Buck Manager | Buck Manager

Amazing Locked-Antlered Bucks Harvested

When it comes to unique deer hunts this really is one of those once in a lifetime deer hunting stories. In fact, it is downright amazing! A reader of the site tipped me off to this story, which is making its way into hunting forums around the country — and for good reason. The harvested buck was a good animal, but so was the head of the dead buck he was carrying around on its head! That’s right, apparently the bucks got into a scuffle and the better buck won — but he also ended up carrying around the dead buck because they had locked antlers. It’s wild, check out the story:

Attached is a picture of my daughter, Morgen, who went deer hunting for the first time this last Saturday morning. Little did she know she would get a trophy that most people have only seen in magazines. Morgen killed a 12 point buck whose rack was still locked with a 9 point buck. The 9 point buck was dead and little more than the bust and remnants of the hide were left. If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see the two bucks are literally cheek to cheek.

This is extremely rare. Hunters will find two dead bucks whose racks are locked together. To make a kill of a live buck is just amazing. For Morgen this was a once in a lifetime event. The 12 point buck is a magnificent animal. We can only speculate that the hide from the 9 point buck was all ripped and tattered from coyotes.

We were hunting the 7D ranch north of San Angelo. Since this email is going quite literally all over the world I’ll explain that this ranch is over 200 square miles in size. We would like to thank the Sugg family (Joel and Chris especially) for inviting Morgen out to the ranch and being a part of a lifetime memory. We got many many pictures. Needless to say, everyone else took a lot of pictures.

The deer have been dropped off at a taxidermist but it will be 4-6 months before the mounting is finished. This is a story that will be told over and over for many years to come. I’m really proud of Morgen and I just want the entire world to know. Our best to you all and for sharing this little bit of excitement (even for those who are not hunters… thanks for understanding).

Mark Priest
Legend Jewelers
San Angelo, Texas

Non-Typical Buck Road-Killed in Milam County

Non-typical white-tailed bucks are odd. That is exactly why they are called non-typicals. The 4 1/2 year old white-tailed buck featured in these photos was found dead, hit by a vehicle along a stretch of road in Milam County, Texas. By looking at the photos, it is easy to determine that the antlers on the buck are not typical, but what causes bucks to have such odd antler characteristics? Well, deciding on a specific reason for the presence of non-typical antlers is never straight forward because there can be several causes. A past injury, genetics, and the overall health of the deer can impact antler conformation. In addition, hormone levels are believed to contribute to large non-typical, palmated racks. The road-killed buck featured here has palmated G1s and could have had more, but it is difficult to determine since portions of it’s antlers where broken off during the accident.

Continue reading “Non-Typical Buck Road-Killed in Milam County”

Fighting White-tailed Bucks and Fences

I am continually amazed at the number of ways in which white-tailed deer meet their demise. Although deer commonly die by getting one or both of their hind legs hung in a fence, and less often by getting impaled on iron fences while attempting to jump them, it appears that bucks can also become “captured” when their antlers get hung up in net-wire fences. Over the years though, I have heard of bucks getting their antlers hung in fences while fighting. Is this the case here?

A rancher once told me that he watched two large whitetail bucks battling each other through a game fence (opposite sides) and then the next day he found one of the bucks dead on his ranch, presumably from injuries sustained during that fight. Was the fence to blame in that case? Not likely, especially considering that whitetail bucks will sometimes fight to the death.

Although most battles do not result in death, some do. Some fights even involve both bucks dying, either directly from locked antlers or indirectly through injuries sustained during the battle. Nature is survival of the fittest, but as hunters and deer managers we hate to see bucks killing themselves.

These photos of what appears to be a 3 1/2 year old buck hung in a fence come to us today from the Four A Ranch in Coryell County, Texas. Was this buck battling another buck across the fence or within the same ranch? It is hard to say from looking at the photos, but both scenarios end with a dead buck.

Monster Buck Hit By Car in Houston

The breeding season can make a smart white-tailed buck make some really bad decisions. A buck can live in total seclusion throughout the year and then, suddenly and seemingly from nowhere, can end up smack-dab in front of you while following a “hot” doe. Sure, this is probably the best chance a hunter has at seeing a truly monstrous buck. The peak of the white-tailed breeding season, often referred to as the rut, is THE BEST way to bring that big boy into sight. Of course, pure chance can also bring a mature buck out of hiding.

This was the case last week in Houston when the 13 point buck above was struck by a vehicle near FM 1960 and Northgate Country Club (about 60 yards from the light on Northgate Forest Drive) on Tuesday November 18 at 6:45 am. Apparently the big buck was flushed from a wooded area he had likely been using as a bedding area and made his first — and last — wrong move. Here is an eye witness account as received via email:

Guys, I had to share this with you. Tuesday morning just as I was coming up to the light at Northgate Forest Drive and FM 1960 the golf course ground crew flushed this big buck from a section of thick woods next to FM1960. He was hit by at least one car immediately. The grounds crew ran over and pulled him from the middle of the road but he was messed up pretty bad, bleeding a great deal from the mouth. Truly unfortunate. The best buck I have every seen in the flesh.

The antlers of this Harris County buck were subsequently scored using the Boone and Crockett Club system established for white-tailed deer and chalked up a remarkable score of 188 5/8 inches. The buck was estimated to be 4 1/2 years old, so who knows how big this urban monster would have been had he survived another couple of years. I’m sure his genes live on in other deer, out there somewhere.

TPWD Wants Comments on New Deer Hunting Regulations

Deer hunting regulations impact hunters and the deer populations that we hunt. Each year in every state, wildlife agencies examine current regulations and potentially propose changes to those regulations to better manage existing game populations. Several years ago, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) transitioned away from political boundaries for the purpose of monitoring white-tailed deer populations and went towards biologically-based vegetative communities, referred to as Resource Management Units (RMUs).

TPWD identified 33 unique RMUs across the state having similar soils, vegetation types, and land use practices that they believe will more accurately capture deer population dynamics. Their intent is to develop deer season bag limit frameworks based on these units, although regulations will be implemented based on county boundaries to avoid confusion among hunters.

Recently, TPWD unveiled an extensive suite of potential regulation changes in deer harvest throughout much of the state. This includes an expansion of antler restrictions and buck harvest in additional counties. The department has begun gathering public input on the potential proposals during the next few months and present to the commission in January a comprehensive set of proposals. Those proposals will then go back out for official comment during a series of public hearings around the state next spring.

A final decision will be made by the commission at its March 25-26, 2009, public meeting. The changes that could be proposed are listed below and the online public comment period will last until 5:00 pm on January 14, 2009. Click here to make your comments now: Comment on potential TPWD regulations

Expansion of Antler Restriction Regulations into 52 additional counties
Bag Limit Changes: Baylor, Callahan, Haskell, Jones, Knox, Shackelford, Taylor, Throckmorton, and Wilbarger counties
Bag Limit Changes: Pecos, Terrell, and Upton counties
Bag Limit Changes: Most Cross Timbers and Prairies and Eastern Rolling Plains counties
Bag Limit Changes: Selected counties in the western rolling plains
General open season: Dawson, Deaf Smith, and Martin counties
Expansion of the late antlerless and spike season into additional counties
General open season (with antlerless harvest by permit only) in Grayson county
Additional antlerless deer harvest opportunities
Muzzleloader counties and season
Extending youth-only seasons