Hunting & Fishing My ranch hand took this one.

CoCaDoRi

revived old guy
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 7, 2001
1,562
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North Georgia
This morning. We flipped a coin and apparently he got the good staging area to watch today.

We've only seen this guy 2 times this year. He's old. So old he only had 2 cutting teeth and his back teeth were worn to almost nothing. But he was still chasing Does and fighting off lesser buck. Both his brow times are broken as well as some other points.

He's calling him a 12.

Anyone ever here of an old buck still chasing and rutting does? It goes against what a lot of the literature from the experts say.


OH and BTW... the high shoulder shot at the base of the neck ( the way Jeffbird describes it ) ... boom.... and anchored where he stood.

190 gr Berger from a aught six don't ya know. Just a hair under 400 yards.

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Re: My ranch hand took this one.

Jeff,

Nope never got this one on video. Best we can tell he's from a ranch about 3 miles away. A hand there said he's pretty sure he was watching this guy most of the late summer early fall.

It is rut..so they have a pecker and will travel ;-)
 
Re: My ranch hand took this one.

Any buck can have a passive or aggressive mentality but plenty of mature bucks breed as much as they can til the day they die. Some well known biologists and researchers who have tracked mature bucks with radio collars say that some do avoid the rut for the most part, not going out of their way to breed does. Most bucks increase their movement and search a wider area for receptive does. Some of them actually decrease their core/home range greatly during hunting season and the rut. They think this is sometimes due to heavy hunting pressure or old bucks being wounded one or more times by hunters. Then they say some are just not fighters and shy away from fighting over turf and breeding rights while others are extremely aggressive and will fight to exhaustion/death without eating or drinking for days.

That is one to be proud of for sure, mature and big racked. Can't get much better. I hope you get an old buck like that too. I need one this season myself. Good luck.

High shoulder is my favorite as well, as long as you know the distance and are confident you can make the shot. If you are just a little unsteady its better to aim for the center of the vitals and towards the opposite shoulder.