I first got pictures of this deer back in 2012. His right ear had a very noticible split in it, hence the name split ear. One cold December morning In 2014 I had an encounter with him which resulted in buck fever and a smooth miss.
Later that same month my cousin made a bad shot on him also, clipping his neck. He didn't show back up on camera until mid September of 2015. I watched the old bruiser that year chase does all around and gave him a pass. I was hoping his rack would rebound in 2016. I did not put a camera up this year and I had just about decided that either someone shot him last year or he died of old age.
Last night he came in trailing a few does. One look at the big bodied brute I knew exactly who he was. I decided I better take him. He's an old warrior and you can't ask for a better combination. I figure him to be 8 yrs old if not older.

2012



2013



2014





2015



2016

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

That's pretty cool buck and you have alot of history with him. Congrats.

Ol Split Ear. You deserve him. You've talked about him for a long time. I would have like to see you load that beast.

Congrats
That's an old buck

Congratulations! Interesting history, interesting story, glad you took the old boy down.

Awesome!! Congrats on taking an old bruiser like that down.

I "offered" to help load, glad I didn't have too, would have hurt my back lol. Cool old buck for sure, he has seen some battles!

Very nice mature deer

Excellent story, and thanks for sharing. He was worth the wait, and no doubt his story will be told for many years to come.

Congrats on getting the old warrior!

thanks for posting the history with this buck. Always good to see photos of yearly transitions of bucks to help age them.

Thanks for the write-up and the progression of pics.

love watching the transformation as they age. Good job sir and congrats.

Thanks guys!

Going after a specific deer is a challenge.
Good job

Like the back story. Nice old buck