Today’s post from blogger Jon, who hunts up in Minnesota/Wisconsin:
Mike: I have any update from a post last year. I sent you the velvet picture of Titanic last August, and we had a lot of people guess at the score.
Well, in early November 2012 I had a great encounter with this buck. I was sitting a cut corn field with a buck decoy out when the bruiser came in chasing does at last light. I didn’t know it was Titanic, but I knew it was one of the 3 big shooters we had on camera. He locked up at 35 yards, but was facing directly at me, staring at the decoy.
I waited at full draw for what felt like an hour. He finally turned but took a couple quick hops into an area that was blocked by a branch. I was able to let off the string and wait. He circled downwind and got to within 27 yards, and I was able to get off what I thought was a clear shot. I saw my Luminock deflect from hitting a tiny twig I could not see in the low light condition.
I was sick about it, but I thought I had completely missed. I got down, went to retrieve my arrow and found it snapped in half. The broadhead and about 8 inches of arrow had hair on it. I started feeling sick. I knew it was a terrible shot, and I didn’t know how the arrow could have hit him. He didn’t act like he was hit, he just trotted off after the does.
Toward the end of November we started getting pictures of a deer limping around on 3 legs. We couldn’t tell which deer it was, then we got this picture of Titanic. Look closely at his back leg and you can see where the Rage went in. Again the sickness set in! But he looked to be doing ok. We got quite a few pictures of him over the next month, and I saw him again on Christmas day; but he was 90 yards out and I ran out of light. My obsession with this buck continued until the season was over.
This year, in late February, a buddy and I headed down to the hunting area to run his dog. The snow was still pretty deep, so the chances of finding any sheds were slim to none. But my buddy Ben somehow spotted the deer’s right side sticking 3” out of the snow. We were pumped to find that side, and Be put his skills to the test and found the other side sticking out of the snow 30 feet away.
I was unable to close the deal on Titanic, but in a roundabout way I can tell you what he scored. I took his sheds to the MN Deer Classic and had them officially scored at 135 6/8″; if you add an 18″ spread he would come in just short of 154″. For a typical 8-pointer that’s huge! The best part about it, he is still out there. Hopefully his injury doesn’t screw up his rack for next year, but we’ll see.—Jon
Titanic is one of those photogenic bucks, and Jon should get some good cam pictures of him in velvet in a couple of months. It will be interesting to see what the left side of his rack looks like, since the injury was to his rear right leg. We’ll be able to clearly see and document the “contralateral effect,” if it occurs.
Honestly, the “Guess the Score” posts on this blog are by far my favorite. Keep posting pics and I’ll keep guessing. It makes it even better when we find out the answer 6-8 months later.
That’s all Im really saying here Mike. Im no expert by any means, and am wrong all the time when trying to score deer, and to be honest, dont care what they score. With bucks like this, you just shoot and let the experts answer the questions and do the math. No doubter in any state, any country, any time of the year
Guys, I’ve hunted 100-lb deer in the south and 300 plus ones in Canada and all in between–and I still get fooled with numbers all the time! All I say is that when you see a mature buck in any environment, you’ll know it, especially if it’s a truly giant buck for the area!
Im from the east coast also, and what you’re saying isn’t wrong, antlers may appear smaller on bigger bodied deer, and vice versa…there’s no doubt. It just might not be such a drastic difference (150″ – 100″). Use the deer’s characteristics to help you add up the inches. For example, use the ears to determine spread, use if available, a side shot to see if beams reach the nose, If so, you can assume they are 23″-25″ each.
I agree with you to a certain point. But, I’ve heard many people say that a 150″ rack on a Canadian deer looks like a 100″ rack on a Texas deer. I’ve never hunted whitetails in Canada so I can’t say this from personal experience. I’m from the east coast where the majority of the deer we see are between 80-120 lbs. As a result I under-estimate the score because I’m not used to seeing Big Deer. I agree that most of the time I’m just over thinking it.
No offense, but while body size may make some deer look bigger/smaller than what they are, when you see one like this, you take what you see and just go with it. Don’t overthink it or guess at a number based on what you think the deer weighs, just add up what you see and trust it. That deer has great main beams, above average mass, and good brows/tine length.
I guessed 138″ last fall. That deer must have a much bigger body than I thought.
He is going to be an absolute stud this year. Hopefully he keeps his typical rack, but grows an 8″ drop as a result of the injury.
So the guy to comment, with a guess of 153-156″ wins a 7 day trip to come out and help you chase him down?? Thought I read that somewhere in there