Biggest deer you’ve ever seen on the hoof?

[DaveO]

Northern KY 3 years ago. Had 2 yrs of history with him. He disappeared about 2-3 weeks after these pics were taken. Never seen again……. Seen one hunting Newport Army Ammunition plant in western Indiana that was quite a bit bigger this this guy 25 years ago. Still lives in my memory lol

 

[INKYHUNTER]

Three years ago I saw a giant on the farm I was hunting chasing a doe. I was taking a leak and rifle was against a fence post. Literally the two biggest deer I’ve ever seen hunting were under those exact circumstances. Ive killed decent deer but never anything in that heart skips a beat, knees turn to jello seeing it at 150 yards with no binoculars class. Ive only seen maybe four like that while in the woods with hunting on my mind. I passed on 140’s all season after that… almost ruined hunting for me trying to get that stupid deer. Much like this year.

I’m shooting the first thing I see with horns next year 🤣

You know what the moral to that story.hold your gun in one hand and your weapon in the other.

 

[barney]

So I was trying to pull the old thread I mentioned and didn’t get the right hit but I did see a thread from 2010 and our very own Barney mentions a 193 taken and a couple of 200s that he knew about. Barney…care to enlighten us?

The 90's were an amazing time for seeing big bucks here! The herd snuck in and grew(and grew well)right under most people's noses while they were traveling to Owen County and other places to hunt every year.

I mostly farmed back then and was in the fields from dawn to dusk and saw several that were 200" or bigger over probably a 12-15 year period. I haven't saw a big one in probably 20 years now.

That 193 was killed here in 05, and it didn't hold a candle to a few that I have seen.


For years there were 3 different bachelor groups of bucks here, based on their age. The youngest bachelor group and the largest was seen on a daily basis throughout the summer. There was usually 6-12 bucks in the group. The second group would have older deer, but there would only be 3 to 5 bucks in this group, and they were only seen once a week or so. One year there was 7 bucks in this group and they started feeding in a bean field that could be seen from the road, and that was the beginning to the end of my big buck sightings..

The third and oldest bachelor group would only have 2 or 3 bucks in it but they were simply amazing to see when they would randomly show themselves maybe twice a summer on average.

 

[Brody]

On the banks of the Neosho River on the border of OK,KAN,& MISSOURI. 200" easy
Saw a bachelor group of 4 mule deer in RMNP, and all 4 would a been over 180, 2 of them were huge!
In KY one in DBNF that would been 180 or better in Aug

 

[Tom Threetoes]

My dad killed one back in the '60s that was a big bodied brute that we guessed was over 300 lbs.. The absolute biggest size wise I ever saw was on the way home from work at the coal mine one morning back in the mid '90s. I have no idea what he weighed but his ass looked like it was at the least 26 or 27 inches wide. He had a weird rack too, nontypical. it grew straight out with a bunch of junk on both sides. My best grossed 172 and 6/8 and for a time he was #30 in the Hoosier book. That was so long ago that he has been passed up several times since then.

 

[KYhunter]

Early 80’s. 186 walked right under me and I missed a 15 foot shot. Buck harvested the next week during Ohio gun season. Think it was 4th largest taken that year.

 

[Drahts]

Biggest Horn I've seen was on the Eastern Shore of MD bowhunting one evening. He came out bout 80 yards, was a clean 12 point prolly 21" wide and tall times. G5's were about 6". Guessed him to be in the 190s. Had 19 encounters with him that I saw him on(all bow hunting), closest was 29yds but could only see from his white patch on his neck to the top of his antlers before a doe got behind me and blew! Someone killed him 3 years later (after our club lost that farm when the owner died and his kids sold it), he went 209".

Biggest body I've seen hunting is this guy! He dressed 316# and scored 163".

 

[CHL]

230” Muledeer back in 2015. Little grainy but he’s a hammer. Blessed to be able to look at him daily!

 

[bondhu]

Probably the one in my aviatar never saw him hardened up never heard anyone getting him.