great read and great buck

Congratulations!

Awesome!

Great story, I enjoyed that. I know what you mean about bittersweet. I had a buck here I watched and let age for years, when I finally took him there was little joy. I miss my old friend.

Helluva of buck..great story...your son will remember that hunt forever!

If you think about it, we're kind of warped. We truly appreciate and to a certain extent grow to love these deer. Our admiration brings us to want to kill them. Which I'm sure if a deer like this had the choice and the mental capacity of how he wanted to die, he would choose a bullet over starving to death or being too weak to fight off predators. This will be my justification for my warped love for these animals, because I can assure you, I will not change.

Thanks again for the congrats fellows. It makes it easier to trade off my bow kill goal for the memory of taking him with my son. He'll be ready to get his own in a couple more years.

What a great read and a helluva deer. Glad to see persistence paid off for you and I bet your son will never forget the day daddy shot a BIG Buck!

To me it is the pursuit of one animal that makes the time spent and the "trophy" so much more enjoyable. After I have taken that animal there is a let down or a bit of sadness due to me not being able to pursue that one animal anymore. If he had won then the hunt would still be on. Instead, I won. Then a new season approaches and there is a new buck to pursue.

beauty!

Damn good read...

Congrats Sir

Thanks for Sharing the journey...

And that right there is why you dont shoot big framed 8 pts at 4.5. Big congrats and glad it happened with the boy beside you. Would you mind sharing the score? He is a toad.

I love big 8's. Great buck!

Give him a guess on score. I'll post his score before I go to bed tonight. I was surprised.

I see 157-160 but hard to judge beam length. I gave him 25" beams but they look even longer.

I say 162"

What a great buck & pics. No sign of mushroom damage in his old age. I'll go 160, maybe an inch or two more on those brow guards. Good times with your son, you'll both remember this forever!

Great read and great buck. Having kids myself there isn't a better joy than sharing those moments with them. Nice work making sure he was along for the ride. Now on to the next chess match in the woods. Looks to be right at the 160 mark give or take.

Taxidermist wanted to score him last night when I took him in. He was still attached and we taped him at 161 1/8"

He got the horns skull capped so I went by and grabbed them. Rescored him myself so I could maneuver around easier and I came up with 163 2/8".

So he's somewhere right in there. Thanks again fellas!!

great story and awesome buck