i was in the stand and doing some rattling when this big bodied 9 pointer upper 150's came strolling in and turned broadside about 35yrds away on a little ridge and i didnt let the arrow fly b/c of the wind and he looked about 2 or 3 yrs old a 12 yr old boy shot him when rifle season came in and it broke my heart i'm still sick about it
never have let a buck walk while bow hunting.... but then again, never seen a buck while bowhunting, so I don't know if I could do it regardless of size.
I have the rack off one that was found dead. I took video of that buck while gun hunting that season.I didn't realize it when I was taping him but he was badly wounded. He scores 137. Thats probably about the biggest I've let walk.
About 6 years ago let a 150 ish 10 walk. No mass at all but great tine length . I thought it was a young deer with a TON of potential. Never ever saw him again after that.
Early into some trips on out of state hunts I've passed a few in the high 130's.... But a deer like that in my home stomping grounds is getting an arrow every time....
I let a 120's buck walk several years back because he was just outside of my "comfortable" shooting range.(About 55yds uphill). His rack was not impressive, but he had the Biggest body I have ever seen on a buck in the Southeast. Easily 250lbs on the hoof. He had a black looking coat and his belly was almost dragging the ground. I am guessing he was 7-8 years old. My Dad jumped him on the way back to the truck. Hunts me to this day I didn't take the shot. But, I don't want to wound a deer and not recover him. I NEVER saw him again!
153" 10 point years ago. at that time you were only allowed one buck and i was hunting an 8 point that i had seen the day before out of the same stand. 10 pt. walked by me twice that morning following a doe. long story short,10 pt. killed during shotgun season that year. i never saw that 8 again that year, but got lucky the following year on him. he grossed 161 and netted157 6/8.
High 120" main frame eight with split brow tines, I think he was a 2-1/2 year old, as far as I know hes still alive and would love to send an arrow his way this season!
I passed on the one (first pic with the crooked tine on the left side) below opening day of WI 2011 bow season at last light 'cause i thought it was a doe that had just entered the thicket I was on the edge of all evening. Never saw him again The "hoss" buck I bumped TWICE walking to my stand after work. I finally figured out where he beds and he was never to be seen again by me. A hunter on the bordering land took a "nice" buck, but I never heard how big or saw any pics. I'm assuming it was him 'cause I never got another pic of him. Of course, every single pic I had of him was during the nighttime anyways.
He was at least 165" the day "I let him walk" because the shot opportunity was marginal. When I ultimately killed him later in the season, he scored 131", LOL.
I let a 145-150" buck walk by this past season at 10 yards, I sat there and looked at him for 20 minutes. I had just shot a doe not a minute before, I sat down and heard him grunting his way up the draw. He wandered around smelling where the doe had left a blood trail, and smelling the arrow (with the green Nockturnal still glowing right before dark).
I passed a lower 150's 3 1/2 year old buck I named the Split Brow Buck. Knew he was going to blow up into an awesome buck. Here is a pic of him at 4 1/2. I did not see him last year
I let a 6 pointer go by once early in season. Where I live it is rare to even see an 8 pointer I have only shot 2 one in my profile so anything bigger than a 6 gets an arrow
120's twice last year. One in Wyoming at 20 yds because it wasn't quite light enough and another in Kansas because I had just seen a 160 class deer 20 minutes before.
It sure makes you wonder where the hell he went?! Since 2007 there's been 2 bucks I never did get to see the next year that I saw the previous year. It bothers the heck out of me on what happened with these 2 bucks.
