548" Giant

Saw this on FB. Deer measured 548" according to the post. INSANE!

Why is that insane?

Holy crap. There went someones retirement!!! That thing is a beast.

Giant deer. Insane amount of points, mass, character.....

Part caribou.

How do you even keep up with what points you have and haven't scored. What an animal.

What part of hunting is there in taking an animal like that. You know he was guaranteed that buck for an insane amount of money before he ever set foot on that HF ranch.

So unreal it's ugly to me

agree

2X for me or maybe 10X,

Not my cup of tea. To each their own.

Boom, there goes $50,000.00 with the pull of a trigger.
While I am super excited every time I go hunt to try and get my first buck, I don't think I would ever have any desire to shoot something like that.

Another victim of CWD in Texas. The deer probably cost far less than would be the norm. In a year when 900+ deer suddenly became epidemiologically linked to a CWD positive herd, prices for those 900+ head dropped in a big way. Especially for the bottom 75% of trophy bucks.

Not hunting at all

And no, it's not hunting. That deer appears to be from a very well known bloodline. Could have been some kind of world record breeder buck at 3. Or related. More than likely in Medina Co. i think he'd be 5 this season. Old as he's gonna get.

Photoshopped?

If I got to pick my ideal deer it would be a giant typical. This is an incredible animal and I am sure there was a little more to it that walking into a pen and shooting it. To each their own. Awesome trophy for the hunter.

Negative, Leever.

Nope. It's not photoshopped

Agreed! A recent Texas 10 point that died in his prime comes to mind. The ranch owner's son posted about it on here. And an 8 point killed the previous year is, I believe, one of the holy grail of typical white-tailed deer in the world. Don't quote me but I think it was 189" and netted above 180! Same ranch as the 2015 10 pt found dead.

Yes that 200" 10 is a dream deer for me and that 8 was a MONSTER

Welll technically it is.

Crazy buck.

This deer breeding-raising or whatever you call it is getting insane.

that don't impress me much

more money than cents, I mean sense>>>

Imagine the headache trying to score that deer. I barely have enough patience to score a 140" deer...

Awesome buck congrats to the hunter!

Nice.....

I hear many guys say that they would not like a deer like that, and neither would I. But I have to think that there is a huge market for that kind of deer. They seem to have no problem selling hunts.

If you look at the bottom left of the picture you will see it say Erskine Brothers. They are outfitter out of Utopia, they have a facebook page with this hunter Jerry shown as a regular customer, why they blot his face here and show it multiple times on Facebook with his name

Unfortunately they do not give any specifics about the ranch size etc. you have to request it.

Congrats to Jerry on his harvest on a side note, those antlers will make a great chandelier!

BTW my dream buck is a typical 12 with two 9 in paddle looking drop tines that would score around 190

The 'Hunter' has probably killed 3-5 bucks each season totaling around 800-1,400 inches of antler for the past 5-7 years. That's the 4th Texas buck I've seen for JC in '15. A couple of his sons have gotten in on the action the last two years. Just google his name followed by 'deer'. I'd say he and his boys are on a serious trophy room quest.

try again, according to their website the cost is $9,000 for the firsy 170", and $350 per inch after that. $141,300 plus guide fees

Listed as killed at recordbuck ranch which says is 20k acres but I doubt that buck was in a 20k acre HF

Crazy looking animal

I had rather shoot a Angora ram

Wow

Hmm for a 140k I could buy me a couple new guns and deck them out. Buy a new duramax and deck it out. Buy a bunch of nice camping, hiking, fishing, and hunting stuff. Drive my new truck and purchases to Alaska and spend a few weeks there fishing. Then try and get a Caribou. Probably all for less money

That deer has ZERO appeal to me. Why pose, it's pretty obvious you spent more than most people make in a year or maybe two for a genetic pen raised freak? It borders on insanity what deer 'hunting' has become but if you have the money I guess spend it as you will

The deer is pretty impressive. Honestly it is cool to look at one grown this big, no matter how they got there. As for the hunting aspect of it, it is what it is. Still a cool animal.

Psssssssshhhhhhhhht.

Whatever.

You're shooting an animal that's so genetically altered that it doesn't even look real any more. What's the point?

Goes to show that even money can't make you anything more than an attention whore.

For that price I could buy 300 acres where I'm from high fence it build a farm house and feed my family with red meat for a life time. Ok ok if that sucker got out and walked by my stand I would drop him even if he still had an ear tag in. That is if I didn't faint before I shot because that ain't right lol.

Ok I've got to know where you can buy 300 acres, high fence it and build a farm house all for 140k!

Mexico.

My god

Good lord

if he was so proud? why hide?

Colt I wandered the same thing? Could be the OP (BuffaloSpringsRD) scratched his face out before he posted this?

That buck had some serious neck muscles!!

As you can see in the original post, he said he got it form Facebook. The OP looks to have blurred the face, don't think the hunter is hiding anything....

As for the comments of too much money, from what I read, this guy has enough money to not only live VERY well, but also go on these "hunts" for giant deer with him and his family from the sounds of it. Obviously he isn't hurting for money. If I had enough money, I would have a few GIANT whitetails on my wall from a HF as well. If someone offered me a deer like this, I for one would damn sure take it. It wouldn't feel the same as the deer I shoot in East Texas, but I would be proud of it. Also pretty sure from the history this guy has with the ranch, I would tend to think that they did offer him a deal on this deer compared to what they would normally charge.

Good deer and congrats to him for getting it.

You think he tipped 10%?

Deer was a year away from its potential.

Have you ever hunted any of these types of ranches? Website prices are to keep tire kickers away. I'll guarantee you the hunter negotiated a flat price for the deer and it was far less than $140k. He's killed a bunch of animals with Houston Erskine. Repeat customers also get better prices than a one and done shooter.

my thoughts too, I always enjoy looking at big bucks no matter where they are from...the manner in which they are killed can be debated though.

Aside from the wow factor of the rack, would a deer like that be any good to eat, or would you start sprouting horns yourself?

Aside from the wow factor of the rack, would a deer like that be any good to eat, or would you start sprouting horns yourself?

Just so that you understand, the ranch is likely to have pemission to use the picture, the OP likely does not. The fair use doctrine has limits so the OP was being cautious. I don't blame him.
I fall in the "not my cup of tea" crowd.

Correct I would rather be safe than sorry.. I did hear a rumor that the deer was $35k to hunt

This deer came from a 20K acre ranch that is well know for producing big whitetails. Like it or don't like it...it's an impressive deer.

God can surely create some amazing animals! Unbelievable buck!

That sounds about right on the price.

I have hunted High Fence ranchs for Hogs (As the ranch owners were trying to get control of a problem) and once for a management hunt for my daughter as she had one day to hunt for the whole year. $1,000. I am not expert, but have asked questions and got answers. I do question for example why a father would pay $35,000 for his 11 year old to shoot a 262" deer. If I owned a ranch and had a 548" deer it would take alot more than $35,000 to harvest the animal.

As to my comment above about the father I guess he did it because he could. But my question is based on how the young man will have any appreciation of hunting anything less than a world class animal.

260-280 class whitetails on these types of operations sell for around $15,000. Not sure of the 262" deer you're referring to.

Don't doubt deer like that exist (grown in captivity) but that particular pic is photoshopped

No it isn't. Record Buck Ranch. Go to their website and you can see Mr. Copeland with the 548" deer and a bunch of other animals he has killed there. Click on "Recent Hunts".

I wonder why they call it "Record Buck Ranch" when none of them can qualify for the B&C record book.

Record Freak Buck Ranch or Genetic Engineering Record Buck Ranch

The lighting on that rack is all wrong for it to be an outdoor picture. And you mean to tell me that guy is holding up a head that size with his thumb and index finger? Nope.

they freeze them overnight in the position they want them in for pics the next day.

It's a crying shame that hunting has evolved into this. It does no honor to the sport and it certainly does no honor to the animal. But, I'm obviously in the minority in my way of thinking and everything done to harvest that animal was legal I'm sure. Just because I don't like it doesn't make it wrong.

I think they just train them to pose like that for pics. I heard that buck was spotted last weekend at a HF ranch in Young CO.

It's always good to have a dream! Keep saving your pennies and you never know what might happen.

It's interesting to me that there are so many negative/disdainful comments on this deer and the circumstances of its taking.

But "smaller" deer taken under the same circumstances usually draw very few negative comments.

I presume the obvious outlandish and unnatural appearance of this buck is the reason. IDK. It's just interesting to me.

(I normally don't comment on HF deer photo threads but make an exception here because the OP is not the one who killed the deer.)

I would have missed

I don't know if the photo is real or fake, but the right hand looks very strange to me. Blurry, too big, or something???

That photo is real. Believe it or not, 500" really isnt all that big of a deal on these breeding ranches. Most of them are not sold to "hunt" though. That's what I find most interesting, why was this one killed?

The guys on here saying "that aint hunting" know nothing about,"hunting" HF deer are smart too.

Never said the deer wasnt real.. PICTURE looks fake. Looks like a full body mount of a big breeder buck, pic taken indoors, then photoshopped to look like that guy killed it.

They are smart. But based on the two game ranches and breeding facilities I've worked at, I'm willing to bet this wasn't much of a "hunt". I'm not knocking the guy at all. If you've got the money knock yourself out I guess. A 548" deer isnt just running around on a large pasture inside a high fence. That deer was let out of a breeding facility a day or two before he was shot. He's not busted up at all.

Where's Stxranchman when you need him?

Because he probably had touched some of the deer sold from Whitetail Mountain Ranch. The first ranch where CWD was discovered in Medina County. Probably had to be killed and obex and adnoids submitted to TDVML in College Station for testing.

Congrats to the hunter heck of a deer. I just want one over 170 can't imagine one that big in person. I would be shaking so bad.

Speaking for myself it was a picture posted by someone other than the hunter and not at the request of the hunter. So my viewpoint was it's just someone showing a shocking pic of a very unusual set of huge antlers, so huge and out of the norm it just doesn't seem natural to me, and why I stated not my cup of tea, but to each their own.

If the hunter posted it for wanting to show it and give details of the hunt I would of shown courtesy to a fellow hunter and congratulated him.

I think it is pretty interesting to see everyone's different opinion of this deer. Has made for a great conversation IMO

it is what I was told by the guide. I dont have any teeth in this so whatever it is.

There was a time when a 262" deer may have brought that much. Not these days though.

I use to dove hunt with a guy who's brother raised and sold these type of deer and their sperm to game ranches. He was some type of biologist. He showed me all kinds of pictures of them feeding these huge 200+ class deer by hand. They were like pets. I'm not going to argue if its hunting or not, but I can tell you I will never pay the cost of a brand new pickup to kill a deer.

Too much trash. Probably a really easy "hunt," too.

Prob has more chemicals in him than all sports players and bodybuilder put together! Very ugly if you ask me

I doubt 548". 348" I can see.

Things that make you go Hmmmmmm......"Hunted" you say?

Where do you see it being off by 200"?

He can't add very well...running out of toes and fingers makes it difficult.

Not photoshopped? Then this guy must be a strong SOB. Holding up the head and rack, arm almost fully extended, with his index finger and thumb.

They freeze those deer overnight for pics the next day.

Not frozen but rigor sets in overnight.

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.