I was out in western Oklahoma filming for a few days this week and snapped this picture of my friends Scott and Joni Sanderford. Back in January some quail hunters found this massive 8-pointer dead on their ranch, decomposing in a creek bottom near an alfalfa field.
This is a mystery buck that I figure was 5 years old when he perished. Where had he been living…where did he come from? Scott and Joni are out and about on their ranch every day, feeding stock, fixing fence, driving around, doing whatever is needed to keep the ranch up and running.
Each August Scott, a die-hard bowhunter, sets out lots of trail cameras, takes thousands of images and finds 3 or 4 good bucks that he and Joni will hunt in the fall. One of his best camera sets is right there in the creek on the edge of the alfalfa where this monster was found, and several more cameras are positioned within a mile of there. Not once did they see this 150-class giant alive. They never got one picture of the deer.
We talked about it, and Scott believes this might be one of those old, wary nocturnal warriors that live a secret life in a little core area, never to be seen or photographed. Could be, but the more I think about it, I suspect this buck was a transient that had come from miles away and was just passing through the ranch sometime last year–maybe on spring excursion…or looking for does later in the fall…or pushed across the road by other hunters. It is unclear exactly when or how this buck died.
I have hunted on Scott and Joni’s ranch, and I have seen how they live and hunt, and how much time they spend outside. It’s hard for me to believe they would have not seen this giant at least a few times if he’d lived there.
But who knows? The mystery of old big deer is one of the things we love about hunting so much.
What a stud of an 8. I’m sure he was just passing through and your friends farm was not his core area. It’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have had some encounter with this buck if he lived on their farm.
It’s amazing as Maverick stated, how far deer will travel for what ever reason. I’ve been hunting Northern Maine for 22 years now. Our 1st year I couldn’t believe when the camp owner/guide told us that a mature bucks home range is 10 miles and the deer will migrate up to 20+ miles to winter. An old trapper added, once the snow hits a does 1st leg joint she and her fawn will be on the move to the winter grounds.
So I guess you just never know what deer might cross your path at any given day. That’s what makes hunting so special……
Wow what a fantastic 8! I love the way his tines curve up and inward, just a cool find. I agree with you that this buck was probably a neighbors deer that lived within a few miles and happened to die while traveling across their property. There was once a study done on how far deer would travel to eat a desirable food source, and in this particular study it was blue corn. The biologist had multiple deer traveling over 5 miles at night to get to this blue corn and then going back home before daylight. I believe one buck even traveled 8 miles and that was what blew their mind. Just goes to show that deer travel for more reasons than just the rut. Awesome deer Mike thanks for sharing.
Surprised that a deer like that could go unnoticed for 3 years (assuming he wouldn’t be anything to go nuts on the first couple of years)…not really. The great ones have a knack of doing that at least to me. That’s part of the magic of the whitetail…..you never know what’s just out of sight. Gotta’ love it. Super buck and it has to be great to know the genetics for that kind of buck are on your ranck!