A 26 pointer??? ...

[North Pack]

http://tecumseh.server280.com/node/3539

[snookman]

THAT is the Buck of a lifetime. If it walked into one of my shooting lanes, I think I would have a heart attack from Buck fever.

  Thanks for all the interesting articles North Pack, I read them all. snookman

[shady816]

yes i was thinking i would mess my pants at first sight of such a monster.

[RedFeather]

If I came across a buck with a rack like that, well, I would admire it and let it go. You just don't see such animals and they deserve to live on (not to mention spreading that gene pool!) I'm kind of glad they speculated it had died of natural causes.

Guess the 26 points is west of the Mississippi counting system. That would be an Eastern twelve point? And, from the looks of it, not really an atypical, making it even more unusual. Almost looks prehistoric.

[longislandhunter]

I agree with you Red,,,, I think I'd let it go too.  Having an animal like that alive and breeding in the area where I hunt would be more than enough of a reason for me to let it pass on by.  I'm not saying I wouldn't be tempted,,,, I would,,, but I think I'd let it go.  I've taken my share of antlers over the years, some quite respectable , but now I'm basically a meat hunter and would rather have a nice fat doe than a buck any day of the week      I wouldn't have a problem though  with someone harvesting an animal like that, I mean heck, it's the  trophy of a lifetime.

Jeff

[frank70]

Here's a pic of one killed in Damascus,Va this past season.I'm not sure how many points but its a nice one, a buddy sent me the pic

[Schmidty25]

yea that would be quite the find.  That is amazing

[gamo2hammerli]

Yikes......mutant buck for sure.  Hope he left alot of decendants.

[RedFeather]

Some years back, Virginia Wildlife magazine (from the Fish & Wildlife Department) had an article promoting a rotation system for producing large deer. A hunting club with leased or owned property divided their land, restricting use to one quarter each year. The average size of deer taken went up substantially.

[Progun]

Hey Red, there is no doubt that more bucks and does will graduate to the older age classes when 3/4 of the hunting territory is regulated to sanctuary status where humans never go. It would seem that under such an extreme committment to such a large sanctuary area that "management" of the club lands is in the hands of people who really have a problem with science based game management. Sanctuary areas for the deer are effective for keeping deer on the property but a much smaller "set-aside" area say 10-20% should suffice for sanctuary. As for passing up a buck like the one in the article, tsk tsk, no venison for you. I wouldn't worry about saving that buck to keep in the gene pool for at least a couple of reasons. First of all, his genes were established at conception. He's already passed his genes no doubt many times since a buck of that size would likely be 5 or more years old. In addition, a buck of that age doesn't have much time left. The article stated that the recipient could find no evidence of a hunters wound and may have died of natural  causes which illustrates the point. But it's OK if you would prefer to pass up an opportunity to kill a buck like that. I just wished there were more hunters like you who hunted where I do. I would welcome all the help I could get. It would even give me greater satisfaction to harvest such a deer knowing that he had already been allowed to walk past a "hunter" or two who thought he was too special to shoot.

[shady816]

i'm with you david...the only way that buck walks away from me is if i dropped my bow or gun out the tree in such panic.