Score of one that got away?

[Nickofthewoods]

This buck gave me the slip multiple times about 12 years ago and I still have nightmares about it. It's hard to tell from my blurry photo but he had 5 on at least one side and massive thirds. This is just for fun, and maybe to help me get the closure I obviously still need.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Tall, wide, deep forks, my blurry score would be absolutely shoot, 190+ so sportsman expo score of like 215

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Agree with above, since he got away, definitely 190+. If you would have shot him, probably shrink to 170.

Could be a fun thread, here's one that gave me the slip last year. Score the big 3.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

That would haunt anyone. Had an absolute monster of a whitetail on cameras last year in Missouri and got a fleeting glimpse of him at last light one night, never to see him again. 50 years of deer hunting and absolutely the biggest buck I've ever seen. It happens.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Agree with above, since he got away, definitely 190+. If you would have shot him, probably shrink to 170.

Could be a fun thread, here's one that gave me the slip last year. Score the big 3.

View attachment 1025474

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Big 3 is soooo cool! Hard to say but he is probably closing on 170 at a 3x which is monsterous for a 3x

 

[Ucsdryder]

Missed a buck a few years back and shot his younger brother about 10 minutes later. Exposed turret got spun the previous day and I didn’t realize it until after I missed and looked down at the gun like what did you do?!!

Younger brother was a 5x7 and big brother had more points and a giant frame. I assume 180” frame, with 14+ points.

I missed the biggest buck of my life and shot the biggest bull of my life in the ass, both the biggest I’ve seen while hunting.

Thank you for this thread so I can remember what a loser I am.

 

[Wheels]

Watched this one for a week prior to season a few years ago, disappeared after a bear ate one of his buddies. Pic is a still from a video so not the best quality.

 

[Matt5266]

When archery hunting with a buddy I slipped down to get a better look of a buck i saw. Buddy stayed back up on the ridge. As I slipped down I had an easy 200+ buck coming right toward me at 50 yards on the game trail below me. He had tons of trash. My buddy stood up and whisled at me to come back cuz he saw other deer on the other side. The buck took off. I almost killed him.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Missed a buck a few years back and shot his younger brother about 10 minutes later. Exposed turret got spun the previous day and I didn’t realize it until after I missed and looked down at the gun like what did you do?!!

Younger brother was a 5x7 and big brother had more points and a giant frame. I assume 180” frame, with 14+ points.

I missed the biggest buck of my life and shot the biggest bull of my life in the ass, both the biggest I’ve seen while hunting.

Thank you for this thread so I can remember what a loser I am.

Similar to this, in 2023, I encountered a MD rut fest, 5-8 bucks just as many does, moving in and out of an opening where I could shoot… well there is a 180 class typical 4x4 crazy deep forks, monster MB. Well I think he is behind a tree about to step out get all settled in. He steps out, blam! I drop him! Oh wait… here he comes trotting out to check the buck I just dumped which was a 140 inch very very crabby 4x4, like 3 inch g-3 and g-4…. Very nice buck but watching the stud stand there and then trot off… emotional roller coaster for sure :/

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Similar to this, in 2023, I encountered a MD rut fest, 5-8 bucks just as many does, moving in and out of an opening where I could shoot… well there is a 180 class typical 4x4 crazy deep forks, monster MB. Well I think he is behind a tree about to step out get all settled in. He steps out, blam! I drop him! Oh wait… he he comes trotting out to check the buck I just dumped which was a 140 inch very very crabby 4x4, like 3 inch g-3 and g-4…. Very nice buck but watching the stud stand then and then trot off… emotional roller coaster for sure :/

One of the most relatable things I've heard Rinella say was about someone complimenting his trophies at his house and he replied, "you should see the wall of shit I shoulda got!" I think about that a lot..

Here's an elk I let slip 2 years ago. Had him in range, in crosshairs for 5+ minutes, was just holding off trying to figure out if I could recover him and poof, he just disappeared. Something that big shouldn't be able to just vanish!

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Tall, wide, deep forks, my blurry score would be absolutely shoot, 190+ so sportsman expo score of like 215

Hey I like that expo score! We talking beginning of the night or after everyone's had a few stadium priced beers?

190+ though? Well maybe actually. My best comparison is a 4x4 typical I killed that I've taped a few times always in the low 180's and I can unequivocally say that this buck was quite a bit larger. Or @Turkeygetpwnd38 could be right and he goes 170 on the ground. Maybe I'll just go with that so I can move on with my life.

 

[Hnthrdr]

One of the most relatable things I've heard Rinella say was about someone complimenting his trophies at his house and he replied, "you should see the wall of shit I shoulda got!" I think about that a lot..

Here's an elk I let slip 2 years ago. Had him in range, in crosshairs for 5+ minutes, was just holding off trying to figure out if I could recover him and poof, he just disappeared. Something that big shouldn't be able to just vanish!
View attachment 1025580

That’s rough, that is a 330+ type bull all day! Crazy how they can just vanish

 

[Pafarm]

Not me but a friend this past fall missed a hammer typical 4 point. We called him Moby and they never saw him again in 8 more days of hunting him. He said he was in the 170s and for that tag it was a good one. Turned out he bumped his gun and it was off by literally 10 feet. I have one personal one that haunts me that was a large 5 point perfect looking buck. Went to stalk him and in 5 days of being back in the drainage never saw a soul. Well low and behold a few guys packing in bumped him when I went on the stalk. Never saw him again.

 

[huntnful]

This buck gave me the slip multiple times about 12 years ago and I still have nightmares about it. It's hard to tell from my blurry photo but he had 5 on at least one side and massive thirds. This is just for fun, and maybe to help me get the closure I obviously still need.

View attachment 1025427

Without being able to see everything, that looks like a 190” type frame.

 

[graniteghost]

My brother drew a really good elk tag and I went along hunting with him just to be a spotter/caller during the archery hunt. Buddy tells us about a big MD buck that had been hanging around that was still in velvet when every other buck had shed.

Couple days later we bump him at 40-50 yards out of his bed. Saw him a few more times but always on private we couldn’t get on to. Fast forward a few weeks and the main property we could hunt, the owner who has schizophrenia decides we can’t hunt there anymore.

Ended up hearing this buck potentially got poached on some private near there, never got 100% confirmed though.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Without being able to see everything, that looks like a 190” type frame.

Well at least some of you are confirming that he was a buck worth obsessing over.

A little backstory. I was seeing him periodically for weeks before the season while at work driving along back roads. The area he was hanging out had a lot of checkerboarded ownership. Within 1 square mile he could be on USFS land, County Open Space, or rural residential properties. I picked up a 2nd season tag on leftovers and hunted for him hard. Bumped him opening day on USFS land as he was fighting a smaller buck with about 5 does present. That was failure #1. Failure #2 was several days later when I caught him crossing back onto public land. I had him in the crosshairs at 100 yards while standing on the boundary but that smaller buck he was with knew something was up. Instead of continuing their trajectory they both turned and trotted off into the nearest trees. That was that, never saw him again.

 

[svivian]

Archery 2015… blew the stalk and watched him trot into the sunset with nothing but a blurry photo to remember him by

 

[graniteghost]

Well at least some of you are confirming that he was a buck worth obsessing over.

A little backstory. I was seeing him periodically for weeks before the season while at work driving along back roads. The area he was hanging out had a lot of checkerboarded ownership. Within 1 square mile he could be on USFS land, County Open Space, or rural residential properties. I picked up a 2nd season tag on leftovers and hunted for him hard. Bumped him opening day on USFS land as he was fighting a smaller buck with about 5 does present. That was failure #1. Failure #2 was several days later when I caught him crossing back onto public land. I had him in the crosshairs at 100 yards while standing on the boundary but that smaller buck he was with knew something was up. Instead of continuing their trajectory they both turned and trotted off into the nearest trees. That was that, never saw him again.

Seems like that’s what big bucks are best at, finding an area with weird/difficult access with multiple boundaries. Every time I try and repeat the pattern I can never find one, but seem to run into these things in those exact sort of areas every time on accident

 

[JMundy84]

Terrible picture but I saw this guy across canyon and I'm still kicking myself for not going after him and sticking with the buck id seen a couple times on the side I was on.....I didn't get him either.

 

[ajf243]

These two walked towards me with about 10min of light left. They are about 700yrds in the picture. The wind in this canyon runs through the bottom like it's going through a venturi so i was waiting for them to drop into the ravine and then come out where I could have had a shot with out dealing the wind.
They never came out and I never saw them again.