Deer Ridiculous

[C.W. Richter]

S. TX buck 'wasn't allowed to shoot as it was 2 yrs too young...lol!

 

[Ragman]

I am so lucky to live in one of the best “big whitetail” areas in North America where 160 and over bucks are truly not uncommon. But the are definitely hard to get! I’ve never hunted whitetails outside of my home province and would never pay to hunt them elsewhere because of the quality of the deer here. BUT I would love to hunt them in other areas because I’d love to try other places methods and see new scenery, meet other hunters and because I love whitetail hunting. I don’t hunt with a tape measure but do get excited by big bucks and have managed to get a couple big boys. But I’m also happy with 130 - 140 inch bucks all day long, which a person can expect to get every year if they are patient.
Here’s some pics of a few nice deer on the hoof and some that got harvested.
This guy had me losing sleep at night. The first time I saw him, my Dad and I were driving in my pasture one October day and jumped him and his does as we crested a hill. Muzzleloader season was on, but I never even thought about taking it with me that day. After that I only got night pics of him and then nothing. HUGe bodied buck.

This next buck I was getting several daylight pics of, but once rifle season rolled around he got sneaky. I did get a chance at him in late November that year but tried to sneak closer. He never knew I was there but he decided to move on and I never got a shot or get another chance. A local kid shot him the following year in the muzzleloader season on the section south of ours. I believe this buck to be the father of the deer that will be coming up a little later in this post.

This next buck is not a good scoring buck (I never tried) but he’s the widest one I’ve gotten. I also tracked him a long way and then made a bad shot and had to track him down for another mile and a half. Ugly bugger!

This buck was my first “big” deer that I shot in 1998. Like I said before, I never score my deer but a friend who is a measurer asked if he could. He green-scored him at 162.

This buck is the one that I think is the offspring of the above mentioned buck. I first saw him in October of 2017 and finally got my chance in November of 2018. He is my personal best so far but have no idea what he’d score.

Finally this is the buck I shot last fall. Much more of a representative specimen and one I was thrill to get with the old .30-30 that I started hunting with back in 1981.

So no. I wouldn’t pay to hunt them anywhere. But I would love to hunt them outside of Saskatchewan, so help a brother out…especially you Texas fellas!!!

 

[C.W. Richter]

I am so lucky to live in one of the best “big whitetail” areas in North America where 160 and over bucks are truly not uncommon. But the are definitely hard to get! I’ve never hunted whitetails outside of my home province and would never pay to hunt them elsewhere because of the quality of the deer here. BUT I would love to hunt them in other areas because I’d love to try other places methods and see new scenery, meet other hunters and because I love whitetail hunting. I don’t hunt with a tape measure but do get excited by big bucks and have managed to get a couple big boys. But I’m also happy with 130 - 140 inch bucks all day long, which a person can expect to get every year if they are patient.
Here’s some pics of a few nice deer on the hoof and some that got harvested.
This guy had me losing sleep at night. The first time I saw him, my Dad and I were driving in my pasture one October day and jumped him and his does as we crested a hill. Muzzleloader season was on, but I never even thought about taking it with me that day. After that I only got night pics of him and then nothing. HUGe bodied buck.
View attachment 480860
This next buck I was getting several daylight pics of, but once rifle season rolled around he got sneaky. I did get a chance at him in late November that year but tried to sneak closer. He never knew I was there but he decided to move on and I never got a shot or get another chance. A local kid shot him the following year in the muzzleloader season on the section south of ours. I believe this buck to be the father of the deer that will be coming up a little later in this post.
View attachment 480862
View attachment 480861
View attachment 480863
This next buck is not a good scoring buck (I never tried) but he’s the widest one I’ve gotten. I also tracked him a long way and then made a bad shot and had to track him down for another mile and a half. Ugly bugger!
View attachment 480865
This buck was my first “big” deer that I shot in 1998. Like I said before, I never score my deer but a friend who is a measurer asked if he could. He green-scored him at 162.
View attachment 480864
This buck is the one that I think is the offspring of the above mentioned buck. I first saw him in October of 2017 and finally got my chance in November of 2018. He is my personal best so far but have no idea what he’d score.
View attachment 480868
View attachment 480866
View attachment 480867
Finally this is the buck I shot last fall. Much more of a representative specimen and one I was thrill to get with the old .30-30 that I started hunting with back in 1981.
View attachment 480869
So no. I wouldn’t pay to hunt them anywhere. But I would love to hunt them outside of Saskatchewan, so help a brother out…especially you Texas fellas!!!

'Childhood hunting friend is a pastor/counselor for the First Nations peoples up there and gets to hunt BIG whitetails and muleys. The invitation has been extended but I haven't yet followed up on it...

 

[Ragman]

'Childhood hunting friend is a pastor/counselor for the First Nations peoples up there and gets to hunt BIG whitetails and muleys. The invitation has been extended but I haven't yet followed up on it...

Do it!

 

[Flipper Dude]

I am so lucky to live in one of the best “big whitetail” areas in North America where 160 and over bucks are truly not uncommon. But the are definitely hard to get! I’ve never hunted whitetails outside of my home province and would never pay to hunt them elsewhere because of the quality of the deer here. BUT I would love to hunt them in other areas because I’d love to try other places methods and see new scenery, meet other hunters and because I love whitetail hunting. I don’t hunt with a tape measure but do get excited by big bucks and have managed to get a couple big boys. But I’m also happy with 130 - 140 inch bucks all day long, which a person can expect to get every year if they are patient.
Here’s some pics of a few nice deer on the hoof and some that got harvested.
This guy had me losing sleep at night. The first time I saw him, my Dad and I were driving in my pasture one October day and jumped him and his does as we crested a hill. Muzzleloader season was on, but I never even thought about taking it with me that day. After that I only got night pics of him and then nothing. HUGe bodied buck.
View attachment 480860
This next buck I was getting several daylight pics of, but once rifle season rolled around he got sneaky. I did get a chance at him in late November that year but tried to sneak closer. He never knew I was there but he decided to move on and I never got a shot or get another chance. A local kid shot him the following year in the muzzleloader season on the section south of ours. I believe this buck to be the father of the deer that will be coming up a little later in this post.
View attachment 480862
View attachment 480861
View attachment 480863
This next buck is not a good scoring buck (I never tried) but he’s the widest one I’ve gotten. I also tracked him a long way and then made a bad shot and had to track him down for another mile and a half. Ugly bugger!
View attachment 480865
This buck was my first “big” deer that I shot in 1998. Like I said before, I never score my deer but a friend who is a measurer asked if he could. He green-scored him at 162.
View attachment 480864
This buck is the one that I think is the offspring of the above mentioned buck. I first saw him in October of 2017 and finally got my chance in November of 2018. He is my personal best so far but have no idea what he’d score.
View attachment 480868
View attachment 480866
View attachment 480867
Finally this is the buck I shot last fall. Much more of a representative specimen and one I was thrill to get with the old .30-30 that I started hunting with back in 1981.
View attachment 480869
So no. I wouldn’t pay to hunt them anywhere. But I would love to hunt them outside of Saskatchewan, so help a brother out…especially you Texas fellas!!!

Tell ya what feller. You come on down here and I’ll put you in a big ol’ 135” Texas Whitetail anytime you want. You can hunt in your cutoffs if you want. All you gotta do is gimme a shot at those bucks of yours! Hell, I’ll throw in a hog you can take with your pig sticker!

all kidding aside, super bucks!

 

[Ragman]

Tell ya what feller. You come on down here and I’ll put you in a big ol’ 135” Texas Whitetail anytime you want. You can hunt in your cutoffs if you want. All you gotta do is gimme a shot at those bucks of yours! Hell, I’ll throw in a hog you can take with your pig sticker!

all kidding aside, super bucks!

I’d love to be able to host American hunters at my place. But by law you have to go through an outfitter. And there’s no big game outfitting in southern Sask. Just for bird hunters.

 

[Ragman]

Tell ya what feller. You come on down here and I’ll put you in a big ol’ 135” Texas Whitetail anytime you want. You can hunt in your cutoffs if you want. All you gotta do is gimme a shot at those bucks of yours! Hell, I’ll throw in a hog you can take with your pig sticker!

I’d love to be able to host American hunters at my place. But by law you have to go through an outfitter. And there’s no big game outfitting in southern Sask. Just for bird hunters.

Correction. American hunters can hunt big game on First Nation land through them.

 

[WAB]

This is 138 7/8 net.
View attachment 480823
This is from my property in South Texas. This is the largest deer that I have taken, the next largest is 131 1/8. I shot one last year that was either this same size or slightly larger, but I could not find it in the brush. My property does not have any fences except where the gas pipeline is located and it's a low fence. The closest high fence property is a mile away to the north of me. (He raises exotics, and the high fence is not keeping them in, as I've seen them on my neighbors property to the north). The next closest is 3 miles to the east of me. All other fences are low for miles. I currently do not protein feed (I did one year waste of money, the cattle ate most of it) and do have corn feeders, but there is not a lot of nutrition in corn. I do not cull and my neighbors do not cull. I and my neighbors don't bring in "breeder" or "stocker" deer either. About 140 is the best you are going to get. I supposed, if I fenced and protein feed and kept the cattle out, I could do better than 140, but I am not going to send the money on a fence and screw up my ag exemption. (Yes, I could do wildlife exemption, but that would require me to built multiple water features, not cheap.) There is one deer that I have seen and have used the "Buckscore" software that scores over 150, but the deer does not have a greater than 13" spread and unfortunately I see his offspring too, same long tines and no spread.

Now, around my house inside the city limits were you can't hunt and everyone has the "deer buffet" planted in there front yards, I have seen some monsters.

I am not sure where you are finding all the 150+ for free, but let me know so I can make the trip.

Those deer have such small bodies they make the antlers look big. Coming from Canada, the first time I was quail hunting in TX the owner was really excited about a buck we saw. It looked like it had a good rack but I doubt it would have gone 150 pounds live weight. It was totally disorienting to me, living at the time in New Brunswick, where a large buck can go double that live weight.

 

[Ragman]

Those deer have such small bodies they make the antlers look big. Coming from Canada, the first time I was quail hunting in TX the owner was really excited about a buck we saw. It looked like it had a good rack but I doubt it would have gone 150 pounds live weight. It was totally disorienting to me, living at the time in New Brunswick, where a large buck can go double that live weight.

Right. The racks look huge on those tiny bodied bucks. But it’s all a part of what makes whitetails so interesting!

 

[Flipper Dude]

150 lb whitetail is a pretty large deer around here. It seems all mammals are larger, the further North you go.

Including women…….

Damn! I did not just say that! Seems I can’t control my smart ass mouth! Just kidding, Yanks.

 

[AES]

This is 138 7/8 net.
View attachment 480823
This is from my property in South Texas. This is the largest deer that I have taken, the next largest is 131 1/8. I shot one last year that was either this same size or slightly larger, but I could not find it in the brush. My property does not have any fences except where the gas pipeline is located and it's a low fence. The closest high fence property is a mile away to the north of me. (He raises exotics, and the high fence is not keeping them in, as I've seen them on my neighbors property to the north). The next closest is 3 miles to the east of me. All other fences are low for miles. I currently do not protein feed (I did one year waste of money, the cattle ate most of it) and do have corn feeders, but there is not a lot of nutrition in corn. I do not cull and my neighbors do not cull. I and my neighbors don't bring in "breeder" or "stocker" deer either. About 140 is the best you are going to get. I supposed, if I fenced and protein feed and kept the cattle out, I could do better than 140, but I am not going to send the money on a fence and screw up my ag exemption. (Yes, I could do wildlife exemption, but that would require me to built multiple water features, not cheap.) There is one deer that I have seen and have used the "Buckscore" software that scores over 150, but the deer does not have a greater than 13" spread and unfortunately I see his offspring too, same long tines and no spread.

Now, around my house inside the city limits were you can't hunt and everyone has the "deer buffet" planted in there front yards, I have seen some monsters.

I am not sure where you are finding all the 150+ for free, but let me know so I can make the trip.

The class of deer in this picture is the "150" that I was referring to. I know its not a "150" . . . but I think its a very obtainable deer that, with even limited friends to contact, could be had for "free". Which begs the question, as initially intended, why pay to shoot a 150 when the awesome deer in this pic could be had at no charge and is likely as much or more fun. If you want a 200+ . . . pay the money, that's really the only likely way you will get one.

 

[wesheltonj]

Those deer have such small bodies they make the antlers look big. Coming from Canada, the first time I was quail hunting in TX the owner was really excited about a buck we saw. It looked like it had a good rack but I doubt it would have gone 150 pounds live weight. It was totally disorienting to me, living at the time in New Brunswick, where a large buck can go double that live weight.

Weight depends on where in Texas you are hunting. The deer in the photo went 126 field dressed. I have shot deer on my property one of which went over 180 filed dressed. Most go between 120 to 140 field dressed. The Hill Country near where I live, they go about 80 pounds field dressed. The ones around my house that have unlimited buffets in every one’s yards most likely go higher but I am not about to find out.

 

[AES]

A 1

A 150" whitetail is a hell of a deer. I have one that was measured at 149 7/8 (come on now measurer can't you throw a guy a bone here...). In 30 years of hunting deer, I have only seen 2 bigger. Sure we always go to the taxidermist or processor and see some giant monsters, but they are brought to a centralized gathering location and still represent only a small amount of mount worthy deer.

A nice symmetric 110" 8 point makes for a beautiful shoulder mount (depending if you have the money and wall space). Folks who say that is a 140" deer usually don't know how to measure one in the first place and just guesses based off what they see on TV (which is exaggerated too). I would take estimates with a grain of salt and automatically deduct 10-15" for a more realistic number, not that numbers matter.

All that being said, I do agree a ton of money is "wasted" by folks wanting to get a 150" deer. If I already have a 110-1n the wall, no way I am paying 5k to maybe kill a 150. So I agree with you there - go out and experience something new

precisely!

 

[mdwest]

Weight depends on where in Texas you are hunting. The deer in the photo went 126 field dressed. I have shot deer on my property one of which went over 180 filed dressed. Most go between 120 to 140 field dressed. The Hill Country near where I live, they go about 80 pounds field dressed. The ones around my house that have unlimited buffets in every one’s yards most likely go higher but I am not about to find out.

A good friend lives in your general area, out in Boerne... Without exaggerating every time I've been to his house I see at least 20-30 deer standing in the yards in his subdivision..

No one has a flower garden or vegetable garden anymore lol..

 

[R.M.C.]

I don't really get the difference between "paying to hunt whitetails" and "paying for an African safari" . If you live in a good whitetail area , you'd probably have lots of free opportunities to hunt whitetails, conversely I don't live in a good zebra area so I'm paying to hunt in Africa. And I don't care what anyone says, a 150 inch whitetail is a fuckin beauty. I killed a ten point in Pennsylvania that is probably 135 or 140 and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

 

[wesheltonj]

A good friend lives in your general area, out in Boerne... Without exaggerating every time I've been to his house I see at least 20-30 deer standing in the yards in his subdivision..

No one has a flower garden or vegetable garden anymore lol..

I am just south of there and over load with whitetail and axis. They have plenty to graze on with two 18 hole courses and lots of houses.

 

[Ragman]

I am just south of there and over load with whitetail and axis. They have plenty to graze on with two 18 hole courses and lots of houses.

Now axis is something I’d love to hunt!

 

[TheSayHeyKid]

I do so want to interject how this thread has become lovingy 'spirited'. It's so great to hear different experiences from other parts of the US (and other opinions right or wrong) and what we have learned. We have a lot of passion going on this string. I do feel one thing has been overlooked however, When you are out deer hunting...BUY THAT SMALL GAME LICENSE AND WHACK THAT YOTE! Just got 'em back last week. The old .257 Bob with 117's...good enough for whitetail. Drop in a 75 Sierra and give me just enough twist!

 

[TheSayHeyKid]

I am so lucky to live in one of the best “big whitetail” areas in North America where 160 and over bucks are truly not uncommon. But the are definitely hard to get! I’ve never hunted whitetails outside of my home province and would never pay to hunt them elsewhere because of the quality of the deer here. BUT I would love to hunt them in other areas because I’d love to try other places methods and see new scenery, meet other hunters and because I love whitetail hunting. I don’t hunt with a tape measure but do get excited by big bucks and have managed to get a couple big boys. But I’m also happy with 130 - 140 inch bucks all day long, which a person can expect to get every year if they are patient.
Here’s some pics of a few nice deer on the hoof and some that got harvested.
This guy had me losing sleep at night. The first time I saw him, my Dad and I were driving in my pasture one October day and jumped him and his does as we crested a hill. Muzzleloader season was on, but I never even thought about taking it with me that day. After that I only got night pics of him and then nothing. HUGe bodied buck.
View attachment 480860
This next buck I was getting several daylight pics of, but once rifle season rolled around he got sneaky. I did get a chance at him in late November that year but tried to sneak closer. He never knew I was there but he decided to move on and I never got a shot or get another chance. A local kid shot him the following year in the muzzleloader season on the section south of ours. I believe this buck to be the father of the deer that will be coming up a little later in this post.
View attachment 480862
View attachment 480861
View attachment 480863
This next buck is not a good scoring buck (I never tried) but he’s the widest one I’ve gotten. I also tracked him a long way and then made a bad shot and had to track him down for another mile and a half. Ugly bugger!
View attachment 480865
This buck was my first “big” deer that I shot in 1998. Like I said before, I never score my deer but a friend who is a measurer asked if he could. He green-scored him at 162.
View attachment 480864
This buck is the one that I think is the offspring of the above mentioned buck. I first saw him in October of 2017 and finally got my chance in November of 2018. He is my personal best so far but have no idea what he’d score.
View attachment 480868
View attachment 480866
View attachment 480867
Finally this is the buck I shot last fall. Much more of a representative specimen and one I was thrill to get with the old .30-30 that I started hunting with back in 1981.
View attachment 480869
So no. I wouldn’t pay to hunt them anywhere. But I would love to hunt them outside of Saskatchewan, so help a brother out…especially you Texas fellas!!!

I played hockey in the WHL. A buddy of mine once told me heading into Moosejaw...."Manson. Take a look at that. The only province so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days.". Good to see you have done well. Beautiful country up there! And yes, the landscape is more diverse than a WHL player would let on. GREAT PHOTOS!

 

[Ragman]

I played hockey in the WHL. A buddy of mine once told me heading into Moosejaw...."Manson. Take a look at that. The only province so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days.". Good to see you have done well. Beautiful country up there! And yes, the landscape is more diverse than a WHL player would let on. GREAT PHOTOS!

Who did you play for? I actually live in Moose Jaw but all but one of those deer in the pics were shot a couple hours southeast of here.