congratulations!!! cool looking buck

RickE, nice buck!  Great Job!!

thats a great looking buck .
congrats  

Well done!!  

   

That is a brute! Congrats and way to stick it out  

Congrats on a nice buck!

great persistence!  great buck!  congrats!  

Thanks everyone.  I like reading other peoples stories of different hunts in different places too.  

It's hard to say how old this buck is.  I've looked at his teeth and his molars and premolars are worn nearly down to the gum line.  I plan to pull some teeth and send them in to be analyzed and get a better estimate of his age from the annuli.  

His ears are tattered and he had a hernia on one side too.  I imagine the hard winter took it's toll too.  My cousin guessed him at 7 but I don't really know other than 'old'.  I know he had bigger antlers last year and was a 5x5.  This year he is a 6x5 and he kept his width and mass on his rack and his body size looked about the same but the points are quite a bit shorter.  Even last year he didn't have very long points.  He was still in really good shape based on how fat he was.    

Last year I had him walk by me at about 15 yds but I only had a doe license so no shot.  It was great to have him walk by and have no idea I was there.  

Here is another slightly different picture of him.  




Good luck to everyone else.  Rick.

Nice buck

Beautiful deer.          

Awesome buck!

Very nice buck and story!!

Beautiful buck!  I really like those dark antlers!  Congratulations and thanks for a good story and pictures.

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

Beautiful buck!   Congratulations!

Fantastic on a great buck. Glad to see your persistence paid off. Congrats.

Congratulations!

He is a dandy, Thanks for sharing.

That is a bruiser. Congrats!

Nice buck, and thanks for taking us along on the hunt in story.

Good one!