have not seen pictures yet,but my dad did see the buck in person.last year a man that works with my dad killed the number 1 mulie in texas.this morning the guys friend shot a 17 point that was 28" wide,and also very tall. my dad said it was the biggest bodied deer he has ever seen. he said its neck was as big as a 5 gallon bottle of water.the buck was weighed. live weight was 380#,field dressed was 320". hope to get pics soon.

Lord knows I used to see some monsters while driving around the Seminole area.

Man I hope they stay smart with that season. The started off right last year by offering tags to the landowner and not just making it a free for all. We've go lots of land right north of Lubbock and have been seeing tons of deer. Including one buck that's bigger than anything I've seen come out of Colorado. There's no season yet but I hope that when they do open it that they are very smart about it. The deer are easy to find up there and there's nowhere for them to hide!

Cody, I agree!

Amen! I have driven all over that country and seen tons of mule deer and they have very little cover. It wont take long and they will be decimated.

It is a free for all. You don't have to have a landowner tag to hunt in Gaines County. It is an open season. Wish they had done land owner tags but it is an open season.

I was up there last weekend hunting on my grandma's land that is about half way between Seagraves and Denver City, and didn't see a deer. I saw quite a bit of deer sign, but with only section of land it's kinda a crap shoot to whether or not any deer would actually be on the property. I did see 5 coyotes while walking around on Sunday morning, and I think I'm gonna go back during the spring time and do some coyote hunting. I wonder if all the coyotes on the property could have pushed the mulies out of the area? Oh well, I had a good time anyway.

I heard they did. My BIL has a friend out there that owns a bunch of land. I could have sworn the issued him two tags. Man that sucks. There won't be a deer worth a second look in 5 years.

Nope. Open season. Alot of guys are making alot of money leasing out their land though.

I hunted 4 days in Gaines county and southern Andrews County. I saw 2 deer but they were about a mile west of where I could hunt and in Andrews County. About a 1/2 mile west of me someone shot a nice one last Sunday morning. The only one I saw in Gaines county was at the beer and deer in Seagraves on the afternoon of the opener. Heard it was shot a little southwest of Seminole. Saw no shortage of coyotes. Shot a few blue quail and even a few bonus collared doves.

Really, that sucks. Last time I was in the area was 03. Back then I saw most of the deer east towards Lamesa and in Western Gaines around Higginbothom.

I'll tell you what, I think the way they do the mule deer hunts here in the south plains is crap. I have been living in Brownfield for 5 yrs now and when they opened the season 5 yrs ago here there were monster mulies everywhere. But now when you go hunting you are lucky to see a buck bigger than a 6 point. Because of the buck only rule I know guys that dont have any education when it comes to letting the younger bucks go take spikes, nubbing bucks, and six points. Mark my words in a few yrs there wont be any big bucks in Gaines county or anywhere on the south plains for that matter. It is so hard to get doe tags that nobody can. So when you do see a deer it is a doe. There are tons of does in Terry County but not very many bucks. So that really throws your buck to doe ratio off. It really stinks.

you can't see a buck now, wait till the does are shot, i have never seen a buck have a fawn.

I am from seminole and it is true, there were a lot more big bucks five years ago. Tye season will surely get harder and harder year after year. However, if we do start shooting does then we wont have to worry about a season after long. There are not the numbers to be shooting doe. And as far as trophy deer, i caped a friends buck last week. He is going to score over 215 for sure. My best friend also killed a typical frame that is going to go 200. So there are still good bucks out there. Just have to put in the time to scout early and hunt them early.

I haven't seen any pics of any from Gaines county this year, but there were some nice ones taken in Bailey County this year.
http://www.texasbiggameawards.org/photoEntries.php

Here is a big Gaines county mule deer. According to the TBGA it netted 216
http://www.texasbiggameawards.org/images/large/TBGA-3_21994.jpg

Killer buck there. Thanks for posting

I went to the site. It doesn't show that pic. The biggest mule deer it shows is Rick Merritt's 197 from the McGuire Ranch(high fence). Can someone confirm the above mule deer?

That country doesn't look like Gaines co. At least not what I've seen of it..

Amazing what can be done on the net. I sent the pic to boss man, Trent Huckaby. The hunter is a good friend of his named Allen Childs from Ft Stockton. The ranch is in Gaines County, the Houston Ranch/farm. What a toad!!!!

7Mag, I am not sure why none of the non-typical mule deer are listed in the category standings, but if you click on photo entries, you can see it in the region 2 standings, along with some other mulies grossing 180+.