Better Bucks of the Season

[mhancock]

I wanted to share a few photos of some of the better bucks I have photographed this season. Many have great potential and should be really nice in the next year or two. The next couple of weeks are known to be the best time of the year to hunt in my area so I hope to add some even better deer to my picture collection before Christmas. I wouldn't consider any of these deer "shooters" but I still enjoy seeing them and capturing them on film is just as much fun for me as harvesting these younger animals.

Sorry if some of these photos are reposts from the other two threads I started during our season. I know several of them have not been posted yet and I really wanted to start a thread to keep up with just the better deer I see throughout the season.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3295.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3286.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3281.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3279.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3275.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3254.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3269.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3268.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3073.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_3065.jpg

All of the photos below were taken on opening day. I'm sorry about some of them being fuzzy. I really wish I had a nice digital camera that could focus better on these long range moving target photos.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_2976.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_2973.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_2972.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/Wildlife/100_2970.jpg

[bad466]

Where were these shots taken?

[Ed Kurzawa]

Nice wide racks on them boys. Not many deer up get get to lookin like that. We have some nice, big bodied deer, but not many with nice racks like that.

[mhancock]

Where were these shots taken?

South GA and about 1/2 mile straight behind my house.:-D I have hunted all over the country but it's so nice to be able to hop on the golf cart and be in the stand in less than 5 minutes. We have about 2000 acres around us that some friends and I either own or lease and has been trophy managed for about 15 years. It has taken us this long to get the quality deer that we have now but I don't even travel to go hunting anymore unless out of state friends want to trade one of their guided trips on some equally productive property for the same here. We all agree not to shoot any bucks that you don't plan to mount with the exception of mgt. deer and it has worked out real well for us. A mgt. deer for us is any mature deer with less than 8 points or severe antler abnormalities that don't fall under the non-typical category. I learned a lot from my trips to TX and also have a game biologist that owns some of the managed property in our tract. I usually pass up all the non-typical deer I see as well as piebalds since we would really like to get more of these types of deer in our herd's bloodline. I passed up a couple of nice deer with drop tines last year and also found one that somebody shot from the road :( but I haven't seen any of the ones I let go so far this year. I'm thinking they should both be well over 150 class now if not better and fully expect to see them in the next couple of weeks because our rut is going into full swing right now. We do however still take our share of does at the end of the season and have about a 2:1 doe/buck ratio right now. The ranches I hunted in TX were closer to 1:1 but the deer were so small in body size. I took a nice 142 class 8 point in TX that barely scaled over 100lbs. on the hoof. I put him in the back of my F-350 4x4 without even dropping the tailgate.

Here is a pretty nice 10 point I took opening day the other one is a 7 point management deer I took last year. He was very old and lame so that's the only reason I harvested him. He didn't have any teeth and we found that he had probably been hit by a car earlier in his life. I watched him all season last year and he prgressed from a limp to not going more than 30 yards without having to lie down. It was sad to watch but after taking him and realizing how old he was I felt better knowing he more than likely wouldn't have survived the winter.

Opening day 10 point. 144 7/8" B&C
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2982.jpg

7 Point management buck
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2151.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2148.jpg


This is another deer that one of my buddies took last year. It was his first mature whitetail and he got it the same day I killed the 7 point.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/100_2149.jpg

[djracer]

I would think you would want to take the non typical bucks out of the heard. The nicer buck in the pics I would hang on the wall.

[moneypit]

WOW!

[two70novas]

damn nice deer ya got there, congrats

[mhancock]

I would think you would want to take the non typical bucks out of the heard. The nicer buck in the pics I would hang on the wall.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

DJ when I say non-typical I'm not referring to some little messed up basket rack deer or anything like that. If a mature deer like that is seen, it is usually taken out of the herd but I haven't seen one of those in the last couple of years. The deer I am talking about may have a third main beam, drop tines off of one or more beams and multiple brow tines or bifurcated points anywhere on the rack.

If you look closely at the picture above of the deer my friend Bubba killed last year you will see that it actually has 4 brow tines in addition to his standard 4x4 main frame. These are what I want more of in hopes of growing some potential record book deer in the non-typical category like the photos shown below.

Hopefully, I can get some pictures of one of these non-typicals I have seen over the week of Thanksgiving or the following week since we are in the middle of the best hunting our area has to offer all year.

Our mangement rules are pretty simple. 16" wide 8 points or better and mature deer. We consider any mature deer with 8 points or less a mgt. deer. This can also include old deer with small deformed racks too but not a little 2 y/o 150lb 6-8 point. This is a photo of a deer that I would encourage someone to take. He is not the type of non-typical I am trying to incorporate into the herd. He is mature and has a very deformed rack. Not the type of genes to grow into potential records.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/146.jpg


The deer below are the type I'm hoping to grow. The ones I have seen with drop tines have plenty of potential to look like this if they can just get enough age. That is our biggest problem with the size property we manage. If they roam outside of our protected area 9 out of 10 hunters would kill the deer we let go. This is why we plant for them year round and do everything possible to keep them here but during the rut there is no way to guarantee they will stay within the 2k acres.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/breeding-program.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/The%20home%20and%20land/Jackpot8456.jpg
These pictures came from a breeder in TX so they are all raised in captivity and the offspring are closely managed behind a high fence so I don't know if they could legally qualify for the record books. I am trying to accomplish a similar thing here in the wild. I already have one great typical hanging over the fireplace that scored 168 and missed the books by only 2 inches. I have also seen several really nice bucks during the off season that I know will make it in the books and make the photos I have posted look like tiny little deer. That is the main reason why I consider everything you see pictured here non-shooters. I really misjudged the 10 point I took opening day and thought he would score much better when I first saw him. The long beams and G2 and G3 tines made me think he would easily go over 150 and then after the harvest I was upset and guessed in the 130's. I was surprised when the taxidermist said he measured him at almost 145.

[smallblocklx]

damn ya'll got some nice deer. I wish we had enough land to manage but as soon as they cross the property line they get shot. people around here blast everything that walks even with an antler restriction. we've got 2 deer that will go 140-150 but they are toatlly nocturnal. to many people know about them and they've been gettin shot at all night lately. that's what's bad about having big deer. I've hunted the 150 ten point for 3 years and I'm hell bent on gettin him but it scares me when there's shots all night

[jwprops]

nice bucks i would take one them and not complain

[djracer]

I have relatives in Arlington, Ga.

[HILLBILLYONLINE]

great bucks,,,, what sucks is that here in north carolina they still dog hunt and it seem they have more rights than the land owner we own close to 1000 acres but dog hunters ride around and spotlite all nite then turn the dogs out on your land the next morning

[copperhead]

Here's one my nephew got a couple of weeks ago bow hunting.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd194/copperhead78/deerpic.jpg

[djracer]

Nice buck.

[copperhead]

Yea, he had a good week. Got this buck and found out his soon to be first born was going to be a boy.

[HILLBILLYONLINE]

THOSE ARE SOME GREAT BUCKS,,,it would be nice to manage a place to grow some really nice bucks, but around here if anyone sees a nice buck on your land they will sneak in on the surrounding land and kill it they kill everything that walks around our area