Where have you spotted the best buck that you have ever seen alive in the wild? Has it been on your own family-owned land, on land that you have leased for hunting, on public-owned land, or has it been in the pasture while driving on the highway?

No doubt the biggest buck I have seen live and in person was on the side of the road about 1/4 of a mile from my house. Bigger tracts were getting split up and there were a few large tracts of land that held deer.

Coming home late one night a big buck ran accross the road infront of the the truck, nobody was coming so dad hit the breaks and swung the truck around to shine headlights into the field, the buck jumped the fence stopped and turned to look at us then looked away back and trotted off. I can still see it in my mind was a typical 12 I would guess to be in the hi 150-low 160's.

While driving outside of canton, and several nice drop tines in this old electrical plant in San Angelo

Behind Richland Chambers Reservoir, known as the "Forbidden Zone" I have seen the biggest bucks of my life there.

Best whitetail buck I've ever seen on the hoof was a big bodied brute we saw while chasing roosters in Kansas.

Came up from a creek bottom scared the begeezes out of me. My dog then gave chase, I almost forgot to call him off the chase for I was busy seeing the buck run away.

I've seen two on my family place that were in the high 160's, one that would have been in the mid 170's ( saw him at 35 yards, was really cool)

Saw one the last week of december on a ranch we have for sale that might have bumped 180"

This guy at a friend's ranch:



Low 180s, I believe. They've taken bigger deer, but I haven't seen any of them in person.

He came out right in front of me and broke up a few young bucks the year before he was killed.

Magnificent buck.

Biggest ones I've seen were on a LF game preserve (wasn't really a preserve, just corporate no hunting zone where they pumped waste water). One of the 2 bucks (huge typical bucks) that were on the field all Summer/early Fall ended up getting with does and having to go to the ridges when the area flooded and ended up getting shot. Was a 190" typical 10pt, the other one dwarfed him and was a huge typical 14pt. Both bucks almost perfectly symmetrical. Would have loved for someone to have lucked into shooting that 14pt to say the record typical came from ETX.

Driving down a backroad in Kansas at 4 in the morning, biggest buck I have ever seen dang near ruined my hunting trip. He was chasing a doe and stopped in the road. Easily over 200"

Went scouting for this deer in mid jan. one day around lunch time and while sitting on a 50yrd wide stretch of woods against the river he walked within 30yrds of me following a doe.... was an awsome site to see... he got poped the next day by the bosses wife



scored 181

Dang. Hoss Daddy right there.

Inside loop 1604 on Military Hwy in San Antonio.

I can honestly say I shot the biggest deer I have ever seen. That was a dang good day. He was 172 and I've seen a couple others in the low 160s. Family land...well, wife's family land.

What did that buck look like the year before? Great deer.

I watched a native 274" native deer least year... high fence, but native.

http://www.parsonswhitetailranch.com/brazos.html

Brazos....he is the biggest ive ever seen on hoof. Awesome to see


now the biggest ive ever seen in the wild, some 150 to 180 at the Celebrity ranch up in Mingus.

And i saw a 150 to 160 on our family land we use to own years ago one morning while checking cattle horse back

Biggest LF deer was on the King. Driving back after Management buck hunting, watched him trot across the road. Typical 12. Beams out past his nose, incredible mass, and height to match. He had to be pushing 190.

All I could manage to do was grab my point-n-shoot and take a blurry pic.

here's that 10pt

Beast

this is it for MD. Have seen deer with bigger frames, but not with all the extras to drive the score up.

Well I saw one in 1981 in Rusk county TX just after dark on the bar ditch by the side of the road that was huge. Not gonna guess at a score but I was looking at 6 points on each side so add in the brows and he was a huge 14 point typical. Width at least 20",mass,tine length,everything.

So big his antlers made his body look small-and he was NOT small.

I never expect to see his equal again(HF doesn't count for me).

Easy for me, 1989, record cold December day hunting the Webb/Zapata county line. Had 3 doe come out about 600 yards from me then he came out. He was so much darker and bigger than the does that I initially thought it was a cow. Anyhow, I brought the scope up and couldn't believe my eyes. He basically engulfed my 2.5x8, VXII. The darkest, longest tines and mainbeams that I had ever seen. Looked black and seemed to be 4-5+" throughout each point with each interior point looking to be between 12-18". He was easily a 26+" spread. Based on deer scores I've seen since then, I would guestimate him to be a 190+" typical, maybe even 200+", LF to boot. Of course being a 19 year old with my PB at the time being 140" or so, I let one rip. I forgot to compensate for the drop and the .30-.06 hit about 2 feet short of him. He high tailed, never to be seen again. Have seen some 160+ since then, but nothing approaching that one.

I stopped counting points at 12.

free ranging, high fenced, or pen deer?

Free range: 160-170 while working on the Comanche

High fenced: 180's on 4000 acres east of laredo

Pen raised: Never been around them

Great thread

I was 16that i hunted a huge 16 pointer 14 points with double drops his antlers were so red i was in a bow only lease and saw him many time over the two years i hunted him allways 60 yards plus never forget him

Seen a couple in the 170s. Seen an 8 one time that I swear would have gone 160. That's probably the biggest buck I've ever seen on the hoof.

Fairfield Texas: was sitting in my dads rifle stand just watching in mid October. Biggest buck I ever seen to this day came out about 150 yards away running 2 or 3 Does. He was 18 points 24.5" wide and scored just under 180". I know this because my dad was lucky enough to stick a arrow in him about 20 minutes after I saw him. Not bad for a 100 acre $300 a year low fence lease.

Mid 80's we had a huge non-typical buck hanging around a couple soy bean fields in Mississippi that made the 10 point he was with in the summer look tiny. That year the 10 point was killed and scored 163, the nontypical never was killed. He would have put a lot of high fence bucks to shame, no doubt over 230 probably more. An average 1.5 year old around there then would weigh 140lbs with the groceries they had

Mid 80's we had a huge non-typical buck hanging around a couple soy bean fields in Mississippi that made the 10 point he was with in the summer look tiny. That year the 10 point was killed and scored 163, the nontypical never was killed. He would have put a lot of high fence bucks to shame, no doubt over 230 probably more. An average 1.5 year old around there then would weigh 140lbs with the groceries they had

PLEASE post a pic of this deer. Us small-acreage LF hunters need hope every now and then.

The best Buck I ever saw.......hmmm. Not counting pen deer, I would have to say on our ranch. It was late one night in November a few years back. It had been raining for two days off and on and I was worried about a water gap fixing to wash out. My nerves got the best of me and I drove the 45 minutes to the Ranch, in the rain to check it. While driving through the pasture I rounded a bend and standing in the road was this monster of a Buck! He was probably 22-23"s inside, a mainframe 10 pt with double split G2's standing about 40 yards in front of me. I guessed him between 180-190"s! Amazingly enough, he had never been captured on a trail camera or seen from a stand during a hunt or scout. That was the only he was seen. Amazing how the cedar just swallows them up!
He might nothing have been the biggest but definately the most memorable! !

The best buck I ever saw was at Brady Lake in a housing addition that is known to have lots of deer. The residents feed the deer and you can usually see 20-30 deer mostly does on any given evening. When I was a kid we would drive out there just to look at them. One day at the edge if the field we noticed a buck. he was in velvet and he was a monster. The buck ended up getting shot a few miles down the road on a little lease and he scored in the 180s. I doubt I ever see a 180+ buck again.

When I was in college, I had a chance to hunt on a lease just outside of Laredo. It was cold and raining and we weren't seeing much, but did manage to kill a pretty good 8 point. There was a dance that we thought was more important than hunting, so we loaded up and started back to school. We had to drive through a lot of Dolph Briscoe country and right at dark,we were going through some country that had recently been chained and was aboutknee deep in some kind of haygrazer or something along those lines. We saw a deer ahead of us jump the fence , cross the road and jump the other fence. He was a big bodied deer, but he had horns going everywhich way. He had a good rack going up, but he had considerable trash all over his rack with some long drop tines. By the time I got the car slowed down he had stopped and I asked my partner if he wanted to go back and look at him. He said he wanted to, but we better not, because all that would happen would be that we would get into trouble. I took his advice on an event that may have started me on a path of crime. I have hunted for 37 years since that day and have yet to see a whitetail that could measure up to that South Texas brute.

In the early 90s I was hunting a big wheat field with my dad in Baylor County. It was 500+ yards to the neighbor's wheat field where we watched several good bucks milling around. A huge buck that was significantly bigger than the others came out. We could tell without binoculars that he was way bigger than all the others. The "small" bucks all suddenly scattered and some started heading our way. My dad ended up killing one of the "small" bucks that netted 155 B&C and weighed 180 pounds field dressed. I have no doubt the big boy would've made the record books.

This is the only pic I have on the computer right now. Its the top deer. The bottom deer was also killed on that place a couple years later.

he bad

rifleman style....

I saw this one last year and figured he needed to be on my wall. Low fence in Old Mexico.

great buck

He can't do it like me......

Saw the biggest free range 8 I've ever seen last year while hunting with Western Illinois Trophy Outfitters opening week. Slick 8 that would have pushed 170. Saw another buck in November that was pushing 200 or better. I've seen some 230-250's on our place here in TX and an old lease down near Carrizo Springs in years past.

On low fence family land in north Texas. Haven't seen any high fence deer to beat them.

Biggest buck i've seen on the hoof was a mainframe 14 pt while I was quail hunting in february about 20 years ago on the Lambshead in Shackelford county

He was pretty stout im glad everyone agreed to give him a pass

what age do you have on him when he was taken? 4.5?

he made a huge jump, great buck.

wow, put on a good 30+inches

Yup he was 4.5 when he was taken. He was a stud for a 3.5yr old too. have a pic of one even bigger than him at 3.5 also

307 high fence

Multiples over 300" behind a breeder pen fence and a 213" and a 230" a week before season and they were taken that season by guys on the lease with us. Ill try to dig some pics up

Saw a 200 +- in Ohio about 6 years ago. Double drops on the same beam and probably 16-20 score able points. Too far for a shot with the bow. Never to be seen again on that property. I think he may have been one of those that would have grown once he hit the ground and you put a tape to him because of so many no typical points. 225" would not have surprised me

these are two of the best bucks we have had on our low fence ranch in Stephens County. We never did harvest them either, which was a shame considering I feed them for a year and a half...lol

Good lawd. What a buck.

This year this is the biggest one I seen both alive and dead! He went to another blocker. Otherwise I have seen two over 200".

Three years ago while bow hunting in Eastland County I shot a doe at 20 yards. I watched her run and drop at 70 yards from my stand. Not ten minutes later the biggest bucks I have ever seen (180’s class) walks up to her and just stands there for a good 10 minutes. I had plenty of time and opportunity to take a shot at this buck but there was no way I was going take a questionable shot on that deer. I watched him walk out off and hunted him for the rest of the season. I never saw that buck again nor heard of anyone in our area killing a buck of that size.

What area of eastland was this?

Carbon area

2011 Pike County, Illinois. 1st evening in a new stand. I was hunting the timber at the bottom of a draw. I could see the cut corn field on the neighbors property. Basically, the deer would come off the draw and through the corn field and in to the timber that i was hunting and use that timber as a staging area to enter standing corn/food plots/turnips after dark.

I saw a buck hit the corn field across the field later in the evening at 300yds. I got a good look at him and thought that this guy is a real bruiser. he never made it down toward me. He followed a doe back into the timber. I saw him again the next evening. This time he was about 250 yds. Never made it down twd me. I saw him again the 3rd evening and he was closer again. About 150 this time. I thought that maybe one eveing he would slip up and be on the right property and come within range. I never saw him again after that.

Keep in mind that the property that I was seeing him on was Hadley Creek's.

He was a booner for sure. And I mean a book deer, he would have easily netted ovver 190".

Owner of the property that we hunt saw him later in the year. None of Hadley's boys killed him that we are aware of either. Now, hadley has lost that farm and we are working on leasing it.

1982 Vermejo Park New Mexico. A friend had just dropped a huge 24" very heavy horned 8pt mullie, I was watching through binocs and about 50 yds to left and down about 50 yds an enormous buck stood up and started up the side of the mountain. We were at about 200 yds and had to watch him amble over the top. Our guide was to say the least very excited. He had never in his 20 yrs on the ranch seen one that big. I had killed mine the day before so I couldn't shoot. He had to have had at least a 36" to 40" spread. Didn't get a chance to count points. We were just standing there with our jaws hanging open. Walking with his head down to the ground you could see 8 - 10" on each side of him. I still dream about it! Now that Ted Turner has the ranch hunts are out of reason. Just to fish is $500. per day!

Can't believe you let both walk.

one was the last day of the season about noon, we were riding around shooting does and spikes. he walked out, stopped broadside in the road and just looked at us. one of the widest bucks i've ever seen too, prolly 22-23" inside. I was like 16 at the time, I hadn't graduated to shooting that caliber of deer yet. the other one I had dead to rights but we had hunters comming in the next week, we had in our contract we could take a trophy in december after they left but this was the second week of november, we held to our end of the bargin and I only shot him with a camera

The big one we saw at night while driving around looking at stuff.

160 class 10 point I saw while scouting my hunting area. It was hit by a semi on the highway 2 days before the season. The rack was shattered so the Game Warden just had the highway crew dispose of it. I saw one driving out to my stand last season, that had potential to be in that class, but I only got a glimpse. It was high enough and wide enough but I have no idea the number of points it was 21 to 22 inches wide.

Quite a few over 200" and the biggest was one I guide the hunter to over 240"(HF).

Where are you a guide at?

Headed to a buddies ranch to hunt, three of us in separate trucks saw an enormous buck trailing a group of does on the side of the road around 10:00 pm. 20 minutes south of the Y.O. Ranch.

We pulled over later and all of us couldn't believe his size...never forget.

This is the biggest I've seen. The buck was to young when I saw him. sorry about the bad pic.

Best wild deer I've seen is this guy in November 2012 near Freer, Texas.

He bad.

Awesome buck there. Tall like an axis. 6-7 yo?

think I seen a 150 class once on the run.

My youngest got the fever and missed twice at 50 yds.





But the next year he got his first buck. I was just as proud.

Biggest free ranging - on the shoulder of the highway between Comanche and Brownwood, just standing there like he was a mount! Does in the ditch - made him stupid

There is a place on Highway 31 West of Trinidad that has a high fence.....it is on the north side of the road....when I am headed to Grand Lodge in Waco each year I slow way down and check out some monsters.....I don't know anything about the place.....I grew up in Malakoff and it wasn't there in the '60s...

rick

I'd like to see the deer in the top pic now, looks to be only 3 in the picture.

did he miss with the sks?

The biggest I've seen on a ranch is 243" and he was killed a couple weeks after I saw him is the only reason I know the score. I actually saw 3 bucks over 200" that day with him being the biggest.

Nice SKS too:)

LOL the boy missed with a .243 tack driver. The fever was bad I tell ya. As far as I know he (deer) is still walking.

A legit 160+ on public land in texas, on a Granger WMA draw hunt, december 2007.

These are the biggest bucks I have seen caught on camera at my lease. We have been there for 10 years and just started put cameras up these last 2 years, one camera date is all messed up but it was from this last year.

The Mule deer mount in my bedroom is the biggest muley seen in person, my dad shot that up in panhandle when I was a kid

great bucks

I just saw the biggest buck in person this past hunting season. I was hunting on my land in north Gregg County. I was bow hunting about 30' up an oak tree hunting over a winter wheat and oats food plot and a corn feeder. Off in the distance about 100 yards away I saw a huge 10 pt. walking down a pipeline right of way. I used a doe bleat and got him to stop, turn around, and head straight towards me. He got to the edge of the wheat field and stopped. He was about 55 yards out. I did not draw back because I was hoping he would come in a little closer for a shot. This was literally the worst case of buck fever I had ever had - I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest because I knew that this would be my best buck by FAR - he was at least a 180" class 10pt. Just a huge beautiful typical 10 pt.

Well, he hung up at 55 yards and would not come in any closer. He finally turned and walked away. I would have NEVER attempted a 55 yard bow shot on a buck like that. But this was November and I remember thinking about bringing my Marlin .44 Mag lever action open sight rifle with me on this hunt (I do that from time to time and have taken a couple of deer with it). I decided I did not want to lug that rifle along with my bow up in that tree.

After the buck walked off and my heart quit pumping out of my chest, I got sick to my stomach thinking about how easy it would have been to put a .44 mag bullet in him from 55 yards. Of course that is the "challenge" with bow hunting!

Biggest I've seen was a 170 or 180" breeder. Ik, small, but they had others too.

Seen him on game cam, seen him alive, seen him dead, seen him on my wall. Low fence KS buck.

Awesome buck lake fork.

On camera:



Also saw him on opening day but not a clean shot.

On the ground:


And he is DEFINITELY on my wall!

(just before adding to the wall)
Gross: 202 7/8
Net: 200 2/8
22 points
Inside spread: 20 2/8
Age 5 to 5.5 years

Mule deer buck in Randall county,south side of Palo Duro state park.Was across fence on Amarillo foundation land which now is owned by the state or TPWD. Before the rut and he was scent checking does. 32" plus, long tined,kickers and heavy. Have seen some monsters killed in Colorado and he was bigger,I think he would go over 200'. Still have dreams about him. There are some monsters in that area and they have a chance to get some age on them.