guys I was hunting shot some "monster" bucks but couldn't find them. We found one of the monsters the next day 10 yards from where they looked for him and only 60 yards from where he shot it. It was only a 5 pointer. The others said they knocked them down but couldn't find hair blood or even tracks. At least the land owner was able to get a tag.


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

River Anglin said:


> What a shame. I'm surprised the critters never found it.


It's backend was pretty much gone from the critters eating on it. I kept it out of the pictures.


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## catfish_hunter (May 31, 2005)

Thats a beautiful specimen!


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## eyecatchum2 (Mar 30, 2010)

What a shame, at least he was able to get the rack before it got chewed on. Do you know what the kid shot it with? Thanks for the pics.


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## turkeyt (Apr 13, 2006)

Don't matter much on what was used to shoot this deer. The folks who shot it and did not exhaust all their efforts to locate this fine buck, should resort to using a bag of rocks the next time they go out !!!


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

This sounds like a classic case of, "if I hit the deer it couldn't have run away like that, oh well must have missed completely!" Wonder if they even looked for blood, Sounds like there should have been plenty to see.


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## weasel (Mar 25, 2007)

why did he call the game warden? he should have got hold of the kids dad if he new how to so the kid could have tagged it. the kids dad thought he missed it . we have all had this happen when you are new to hunting. i think this is bs.whats the guy going to put it on the wall ? he took the kids once in a life time buck this is really week. just my take on this.


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## 'eye guy (May 1, 2009)

friend of mine found this one today on his property


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

weasel said:


> why did he call the game warden? he should have got hold of the kids dad if he new how to so the kid could have tagged it. the kids dad thought he missed it . we have all had this happen when you are new to hunting. i think this is bs.whats the guy going to put it on the wall ? he took the kids once in a life time buck this is really week. just my take on this.


He called the game warden to find out exactly what needed to be done to stay within the law in regards to moving the animal, or any parts of it. He didn't want the rack laying out in the woods so it could get gnawed on by animals (mice, for one, like to eat deer antlers). The father and son hunting/dead deer found weeks later is coincidence, at this point.


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## LilSiman/Medina (Nov 30, 2010)

Both those bucks are a shame! Hunters should know that post-shot reactions don't mean s***! Two days ago I shot at a doe with a 12 gauge, she bucked ran 40 yards with her tail down and stopped. took another shot, bucked again and headed down with her face in the ground. stopped at 80 yards shot again, she took 2 steps forward and looked right at me in my stand. She met up with the other does and took off nice and easy out of the field. She hopped and strutted and clearly had no holes or anything. I was ashamed for missing her. 3 times especially. I wet and looked in the frost covered field and there was no blood, hair or any signs of a wound. I got overmyself and walked home. 

That same night I went to the stand, my little brother texted me saying there were deer headed my way. I turn around 30 minutes later and there stands 4 deer. 2 fawns, 2 does. The first one to walk into a shooting lane, 55 yards, standing perfectly still I pick out a spot in my sights and squeeze the trigger. BAM! all 4 deer hop and skip off like nothing happend, a fawn makes it about 30 yards leaps over a log and takes a tumble and dies as soon as it hits the ground face first. 

What I'm trying to say is all deer react differently to situations. You never know until you look.


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## dmgonfishin55 (Jan 8, 2009)

Seeing things like this kind of make me sick to my stomach, but hey it happens. First deer I ever shot I never found. But it's the only one I never found, and I lOoked for 3 days. They breed for a reason, at least that's what I say to myself!


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I once shot a large buck standing broadside thru some light brush at 30 yds. I watched it as far as I could see and followed the tracks(kicked up/turned over leaves, mostly!) since there was no hair, not one drop of blood, and it did not show any indication whatsoever of a hit. I trusted my aim and my equipment that I had not missed the shot and continued on. That deer ran three hundred quick yards on adrenlin to a funnel area where it died under a canopy of saplings on a bed of green lickens. 
It was hit thru the heart, thru both lower shoulders, and the muscles had closed the wounds on both sides not allowing any blood out. The entire chest cavity was one huge blood clot. I was literally on my hands and knees at times searching for any indication the deer had passed thru the area. Many years ago, I sat thru two hunter safety courses with my two sons and this topic was never mentioned(tracking a wounded deer)! In my opinion, it should be one of the first training topics, and repeated at the very last! I always get concerned when I read stories such as this.


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## Header (Apr 14, 2004)

Agree with all the others, always hate to see one down and not recovered, especially at such a short distance, such a waste of a beauty.


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## FISHIN 2 (Jun 22, 2005)

Gotta watch what ya say, using a cellphone to alert you to deer is construed as using it to hunt deer, ILLEGAL. I'm just sayin, be careful what ya say. 



That same night I went to the stand, my little brother texted me saying there were deer headed my way.


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

LilSiman/Medina said:


> That same night I went to the stand, my little brother texted me saying there were deer headed my way. I turn around 30 minutes later and there stands 4 deer. 2 fawns, 2 does. The first one to walk into a shooting lane, 55 yards, standing perfectly still I pick out a spot in my sights and squeeze the trigger. BAM! all 4 deer hop and skip off like nothing happend, a fawn makes it about 30 yards leaps over a log and takes a tumble and dies as soon as it hits the ground face first.
> 
> What I'm trying to say is all deer react differently to situations. You never know until you look.


Just saying you may want to edit out part of that post. Congrats on the button buck!!


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## Snook (Aug 19, 2008)

That's a dandy buck that somebody messed up on. Most likely the father/son because of the location of the deer to the stand and shot placement. But who knows... One thing for sure is that he's not running by any other hunter this year. Curious if the shot was a pass through(lot of times with just regular slugs no pass through...no blood) What county?


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## kernal83 (Mar 25, 2005)

I'm with weasel on this one guys. You just don't know the story, no more than I, but what if the scenario is different. Kid shoots, dont see any reaction of a hit ( I doubt it with a slug in the chest... but hey). Don't see blood and maybe he deer took off in the opposite direction and circled back to within 80 yds. How long do you really look if u have no evidence of a hit, no blood, no sign, anything? If u saw my post earlier this year I made three trips to the woods over 2 days to find my buck this year. I believe u do need to try everything you can. we've all missed. how long do u look if u have nothing to go on? Do you know 100 percent of the time you never hit any if those deer ... Common it could easily happen. I hope that if I'm ever in the same situation I give that rack to the kid. Finding a dead deer vs the deer of a lifetime for a young hunter. One heck of a deer regardless. 


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## 'eye guy (May 1, 2009)

i think the only way i would give it to the kid is if they were certain it was the deer that he shot at and i would probably request his tag as a trade but i would also think that if the deer expired 80 yards from the original shot through the vitals that there should have been more sign of a hit but all the same strange for a heart shot deer to have traveled much further then 80 yards right?


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

IMHO a heart shot deer can go a long ways at times in certain conditions. 80 yds is nothing for a heart or double lung shot.


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## danny1987hunting (Dec 7, 2011)

bah humbug


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## DuckMan1006 (Sep 16, 2011)

I think I disagree with some who are saying "How long do you look..." If this deer was within 80 yards of the stand it should have been found. It's possible it's not that kid's deer though.

I have followed a blood trail of a friend's deer for almost 2 miles once with no recovery. I know they thought the kid missed, but if you shoot AT a deer, you owe it to the deer to look for blood/sign and to at least follow the direction of the deer to see if there is any sign further down the trail. 

This sounds like a classic case of "I thought I missed so we didn't look"...

Too bad for the wasted meat... and too bad for the kid.


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