Bucks over 30"

As far as hunting close to home.. Never had more than 1-2 points for deer = never will and to this point have never hunted another state for well anything.

Work over decades and making the conscious decision to have the ability/sacrifice to have large chunks or well months of time every year ~ is why I well have the pics I do..

Also I was lucky enough to be born in an amazing central spot for giant Co deer.. Might hunt wyo one day but can’t figure out how to get there to scout 20-30 days so figure I would not do the tag justice…

Another 30” that I never hunted…

View attachment 744001

View attachment 744002
Cool buck! I’ve always liked the look of a 3 point with back forks and no fronts. Not sure I’ve ever seen one while hunting. Had a coworker shoot one years ago that was probably a 180 buck

As for 30 inch bucks I’ve never killed on even close and can say I’ve seen less than 5 in my entire life. Have seen lots of great bucks but very few with lots of width
 
Nothing stays the same or from where I sit things fair to say have changed quite a bit since the 80’s for deer here in Co anyway. Heck changed even more from the 50’s when my grandfather was chasing bucks around Eagle…

I frequent quite a few of the best units in Co every year. Look over 300-400 bucks just in the early season again every single year and have kept track of numbers since 2008.. Got a couple or well one friend who does the same and we honestly share info between well a few of us.

To a man all of us would say the upper age class of deer is disappearing in Co. My real numbers as late as 2016 were 1 great buck for about every 100 we looked over. In 2016 the group of 5 of us killed 5 bucks the smallest was a 193” 32” wide typical.. Last year it was 1 out of 400 to find bucks of a similar caliber out of the same 5 guys to a man we all ate our tags that were spread out over different units. Talking about folks here who know how to hunt not big but giant mulies.. Taking WOW bucks here but undeniably there are a lot less out on the landscape especially in the last 3-4 years.

Is it still a great time yea it is. Has the landscape changed = yep a bunch here in co anyway. Is there a wow buck out there somewhere = 💯 it is probable that I already have seen well a couple 😂😜💰…. All this with no tag yet..

Just my 2cents and as I will say my opinion might be worth less than that.

Anyway here is another one right at 29 3/4 but I call it 30”.. No brows almost saved this guys life… Right after I snapped the pic my mom literally told me “you can’t eat horns and tracks don’t make soup” 😂.. She is not wrong!!


View attachment 742210


View attachment 742211
You could always tell you mom that soup ain't no fun to look at and remember once it's been fully processed😉
 
I've only really hunted mule deer one year and don't have anything close to 30 but a friend did send me this a couple days after season
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20240817-212914-369.png
    Screenshot_20240817-212914-369.png
    407 KB · Views: 102
I always thought this buck would go 30”, but I ended up taking the buck he was running with instead.
IMG_2375.jpegThis buck also seemed like he would be close to 30”.
IMG_2376.jpeg
 
Last edited:
This thread is amazing. Only have seen a couple of bucks over 30", but both were together in a group of 5. Wish I had a digiscope back then
 
32” wide buck from ol Mexico. He was killed back
In the late 90s
dfe3ca0dbab69525ea563fb9f982a825.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Great thread! I've been hooked on mule deer since 1971, the first year my dad took me hunting. I never get tired of looking at big muley bucks! Never killed this buck from a couple of years ago.

7XxNXEd.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top