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Who's never had a big one get away? #8138343 01/21/21 11:04 PM
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I don't know if I'm lucky or unlucky but I've never had a big deer get away. Granted the main reason is I've never had a chance at a monster deer. A mulie about 160 is the largest deer I've taken. I've hunted for 50+ years now and just have not had it happen.

Not saying I'm a good hunter because I'm not, I just don't have a story about "that deer". No big old buck from my childhood and no ghost that slipped away in the mist. No mulie on a far away ridge and no muy grande walking down the wrong side of the fence. Any other guys without a story about "that one deer"?


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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138361 01/21/21 11:12 PM
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I have had several big WT get away from me. One this last season and one the season before are the most recent but the largest one was in Kansas in 2012. I was hunting ML season in Sept and shot at a huge wide and heavy 6x6 with an extra 3 NT base points. I shot down a row of corn and I hit low and just below his body on his left front leg on a hard quartering away shot...just enough to tear the skin for a flesh wound. Not sure if I pulled it low and left, hit corn leaves blowing in the wind or mis-ranged him or combination of all of them, but I missed him. He was by far my largest WT that I had a shot at till 2 yrs ago when I did connect on my biggest WT.


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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138364 01/21/21 11:13 PM
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I would be more interested to know where you've been hunting for 50 years and have never seen what you would call a big buck?


"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: Texas Dan] #8138395 01/21/21 11:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Texas Dan
I would be more interested to know where you've been hunting for 50 years and have never seen what you would call a big buck?

I've had chance to hunt south Texas around Freer, Falfurias and the cross timbers area west of Ft Worth. Mule deer in Mexico and Montana. Been on ranches around Freer where there were/are monsters. Had family and friends kill big deer. (Big is not a concrete size I know. A big deer to me when I was 8 would not be a big deer to me at 58) I've seen great deer on the DCRC in the earl 80s and big deer in the cross timbers on our place but never when I was hunting. 140 ish whitetail is my largest and it's a good deer but it's not "that deer".


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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138399 01/21/21 11:24 PM
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I did two years ago.. saw him 3 times but never a clear shot. Haven’t seen him since

Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138427 01/21/21 11:43 PM
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Originally Posted by rmp
Originally Posted by Texas Dan
I would be more interested to know where you've been hunting for 50 years and have never seen what you would call a big buck?

I've had chance to hunt south Texas around Freer, Falfurias and the cross timbers area west of Ft Worth. Mule deer in Mexico and Montana. Been on ranches around Freer where there were/are monsters. Had family and friends kill big deer. (Big is not a concrete size I know. A big deer to me when I was 8 would not be a big deer to me at 58) I've seen great deer on the DCRC in the earl 80s and big deer in the cross timbers on our place but never when I was hunting. 140 ish whitetail is my largest and it's a good deer but it's not "that deer".


So it sounds more like you've never seen a deer that you truly regretted missing or giving a pass. If only more of us carried such a positive attitude.

Last edited by Texas Dan; 01/21/21 11:47 PM.

"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138598 01/22/21 01:18 AM
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I can remember a few big uns that got away.


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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: Texas Dan] #8138689 01/22/21 02:22 AM
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Originally Posted by Texas Dan
Originally Posted by rmp
Originally Posted by Texas Dan
I would be more interested to know where you've been hunting for 50 years and have never seen what you would call a big buck?

I've had chance to hunt south Texas around Freer, Falfurias and the cross timbers area west of Ft Worth. Mule deer in Mexico and Montana. Been on ranches around Freer where there were/are monsters. Had family and friends kill big deer. (Big is not a concrete size I know. A big deer to me when I was 8 would not be a big deer to me at 58) I've seen great deer on the DCRC in the earl 80s and big deer in the cross timbers on our place but never when I was hunting. 140 ish whitetail is my largest and it's a good deer but it's not "that deer".


So it sounds more like you've never seen a deer that you truly regretted missing or giving a pass. If only more of us carried such a positive attitude.


That is a perfect way to put it. Don't know if attitude is part of it or just haven't had the opportunity to expose my negative attitude. Lol

Last edited by rmp; 01/22/21 02:25 AM.

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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138702 01/22/21 02:29 AM
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I’ve had 2 bigs slip, both my fault

The first I shot into brush around 16-17 w a 223(only rifle I owned) he was a solid 150’s north Tx buck

The last was just about 2 years ago, he scored 148 neighbor got him

Cold and wearing gloves at the time of shot my fault, it went boom before I was “ready” right over his back

Not monsters but for where I am, 150 is big

Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138794 01/22/21 04:03 AM
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There must be some guys on here with the same story. I had a big 6 on camera all year that just did something for me. I was out in the tree stand with my son, and we watched what I though was an older 8 but I wanted the 6. When the 8 turned, he turned into a 10 and son asked me what I was was waiting for. I shot the 10, he dropped and the 6 came out 30 yards behind him to see what all the commotion was about. I sat there and looked at the 6 for about 5 minutes.


"I was called by the Yorkers a outlaw, and later by the english a rebel" Ethan Allen
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138953 01/22/21 12:13 PM
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Once with a bow, big 12 never recovered. hammer


"You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas".
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8138970 01/22/21 12:33 PM
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don't really want to talk about it

Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8139096 01/22/21 02:40 PM
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I have never really had a big one get away that i didn't get later, but I did have a mule deer about 4 years ago that I spotted as i was driving across a big grass flat feeding on one little rise. I had driven thru this pasture and then turned around to glass and found him about 3/4 of a mile away. In hindsight i probably could have drove up on him but didn't want to risk spooking him and so I bailed out and started toward him on foot.

that distance, a few spooked cows and bad wind he busted me. We had bad weather coming in the next day, it was a pasture that nobody really hunted and i sure wasn't gonna tell anyone about him so i figured i would head home and come back 3 days later the next tuesday and come kill him.

Monday afternoon a new hunter was joyriding thru the pasture and killed him, ended up scoring 175". Blind luck on his part and i was happy for him but i was still kinda miffed i didn't go about the original stalk differently


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8139180 01/22/21 03:53 PM
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Years ago I was hunting a big one, and I knew where he’d often be, on the edge of a bean field, at dusk. I got my folding stool and made a blind just inside the edge, using palmetto fronds. Took my Kabar and trimmed the heavy undergrowth around me so I could shoot left or right. Shooting to the right was going to be tough, being as I’m right handed. I was all camoed up, with only my eyes showing. Perfect day, at 60ish degrees. I sat on my stool, my back to a tree, real comfortable. As the light started dimming, the big buck stepped out, a big old mossy horned rascal, and he was to my right. Dang! The light was fading fast, and I had to turn to my right if I was going to get a shot. As I skooched around slowly to my right, I tried to get the rifle up and point it through a hole in the brush. As I was almost in position, heart beating like thunder, with the big buck sideways to me, the stool collapsed and I dropped into a puddle and wet leaves. The buck went back into the woods and snorted for a while while I laid there laughing. The stool should be right where I left it all those years ago.

There have been other big bucks I didn’t get, but that episode still makes me smile. So close....and what a time for my trusty old stool to give it up.


Not my monkeys, not my circus...
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8139200 01/22/21 04:06 PM
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I’ve had one that still sticks with me. I just needed 5 more seconds.....

That’s probably why I’m so reflexively against anything that complicates a hunting/shooting setup. Seconds can sometimes mean the difference between getting a big one or not.


Originally Posted by Russ79
I learned long ago you can't reason someone out of something they don't reason themselves into.


Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8139217 01/22/21 04:18 PM
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In October 1984, we saw a large, older buck on our place that had been around for a couple of years. We hunted pretty hard in November for him and had only seen a tail once or twice. My uncle rolls into town a week after Thanksgiving and we hunt Saturday morning, no luck. Saturday afternoon I get my pick of the stands and start to take our best box blind but at the last minute some school friends call and talk me into an afternoon of basketball at the church. I get home a little after dusk and my uncle and father are in the barn hanging my uncle's buck. He was a mainframe 11 with 17" spread and three 1"+ stickers, taken out of the stand I would have been hunting. It stood as our ranch record for 26 years.

The same buck managed to ditch my dad three weeks earlier. He and my sister were hunting another box, and about 8:45am dad decides to get out and walk around a bit. He'd been gone about 5 minutes when the buck walked by within 30 yards of the blind. My sister had never shot a deer and just watched him walk on by.


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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8139231 01/22/21 04:32 PM
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In 40 years of hunting I've only not recovered 2 does. As for losing "big one" I've been blessed to not have lost any.


Sometimes it's hard being me! But somebody has to do it.
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: Nogalus Prairie] #8139280 01/22/21 05:12 PM
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Originally Posted by Nogalus Prairie
I’ve had one that still sticks with me. I just needed 5 more seconds.....

That’s probably why I’m so reflexively against anything that complicates a hunting/shooting setup. Seconds can sometimes mean the difference between getting a big one or not.

"That’s probably why I’m so reflexively against anything that complicates a hunting/shooting setup. Seconds can sometimes mean the difference between getting a big one or not."
I agree 100% on the sighting to shooting time being as short and simple as possible.


At some point in life its time to quit chasing the pot of gold and just enjoy the rainbow. FR
Keep your gratitude higher than your expectations. RWH
Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8139713 01/22/21 11:51 PM
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3 times. One busted me before i could get a shot. One just never presented an ethical shot (bow hunting). One was saved by a one inch diameter branch that deflected my bullet.


Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil.

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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8140064 01/23/21 05:31 AM
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Gotta see one before it can get away.


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Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8140230 01/23/21 02:04 PM
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Thankfully I've not ever wounded a really big one. Have had a nice buck wounded in deep south TX cover late and in rain and could not recover until next day. Only thing left from yotes was head and back bones, they get on them fast down there. Since then I stayed away from late, longer range shots. That particular one was 250 yards or so, behind shoulder with .30-.06, a kill shot as turned out but after a pretty decent run through thick, thick stuff.

Re: Who's never had a big one get away? [Re: rmp] #8140539 01/23/21 06:56 PM
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I've never had a big animal get away. Now, I haven't exactly killed what I would consider a big one either so...




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