About 5 years ago I had the biggest buck I've ever seen at 20 yards for about 5 minutes. Coming right down the happy trail and hung up behind a mess of stuff where my arrow was not going to fit through. Had a perfect wind, there was noplace else he could go except right in front of me broadside (ha ha so I thought). Then he took a few steps backwards and disappeared into some thick stuff and the gig was up. He didn't allow me to measure him. But I can it was one of those where you see a deer and say "buck" or "decent buck" or "nice buck" or "big buck" or "shooter" or "wallhanger" and then holy &%$# I've never seen anything like that before! He was one of those. Just different. Which is probably why he was alive.
My best guess as to the biggest deer I have seen while hunting is around 140 inches, net. Three years ago I had him at 20 yards for 2-3 minutes. He was moving in and out of cover trying to figure out where the source of the rattling was coming from on top of a ridge. If I had to do it all over again I would have drawn the second I saw him, and would have shot him the first time he stopped in a spot that offered me a good shot. I was waiting for the perfect shot as the wind was near perfect. That perfect shot never developed and he caught my thermals as he circled above my elevation on the ridge. That was all she wrote.
The biggest typical was pushing 190.....the biggest non-typical net 246 3/8, he was killed the week after I seen'em.
This was the biggest one I've ever seen while hunting, unfortunately he never was close enough for a shot. I did find one of his shed from that year. He was killed the following year on opening day of gun season about 100 yards from me.
