# Got my mountain buck



## Professor (Dec 16, 2020)

I have a data choke so this will be it till I get home to my wifi. This man had a doe penned up in some thick little pines. She came out for bite to eat and made a break for it. Big dude came out after her and cut her off, forcing her back down the ridge and into the pines. He was still moving fast but not at a run on the next small ridge, about 80 yards away. The doe was back in the thicket and I got a window when he was still 20 yards up the ridge. I shot, he spun and went to the ground. I was shooting  a 416 Ruger, so I was surprised when he got up. he ran too me and a bit to my left. I had a 5 or 6 foot window to shoot and I put a 400 gr semi solid through both shoulders. it slammed him to the ground like a cotton tail.  He tried to get up again but I was there. I stepped on one antler and grabbed the other. The entrance and exit wounds were both less than 2 inches apart, and blood was pouring out of them. he was gone in seconds. It took me almost 6 hours to butcher and pack him out. This was the biggest deer I have ever seen in Georgia. I have no doubt he was over 225. I will try to get some pics to upload. he is a massive, beefy, almost chocolate 8 pointer.


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## Mr Bya Lungshot (Dec 16, 2020)

That’s a goodun.


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## Professor (Dec 16, 2020)




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## jbogg (Dec 16, 2020)

Heck yea!  Outstanding deer!  Congrats again Professor.


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## Professor (Dec 16, 2020)

jbogg said:


> Heck yea!  Outstanding deer!  Congrats again Professor.


thanks jbogg. I am feeling my age right now. I am thrilled that all the workouts got me to where I can pack a big deer out. the goal is a pack elk hunt. I am also terrified of how hard that really was to do. that was 1.5 miles up a ridge. I have a long way to go before I can pack an elk 10 or 20 miles.


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## bear claw (Dec 16, 2020)

Great buck. Congratulations on all your work paying off. What did they age him at?


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## jbogg (Dec 16, 2020)

Professor said:


> thanks jbogg. I am feeling my age right now. I am thrilled that all the workouts got me to where I can pack a big deer out. the goal is a pack elk hunt. I am also terrified of how hard that really was to do. that was 1.5 miles up a ridge. I have a long way to go before I can pack an elk 10 or 20 miles.



I’m going way back in this weekend looking for a big one I recently got on camera. It would be a brutal pack out, but I would welcome that.  Congrats again.  You are the definition of persistence.


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## Professor (Dec 16, 2020)

bear claw said:


> Great buck. Congratulations on all your work paying off. What did they age him at?


this was on NF land, not a wma. but, I have to go to the Coosawati check station in the morning to get my bear tagged. I will get them to take a look. my bet is 6.5 years.


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## Professor (Dec 16, 2020)

jbogg said:


> I’m going way back in this weekend looking for a big one I recently got on camera. It would be a brutal pack out, but I wuldd welcome that.  Congrats again.  You are the definition of persistence.


maybe fool as well. yes, the work starts after you ave one on the ground, but it is a job you earned. I never complained. I did get concerned that they would find me dead on that ridge with a big rack sticking out of my pack.


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## Professor (Dec 16, 2020)

jbogg said:


> I’m going way back in this weekend looking for a big one I recently got on camera. It would be a brutal pack out, but I would welcome that.  Congrats again.  You are the definition of persistence.


how far in?


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## jbogg (Dec 16, 2020)

Professor said:


> how far in?



A little over 2 miles from the truck with a bunch of climbing and descending.


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## WoodlandScout82 (Dec 16, 2020)

Great buck! Congrats on a mountain ghost!


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## Professor (Dec 16, 2020)

jbogg said:


> A little over 2 miles from the truck with a bunch of climbing and descending.


I was 1.5 but it was a relatively easy trail. that is why I connected. I walked right down the ridge with a constant wind in favor and sat down 50 yards from the deer. no sound, no fighting crap.


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## splatek (Dec 16, 2020)

Way to go @Professor 
I’m with jbogg you’re the epitome of persistence. Great work
Great buck


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## Kev (Dec 16, 2020)

That looks like a hoss. The side view of that rack looks insanely huge.


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## antharper (Dec 17, 2020)

Beautiful buck , congrats ! You’ve had a heck of a last few days !


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## Thunder Head (Dec 17, 2020)

Man your on fire. Congrats on another fine buck!

I remember the first time is shot a hog with a 300 gr. partition. It will thumpem!
What ammo are you shooting in that big boy?


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## Raylander (Dec 17, 2020)

Excellent. That’s a bruiser!


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## Ruger#3 (Dec 17, 2020)

Congrats on a great buck.

“I was shooting a 416 Ruger, so I was surprised when he got up.”

I’m surprised that you got up.


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## tree cutter 08 (Dec 17, 2020)

Wow! Now that's a giant! Congrats!


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## JustUs4All (Dec 17, 2020)

Great deer.  Congratulations.


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## bany (Dec 17, 2020)

See what happens when you live in the woods! Congratulations Professor! What a buck!! You won’t ever have to get another one like that but you’re going to have fun trying!


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## Raylander (Dec 17, 2020)

bany said:


> See what happens when you live in the woods! Congratulations Professor! What a buck!! You won’t ever have to get another one like that but you’re going to have fun trying!



You miss that hawg toad buck deer he kilt last year? Professor is a stone cold killah.


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## bany (Dec 17, 2020)

Raylander said:


> You miss that hawg toad buck deer he kilt last year? Professor is a stone cold killah.


No sir, I’m aware of his obsession!


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## DeucesWild (Dec 17, 2020)

Congrats Professor!!! That's a STUD!


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## gacowboy (Dec 17, 2020)

Congrats on a fine buck !!!


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## bear claw (Dec 17, 2020)

Show us more pics of him. Hes a goodun.


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## specialk (Dec 17, 2020)

nice!


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## EyesUp83 (Dec 17, 2020)

Congrats on making it happen. It's funny, "the harder you work luckier you get". Glad to see you got your mountain buck. What was the elevation you found him?


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## livinoutdoors (Dec 17, 2020)

Wow! Just wow!


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## Whit90 (Dec 17, 2020)

What a buck! That main beam looks huge!! Congrats!


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## Buckman18 (Dec 17, 2020)

Awesome buck!!! I was just texting a friend yesterday not to give up, Dec10-25 is when the 7 year olds show up in the mountains. 

Congratulations!!!


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

Thunder Head said:


> Man your on fire. Congrats on another fine buck!
> 
> I remember the first time is shot a hog with a 300 gr. partition. It will thumpem!
> What ammo are you shooting in that big boy?


first hit was a 300 gr ttsx. the second was a hornady 400 gr semi solid.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

EyesUp83 said:


> Congrats on making it happen. It's funny, "the harder you work luckier you get". Glad to see you got your mountain buck. What was the elevation you found him?


2700 ft.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

Raylander said:


> You miss that hawg toad buck deer he kilt last year? Professor is a stone cold killah.


I


bear claw said:


> Show us more pics of him. Hes a goodun.


when I get home.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

Buckman18 said:


> Awesome buck!!! I was just texting a friend yesterday not to give up, Dec10-25 is when the 7 year olds show up in the mountains.
> 
> Congratulations!!!


I just had 3 wildlife biologists agree that this is a 4 and a half year old deer. man, 225 pounds and that rack. his daddy is out there still.


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## Tnhunter (Dec 17, 2020)

Congratulations!


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

bear claw said:


> Great buck. Congratulations on all your work paying off. What did they age him at?


4.5. I could not believe this was not a 6.5 year old.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

bear claw said:


> Great buck. Congratulations on all your work paying off. What did they age him at?


4.5. I could not believe this was not a 6.5 year old. 


Ruger#3 said:


> Congrats on a great buck.
> 
> “I was shooting a 416 Ruger, so I was surprised when he got up.”
> 
> I’m surprised that you got up.


That thing is a beast until you are in  action. I did'nt notice  the recoil at all.


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## ddd-shooter (Dec 17, 2020)

On fire! ? well done! County?


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## wvdawg (Dec 17, 2020)

Mighty fine!  Congrats!


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## tree cutter 08 (Dec 17, 2020)

Professor said:


> 4.5. I could not believe this was not a 6.5 year old.


I've seen alot that the tooth wear doesn't match the body or horns. Jawbone aging aint always accurate


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

Green score of 130 and a half.


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## Buck70 (Dec 17, 2020)

I would be very proud to take that buck as I am sure you are proud.


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## Resica (Dec 17, 2020)

Congratulations Mr. Professor!! Great buck!!


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Dec 17, 2020)

Man, thats a stud!  Congrats!  

No, jawbone aging gets us about 80 percent of the time within one year of leeway on either side. It’s not very scientific.  It helps see trends though. And the older the deer is, the less accurate it becomes. 

Im sure that buck is older than 4.5. Youve honestly done the near impossible in these hills and should be extremely proud.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

Sautee Ridgerunner said:


> Man, thats a stud!  Congrats!
> 
> No, jawbone aging gets us about 80 percent of the time within one year of leeway on either side. It’s not very scientific.  It helps see trends though. And the older the deer is, the less accurate it becomes.
> 
> Im sure that buck is older than 4.5. Youve honestly done the near impossible in these hills and should be extremely proud.


What is the accurate method for aging?


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

a couple of pics now that I am home. I decided to process the bear myself. I will skin it tomorrow and head to the taxidermist tomorrow.


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## whitetailfreak (Dec 17, 2020)

That's a dandy bud, congrats.


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## jbogg (Dec 17, 2020)

Bear and Buck on the tailgate.  Doesn’t get much better.


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## bear claw (Dec 17, 2020)

Great hunt.


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 17, 2020)

Dude that’s a stellar deer. Look at those main beams! Congrats man! Looks like luck has been on your side this past week.


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## bany (Dec 17, 2020)

What a hunt! That buck keeps looking better! 
Id suggest losing as much fat as you can on the bear, I’m glad you’re doing it yourself!


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Dec 17, 2020)

Professor, there is no 100 percent accurate method for aging deer. Cementum annuli (like we do on bears and lions) is a bit more accurate but none of it is close to 100 percent. 

Its very common to pull and age each jawbone from the same deer and get different results.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

Sautee Ridgerunner said:


> Professor, there is no 100 percent accurate method for aging deer. Cementum annuli (like we do on bears and lions) is a bit more accurate but none of it is close to 100 percent.
> 
> Its very common to pull and age each jawbone from the same deer and get different results.


so the tooth is the best method considering the expense of other methods and marginal increase of accuracy.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Dude that’s a stellar deer. Look at those main beams! Congrats man! Looks like luck has been on your side this past week.


Thanks Chris. it had been a tough season until thos 17 hours.


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## Cwb19 (Dec 17, 2020)

Congrats on some nice animals your hard work really paid off


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 17, 2020)

Professor said:


> Thanks Chris. it had been a tough season until thos 17 hours.


Give us some details on the setup. Upper ridge cruising trail? I assume you were ground sitting. I can’t believe you curb stomped a deer like a turkey flapping. Man that’s awesome!


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Give us some details on the setup. Upper ridge cruising trail? I assume you were ground sitting. I can’t believe you curb stomped a deer like a turkey flapping. Man that’s awesome!


this was the last place of 5 I planned to hunt. I was sitting on the side of the ridge, about 50 yards to the bottom. I was on the windward side of the ridge. common wisdom calls for sitting on the leeward side to catch the cruisers, but the hollow below had tremendous sign, suggesting a resident buck, so I sat with a constant wind in my face, sitting on the ground and back against a big hardwood. there was a smallish cedar a few feet down and to my left. it offered a bit of cover. I could not see most of the hollow, but I was able to get to that spot silently and quickly. I figured any heavy rut action I would hear and could change location if needed. fortunately all the action was right in front of me.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Dec 17, 2020)

For the purposes of game management, tooth wear is accurate enough to serve all purposes. It is 100 percent accurate for fawns, 1.5, and saying that an animal is 2.5 OR older. From there it a strongly educated estimate becoming less accurate with increasing age.  

I saw an iowa buck recently that scored 190” and weighed somewhere around 250lbs. His jawbone was a textbook 2.5 year old. Multiple people agreed. 

Now we never saw his other jaw to see if there was a huge difference but it’s a goid example of the scope of inaccuracy.


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## Professor (Dec 17, 2020)

ddd-shooter said:


> On fire! ? well done! County?


murray


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## Joe Brandon (Dec 18, 2020)

Man that is awesome!!!! You put a young man like myself to shame hiking both those guys out within a day! No joke I dry heave and vomit every time. Awesome work and thanks for the good read.


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## Rabun (Dec 18, 2020)

What a buck!! I've been following your exploits and very happy for you....he's a monster anywhere but out of the high mountains..what a feat!  Congratulations!!


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 18, 2020)

Professor said:


> this was the last place of 5 I planned to hunt. I was sitting on the side of the ridge, about 50 yards to the bottom. I was on the windward side of the ridge. common wisdom calls for sitting on the leeward side to catch the cruisers, but the hollow below had tremendous sign, suggesting a resident buck, so I sat with a constant wind in my face, sitting on the ground and back against a big hardwood. there was a smallish cedar a few feet down and to my left. it offered a bit of cover. I could not see most of the hollow, but I was able to get to that spot silently and quickly. I figured any heavy rut action I would hear and could change location if needed. fortunately all the action was right in front of me.


Evening hunt? So far evenings in the mountains have been less productive for me at higher elevations. I usually catch bucks coming up, or sticking with a higher 1/3 elevation in the morning, I’m guessing this relates to rising thermals, they can cruise the top leeward trails, and smell anything blowing over the ridge, or anything the thermals bring up, and of course they are crossing doe trails. My little theory would indicate that the reverse happens over night, they move towards lower elevations in the evening as thermals drop, so they can smell the upper ridges at night. Saddles, high benches, and ridge hubs, where several finger ridges break from a main ridge are rising thermal hubs, they funnel movement and thermal currents, then crows feet-where several hollows all converge are dropping thermal hubs, where the scent from all the surrounding ridge fingers converge.


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## Professor (Dec 18, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Evening hunt? So far evenings in the mountains have been less productive for me at higher elevations. I usually catch bucks coming up, or sticking with a higher 1/3 elevation in the morning, I’m guessing this relates to rising thermals, they can cruise the top leeward trails, and smell anything blowing over the ridge, or anything the thermals bring up, and of course they are crossing doe trails. My little theory would indicate that the reverse happens over night, they move towards lower elevations in the evening as thermals drop, so they can smell the upper ridges at night. Saddles, high benches, and ridge hubs, where several finger ridges break from a main ridge are rising thermal hubs, they funnel movement and thermal currents, then crows feet-where several hollows all converge are dropping thermal hubs, where the scent from all the surrounding ridge fingers converge.


Morning hunt. It was about 11:30 when the doe tried to make her escape and the buck exploded out of the thicket. This was up high, about 2/3 of the way from the creek bottom to the top of the mountain. Your reasoning is sound. The issues I have not resolved are 1, the interaction of wind and thermals. In other words, how much wind does it take to overpower thermal currents. 2, the effect of hormones. Many times I have had rutting deer stare at me and then just walk away like I was never there. Both this buck and doe ran behind me and right into my scent, but the doe went back to the thicket as commanded by the buck, and the buck followed right after her.


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## Professor (Dec 18, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Evening hunt? So far evenings in the mountains have been less productive for me at higher elevations. I usually catch bucks coming up, or sticking with a higher 1/3 elevation in the morning, I’m guessing this relates to rising thermals, they can cruise the top leeward trails, and smell anything blowing over the ridge, or anything the thermals bring up, and of course they are crossing doe trails. My little theory would indicate that the reverse happens over night, they move towards lower elevations in the evening as thermals drop, so they can smell the upper ridges at night. Saddles, high benches, and ridge hubs, where several finger ridges break from a main ridge are rising thermal hubs, they funnel movement and thermal currents, then crows feet-where several hollows all converge are dropping thermal hubs, where the scent from all the surrounding ridge fingers converge.


The cruising bucks I have seen since I started mountain hunting last year have been coming down the ridge in the mid-morning.


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 18, 2020)

Professor said:


> The cruising bucks I have seen since I started mountain hunting last year have been coming down the ridge in the mid-morning.


Might have smelled something interesting? Not saying my theory is 100%, obviously deer are gonna do what they wanna do. Folks say bucks like to move into the wind, but most I’ve shot are walking with the wind blowing into their tails.


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## tree cutter 08 (Dec 18, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Might have smelled something interesting? Not saying my theory is 100%, obviously deer are gonna do what they wanna do. Folks say bucks like to move into the wind, but most I’ve shot are walking with the wind blowing into their tails.


I've seen them do a sorts of things during the rut. Outside of that they live by there nose


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## Professor (Dec 18, 2020)

chrislibby88 said:


> Might have smelled something interesting? Not saying my theory is 100%, obviously deer are gonna do what they wanna do. Folks say bucks like to move into the wind, but most I’ve shot are walking with the wind blowing into their tails.


Interesting. So, maybe travel during the rut is dictated by the location of the does. Most of the bucks I have seen on ridges during the rut are moving with a crosswind. They have been either on top of the ridge or down a bit on a trail on the leeward side. Of course, these findings might be biased because that is where I have been looking for the bucks.


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 18, 2020)

Professor said:


> Interesting. So, maybe travel during the rut is dictated by the location of the does. Most of the bucks I have seen on ridges during the rut are moving with a crosswind. They have been either on top of the ridge or down a bit on a trail on the leeward side. Of course, these findings might be biased because that is where I have been looking for the bucks.


Oh for sure. Everything they do in rut is dictated by where the does are and travel between different doe groups. 


tree cutter 08 said:


> I've seen them do a sorts of things during the rut. Outside of that they live by there nose


I think they are stilling living by their nose, they are just moving where they can smell does rather than danger. Once they smell one that requires a closer sniff then all bets are off.


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## chrislibby88 (Dec 18, 2020)

@Professor My mountain spots all revolve around does. Does live in or very tight to my best hunting spots. When I find does, I setup on the closest best buck sign and start hunting.


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## alwayslookin (Dec 18, 2020)

Outstanding buck!  You can tell he was a big'n by looking at his head in the tailgate pic.  Congrats sir.


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## Professor (Dec 18, 2020)

alwayslookin said:


> Outstanding buck!  You can tell he was a big'n by looking at his head in the tailgate pic.  Congrats sir.


that was pretty much my daughter's response when I got home. she could not get over the size of his head.


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## Professor (Dec 18, 2020)

alwayslookin said:


> Outstanding buck!  You can tell he was a big'n by looking at his head in the tailgate pic.  Congrats sir.


just weighed it. 26 pounds.


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## deadend (Dec 19, 2020)

Awesome buck and good story.  Bringing enough gun is never a bad idea!


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