What do you think of this deer?

I have been trying to find this picture for years and finally did. It is from before cell phone cameras existed.

A guy I used to work with (and who is now deceased) shot this deer about an hour north of Lubbock. At the time he was told it was the 7th largest Mule deer taken in Texas. This was 20 years ago.

I know another guy who still hunts the property and he said he has never seen anything remotely close to it since.

I cropped out his picture as I don't know if his family would want it posted.

Its a nice deer for sure, but would help in perspective is his hand wasn't nearly as big as his head would have been.

I personally don't like perspective shots like that where the fully outstretched arm is close to camera.

But it is a nice deer, i'd be happy with it for sure!

Maybe 7th largest that year. Great buck, I'd shoot him, but in reference to the skullplate, his antlers aren't ginormous.

Definitely very difficult to have any perspective of how big it is. As Quit said, it really doesnt seem huge compared to the small portion of the deers head that you can see.

I don't know squat about scoring mule deer but if he has 38" of mass and a 26" spread, I have a total of around 170 for him. I would bet I'm not off more than ten inches on the total.

Texas Big Game Awards
Top Five of All-Time as of 2013

Typical Mule Deer Gaines 197 4/8 2011-2012 High
Typical Mule Deer Potter 196 5/8 1996-1997 Low
Typical Mule Deer Gaines 193 2/8 2009-2010 Low
Typical Mule Deer Oldham 191 6/8 1999-2000 Low
Typical Mule Deer Jeff Davis 189 1/8 2007-2008 Low

Non-Typical Mule Deer Reeves 283 2003-2004 Low
Non-Typical Mule Deer Brewster 223 3/8 2012-2013 Low
Non-Typical Mule Deer Pecos 222 2009-2010 Low
Non-Typical Mule Deer Brewster 221 5/8 2004-2005 Low
Non-Typical Mule Deer Yoakum 221 2/8 1997-1998 Low

These are only the deer turned in to TBGA. Interestingly on the Typicals, Rick Merritt has the #1 and #3 bucks to his credit.

Looks like a bass fisherman staged the photo.