Rated "F" for Freaky

I was walking the woods of my hunting grounds today looking for shed antlers and signs of early year deer movement. I had initially trekked out to take down my ground blind that had been up since October and was happy to find it was still in great shape even with all the wild weather we’ve had this year. Anyway, I was on the last leg of my jaunt and saw something bright white sticking up from the leaves. I ran to it with a pretty good idea of what it was and was shocked to find the skull and headgear of the bruiser buck I had a few encounters with in the early fall and could never get a shot on him. The bones and carcass were nowhere to be found and I deduced that he had to have been taken around mid-November in relation to the times I had sat and walked in that exact spot and he was nowhere to be found.

Dad and I saw this buck a combined 4 times during bow season. The first time I was hunting by myself and he approached and gave me a broadside showing at 28 yards. I drew my bow on him only to have him bound off through the woods. Must have heard me draw. I was sick over it then, knowing how large he was. Dad saw him once out of shooting range and I saw him 2 other times with smaller bucks.

We figure someone made a poor shot and wounded him and his head was drug to the spot I found it, or the carcass was drug off by coyotes. Either way, you’ll see form the pics below, he was a giant. Hopefully he spread his genetics before he met his end. We were really hoping to get another crack at him this fall. Happy to say he’ll be mounted european style and hung on my wall.