Heres a fun thread. As most hunters do, i like to keep tabs on the bucks in my area. Ive been running cameras for 8 seasons now, and ive gotten pictures of over 50 bucks. Out of those, only a handful were mature. The most famous two were "Freak Daddy" and the "Halloween Buck". This thread is devoted to the "Halloween Buck", his age, and my history of getting his pictures. Recently, a few hunters have suggested that ive been getting pictures of him longer then the 2 years that i thought he's been around. There is a possibility if he is indeed a 7.5/8.5 year old buck that i have pictures of him from all the way back in 2003. Heres my rundown: First appearance, October 2003. Looks to be a 110" 2.5 year old with 9 points: Second appearance, August 2004. Camera was on the same exact tree as the October 2003 picture, and the buck has the same split brow tine. Looks to be around 130" as a 3.5 year old 11 point: Third appearance, October 2006. After a year long absence, he makes another apearance on this scrape setup. Same spilt brow time, but now over 170" and sporting at least 13 points as a 5.5 year old in his prime. He then disapears for a year. Fourth appearance, October 2008. Same scrape, still sporting 13 points, just added a droptine to the right antler, looks to be in the 160" range as a 7.5 year old buck: Fifth appearance, July/October 2009. Still sporting 13 points, the "Halloween" buck is now an 8.5 year old grandpa of a deer on the decline: So what say ye? Same deer, 8.5 years old? Or just a ton of monsters?
I think the first pic is of a random 90" buck. I think the second and third pics are possibly the same buck. And the remainder are all of the same "halloween" buck
I think the deer in velvet and the last 2 pics are def different deer. I see no drop on the last 2 pics, AND his right side is way more "crab claw" looking than the velvet deer.
I see it now, in the last pics, that last point on his right side looks alot smaller due to the angle, then in velvet....awesome deer and awesome pics!!!!!
The great thing is, when you consider his age, he has been spreading some great genetics in your area for a while! Not sure on the first 2 pics, maybe. Last 6 same for sure.
