My Turn

Deer that eluded me several years ago. Haunts me to this day. Lets hear what everybody thinks he would have scored. I have my opinion, and the trusted opinion of a young man whose family has a deer breeding facility.

140

Really???
That deer is all over 160 and maybe even 170!

Yep...he's at least 160

Looks about 150 from those pics.

Looks about 160 to me

Very nice buck, he still looks young no more than 4 1/2 Good luck

I want to know how much mature bucks weigh in the area. If that is a 100 lb hill country buck or a 200 pounder will change the guess a lot.

I'm with Pitch, it's ~150 if that's a Brown County deer.

Man, whatever he is/was, what a great buck.

Did you find out if someone else took him? Haven't seen him since?

That's what I was leaning towards, but it's hard to say from those pics.

160, maybe, but 170? The pictures aren't that bad.

I was thinking 150-160 depending on body size to compare to those antlers.

Great, great deer.

150.......

150ish

.

No maybe about it. That buck is 160 all day every day! I would be willing to double down and say he is closer to 170 than 160 as well.

Hunted a place in the hill country where mature bucks dressed 90-100 lbs, if that buck is of similar size I could see 140's without much trouble.

150-155. Dang nice buck.

To the OP, he's a great buck. I can see why he haunts your dreams.

Unfortunately I don't think he touches upper 150s; and bet he might not even sniff the mid-century mark. Just seems like Brown County bucks rarely get the age, mass, and tine length to get there without some significant outside help.

He's a heckuva Brown County LF buck. These two from Brown Co didn't get very close to 150:




FWIW, I hope I am surprised and that buck is still out there for you AND you get a shot at him. One of our hunters killed a buck that was a 2006 fawn last year - anything is possible and my fingers are crossed for you!

Please don't take offense, but neither of the deer you posted above are close to the OP's deer in tine length of G2's, 3's and left G4 nor are their main beams. He's 160 or better, all day every day.

Based on the photos and with his width + tine length looks like 150+ to me. If I was studying him from a stand probably could get a closer estimate. Outstanding buck!

It's why I dropped my interest in using game cameras before and during the season. I only use them for security purposes such as monitoring gates and roads. As for catching game, I like to use them once the season closes to see what avoided an ice chest.

During the season, what I see with my own eyes is all that matters. No need to worry about anything that otherwise eludes me. And if and when that big one walks out in front me, it's all the more reason for sheer excitement.

Not sure if you are trolling me, or legitimately don't know how to score deer. Appreciate all the comments. I am in far north Brown County, and my average mature bucks field dress around 130. I have killed multiple bucks in the 120-140 range, and this thing is a true heart attack buck. No matter how conservative I "score" him, can't get below 160. My buddy told me, depending on his body size, as others have said, he might have been in the high 170s. If anyone around me got him, they kept it on the down low. Keeps me going, though, knowing there is always a chance!

I think using cameras is fun because it helps tease out this kind of thing. Preseason hit lists are fun, especially with names.

Often those particular bucks won't materialize, but sometimes they do. And it absolutely never fails that when we start hunting we see lots of bucks we never saw on cams, especially once the rut starts (generally around first of December in our area).

Not that great of pics is always gonna end up with a wider range of guesses. I'm just not seeing the tine length to get him to 160+.

I hope the op can get a DRT to solve the speculation.

155-162

That buck will chew up and spit out 150 all day every day he will be high 60s or into 70s

Very nice deer you have there. I hope to see this Hamilton Buck if he survived.

Post your measurement guesses. It's pretty tough to get to the high 170s with a slick 10. He did have great tine length. If I had to guess based on those pics, I'd put him right at 160.

20" inside (probably more) 25" beams (easily) 32" of total mass (probably more) 60" total time length (trickiest part). That is 162. I have lots of other pics of him, just chose these for the angles. I have killed 2 bucks that gross in mid 140s, and 3 that are right at 20" inside. This buck DWARFS all of them. Keep in mind these were in mid December, so he is certainly rutted down. He hung around my place for about 2 weeks, always at a different feeder, than me, or when I wasn't there, then disappeared.

Is the date stamp on the photos correct? These were taken in 2010?

Yes, 2010.

Those don't sound unreasonable to me. I'd probably guess a little lower on beams and spread, but arrive to about the same number. I was just curious where the other 14-17 inches would come from to get him to the upper 170s. I actually killed a pretty similar deer in 2010 that grossed 173. 2010 was a great year for horns. He was a slick 12, but same sort of frame. Love the big typicals and that deer was a stud. If nothing else, it's good to see what the land is capable of producing.

I think the spread could have been closer to 22", maybe another 2" of mass, and I was really conservative on tine length. I could see another 8" there. That's mid 170's. Just fun to wonder. The really "fun" part of the entire saga is, the very first day he showed up on camera, I had planned on hunting that feeder, changed my mind as I was walking out the cabin door. When I checked cameras a couple days later, was physically ill. Had perfect wind and everything. Just wasn't meant to be.

Well hopefully you will get a shot at his offspring. He's got to be dead or very much in decline seven years from those pics.

x2

Not saying it cant happen, but hoping he is gonna pop up this year is betting way against the odds.

Honestly I think this is generous but pretty accurate. Even with some stretch your buck isn't getting to 170. Still a monster for that area and would have been a trophy for anybody.

G1 6
G2 23
G3 23
G4 10
Beams 48
Spread 20
Mass 26
Total 156

For reference, this deer only went 180 4/8 gross

What are the stats on the 180 buck? He is a 12 so you can knock of 3-4 inches to compare.

What were the beams and spread on the 180 buck?

I think you are missing the 4's and mass by a mile.
I think that deers 3's are longer than his 2's.
I would give him 22 on spread.
Beams can be tricky so I wont go there.

150-160