Well, sometimes they rig something up to hold the head, and you can't see it, but between that and the weird-looking right hand, I admit I'm suspicious.

Some of y'all crack me up. The deer is real, the photo is real and the score looks reasonable to me.

The buck was shot in the evening. He was posed over night in a walk-in. He was placed in a bedded position and probably had a rope tied to each antler and to the hanging pole above with his head in that position.

Next morning, when lighting was perfect, he was moved from the cooler to the spot where the photo was taken. The man's right hand looks different because it is much closer to the camera than the rest of his body.

Good pics taken as soon after the kill as possible, whether daylight or dark, look far better to my eye.

Was it a "hunt"? You be the judge.

Couldn't be further from the truth. By law all deer have to be released weeks prior to the start of TX hunting season. If you worked previously on game ranches/breeding facilities you should know this as it hasn't changed in a long time. I know lots of guys that work for Record Buck ranch, including several guides & the ranch manager well. I can say that they are a first class operation, and everything is by the books. Lastly the deer was running around a very large pasture. That type of hunting or deer may not be for everyone, but no need to throw out false statements.

You are correct. I should have said that he was released from a soft release pasture a day or two before the hunt. A lot of these ranches will put a deer in a larger (3-5 acre) pen to acclimate them to lager areas. Again, I'm not knocking the hunter or the ranch. Just throwing out some of things I have seen.

[quote=huntnguide83
Couldn't be further from the truth. By law all deer have to be released weeks prior to the start of TX hunting season. If you worked previously on game ranches/breeding facilities you should know this as it hasn't changed in a long time. I know lots of guys that work for Record Buck ranch, including several guides & the ranch manager well. I can say that they are a first class operation, and everything is by the books. Lastly the deer was running around a very large pasture. That type of hunting or deer may not be for everyone, but no need to throw out false statements.
[/quote]

Not looking to start a debate or to argue, but I was curious and tried to do a search and could not find any thing that supported this "By law." Can someone point to the law or regulation that requires this?

On these ranches, deer must be released from a facility 30 days before the season on the ranch. I think what some people are confused on is that taking a deer out of a breeding facility counts as releasing the deer. So you can take that 548" buck out of his 1/4 acre breeding pen, and put him in a 3-5 acre soft release pen, and that counts as releasing the deer. You can then take that 548" and put him in the hunting pasture whenever the check clears so to speak. If you want to believe that this 548" buck has been in a 2000 acre pasture for years and years and got that big on eating browse and supplemental protein, thats great. But there is a very high chance that thats not exactly how it happened. You dont take chances on a deer that someone paid $50K to shoot.

Not looking to start a debate or to argue, but I was curious and tried to do a search and could not find any thing that supported this "By law." Can someone point to the law or regulation that requires this? [/quote]

Texas Parks And Wildlife Code Sec. 44.012. SALE DURING OPEN SEASON. A game animal held under the authority of a license issued under this subchapter may not be sold, traded, transferred, or shipped to any person in any county during an open season in the county of destination for taking the game animal or during a period of 10 days before the open season.

Sec. 44.0125. PROHIBITED ACTS. It is an offense if:

(1) a licensed game breeder takes, traps, or captures or attempts to take or capture game animals from the wild;

(2) a licensed game breeder allows the hunting or killing of a game animal held in captivity under the provisions of this chapter; or

(3) a person fails to furnish to a game warden commissioned by the department information as to the source from which game animals held in captivity were derived.

Just because one night you entered a bar and after one drink you walk out with a hot girl , does not mean all girls are easy to pick up at every bar with one drink. That's like saying opening morning I killed a 150 buck on a feeder at my friends ranch....man deer are stupid. I just hate blanket statements.