In October 2008 I first blogged about a giant whitetail that was living in the city limits of East Sioux Falls. Somebody posted a Youtube video of him (I don’t see it online now) and it caused mild hysteria amongst hunters and non-hunters alike. At the time people figured the buck was the walking state record non-typical for South Dakota. He was a 12×14 and people figured he might score 250!
The monster would come and go between the city limits and private lands, where people have tried to hunt him. Rumors flew like they always do with a noticeably Big Deer—“somebody poached him…no, he’s still out there…he got hit by a car…”
For the last 7 years I’ve tracked this amazing deer with the help of Kelly K., who has found the buck’s massive sheds a couple times. Kelly wrote me yesterday with this update:
Mike, below is a picture of him from (2014)… He is for sure on his way down, take a look at his body, you can count the ribs and see the hindquarter bones sticking out. He did shed his antlers in same area where I have found two sets, but no luck finding them this year.
Kelly figures the East Sioux Falls Buck is at least 12 years old and maybe as old as 14! I hope he lives forever! Thanks Kelly for the update and continue to keep us posted.
It’s been a cool adventure following this big guy, glad to see he made it too! Thanks Kelly K. for keeping us updated.
It’s been awesome to see updates every year on this majestic beast of buck! I really hope he makes it and we see him in August. His genetics are awesome and now they probably show up in a lot of bucks in that area.
Look at those bases still though!