It was early in Jan 2011 while shed hunting, I was walking & spotted a buck that I thought was real wide. I did not get a good look at him so I was not real sure on how wide he really was. All I knew is that it was a great buck. After a few days of a distance spotting I went out for a walk on a very cold day on Jan 22nd 2011. There was some fresh snow on the ground & a slight snow falling. I started to check one of my favorite bedding & staging spots for deer on this property. As I walked across the hot spot, as I call it, I spotted some tines sticking above the little clumps of grass & the snow. I walked over & was shocked at what I saw. It was a very nice right side antler with 6 points on it. It had 5 typical points with a kicker off the main beam right by the brow tine. I got home & scored the antler at 71 3/8 inches. Within the next couple days I spotted the big buck again & noticed that the right side was missing. I then knew I had the right antler off of this buck. I was very happy & set my mind on walking till my boots had no rubber left on the bottoms. For the next two weeks I walked my tail off trying to find that other side. On Feb 19th 2011 I walked up on the left side laying in some taller grass on the edge of the woods to the bedding hot spot. I was so excited it was really tough to leave it lay while I got ready to take a picture of it. As soon as I took the picture I picked it up & admired it for a good 15 minutes before I continued on my hunt for shed antlers. After the great walk, I went home & started to score that side to compare it with the matching side. After the score was calculated at 62 2/8 inches I tagged them & displayed them together. That was one of the best sets that I have ever found. Knowing that this fella made it through the winter, I had my sights set on him during hunting season to harvest. That is if he would be so kind to give me that opportunity. During the 2012 deer season I did not see him nor did I get any trail cam pictures of him. Then at the end of the hunting season my mind was thinking that the giant was taken by another hunter. Once again shed antler season was on & out to the woods I went on Jan 14th 2012. I came out of a thicket to see some deer on the logging road crossing to the thicket that I just came out of. I always have my camera with me so I hunkered back into the edge of the thicket & started taking pictures. Then all of a sudden there was Wide Boy! I was taking pictures so fast that I could not get enough of them. He was sporting both sides still & I was very excited that he made it through yet another hunting season. The HUNT then began to find both sides. I then got pictures of him again on Jan 19th 2012 with 2 other bucks. One of those, I named Hoss & the other Big Eight & they all are very big bucks. These 3 bucks hung out together for the next couple days so I called them "The Three Amigos!" After that I looked for the next few months for all of those bucks antlers & did not find a single one of them. They must have known a hiding spot that I did not know about or another shed hunter beat me to the punch at their antlers! I was disappointed that I did not find them but knew it was part of the hunt! Knowing he was still alive I then set my heart to bow hunting him again. Once again no luck on seeing him or photos again. It was time to shed hunt once again & my heart was set on finding Wide Boy's antlers. My first few days out in Jan of 2013 I did not see him at all. I even jumped a big herd of deer with some nice bucks in them but NO Wide Boy. I went out on Jan 6th 2013 & was checking a spot that bucks that were wounded during season or old always went to die. I call that spot the bone yard. It is a tall grass area with some shrub trees all over in it. It also holds water like a swamp when there is enough rain. The thoughts again passed in my mind that Wide Boy was taken during season. I then walked up on a dead 9 point buck in the grass under a shrub tree. I made the call to the DNR to claim the buck & then continued on my walk through the shrubs. I then could not believe my eyes! There sat the left side with some snow on top of it with tines up. Wide Boy once again survived! How he is doing this I am not sure but want to find out bad. I searched for 7 hours that day since that one seemed like it was on the ground for a few days. Nothing else was found that day. I was busy with work for the next week & a half. Once I got back hunting again it was nice to be out in the woods. I went for a short walk on Jan 25th 2013 & not even 100 yards & 10 minutes into my walk I found the right side. The tree rats got to the antler first but did not do too much damage to the antler. I then scored them both that weekend. The left side scored 71 4/8 inches & the right side scored 73 3/8 inches. I was really impressed with both antlers. They both had five points on each side with the right side having a broken brow tine. They both stayed very much the same as the set that I found in 2011. With all of this happening through out the years I have been very blessed. Now once again this coming hunting season I am out to put Wide Boy on my wall of fame! If that does not happen I will be in the hunt for another set of shed antlers.
Excellent recap!! Hopefully you can start putting the puzzle pieces together and figure him out this season!!
Way to go Dawg nice sheds and one great story of how you have acquired the sheds each year. I hope you get him next year to put on the wall with the sheds hanging on the side. If not I know you will be burning up rubber to get the sheds he leaves behind. Good luck.
Man, great story. Two sets of sheds and a mount would look awesome hanging together. Best of luck! -D
Hey Dawg, I just showed these pics to my 6 yr old son, and he said "Oh my gosh, he's so wide, those sheds are huge!" Congrats again, and great story!
