Big Deer Blog

A guy said he saw this listing on eBay and asked: Hanback, is this what hunting is coming to? 165” - 170" BUCK FOR THE TAKING! COME BOW OR GUN HUNT (BOW PREFERRED) AND SHOOT A DEER OF A LIFETIME FOR A FRACTION OF THE COST. BRING YOUR CHILD AS WELL, WE WANT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY TO ENJOY A GOOD EXPERIENCE. HE IS IN A 3 ACRE PASTURE RIGHT NOW. GET AN AWESOME SET OF ANTLERS AND LOTS OF GREAT TASTING, HEALTHY MEAT! THERE ARE SEVERAL HOTELS WITHIN 10 MIN. FROM THE FARM IF YOU REQUIRE AN OVERNIGHT STAY. THIS LISTING IS FOR ONE BUCK. $2,600. I don’t know where to start. Anyone who would shoot that poor buck [...]

Mike: I think I may have another candidate for your big nose deer collection. I took this doe in Duluth, Minnesota. It looks a lot like those other deer with the big muzzles, but not as severe. I still have the head and am wondering if I should get in contact with Kevin Keel, the wildlife pathologist at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Georgia. Let me know what you think. I posted more photos to my blog. –Leif B. I advised Leif to contact Kevin and possibly send the scientist some tissue samples for further on this phenomenon. To date, scientists believe these big noses are caused by bacterial infections. Yesterday Leif wrote back: "I finished up de-boning the deer earlier this [...]

A guy emailed me this picture and asked: Hanback, would you shoot this buck? I love weird racks, but I don’t know. This looks to be a young buck. If you are managing a property, you would definitely classify it as a “cull” buck, as you don’t want him passing on those genetics. And he has a little drop tine! But I don’t think I’d shoot him…it would be interesting to see what the rack looks like in a year or two. Would you shoot him or pass?