Well, this year was one that I want to forget but the there was a bit of light. I saw the biggest typical ever. Easy 190 inch buck. Well, two days after I saw the buck (that buck breeding a doe of all things) a rancher I know who had seen this buck all summer long told me he saw it, and it's right beam was busted. I said to myself, no way. Well, I was out pheasant hunting this past weekend and saw the one and only. He made it through both rifle seasons but he was totally busted up yet chasing a doe! What a stud. He lost all of his splendor but was still showing his dominance. His right side was gone, totally! His left side had maybe 15 inches of the main beam and one 12 inch tine left. I couldn't believe it, a perfect 5x5 with a spread of some 24-25 inches totally busted up. Next year cannot come quick enough. Found a new place full of mature bucks and two of the four 150ish inch bucks I saw were busted by the 15th of November. I saw may deer with one side only. Question is, do you guys run into busted up bucks much? Funny thing is, this place is all prairie. The only rubs I see are on fence posts and boy are they worn down. If I posted a photo, you'd never think those WT are running around out there.  Below is a photo of one of those busted up dudes I got a shot at this year. He went from a 140ish buck to a 120ish.

After seeing the whitetail buck my electrician shot in eastern Colorado last year (rifle) it is easy for me to believe you.  His buck scored 218+ and he shot off 4-5" of one of the g-2's when he killed it.

Walt Francis

Overly aggressive bucks?

Thin beams?

Low amounts of a certain trace element?

or?

I've seen lots of busted up bucks on our place. I killed a spike the other nite because a big one that was in, had about 3" of oneside left and several smaller bucks with broken points.

peanut

If I was to put a finger on it, it would be lots of mature bucks, and not many does.  It's nice to see areas that are wild, free ranging with such a good structure.

I remember hunting areas throughout my life where the last 30 minutes of light were the ticket. I've had more opportunity here during mid day than late.

Steve,

I've spoken to you about this before. It sure is a very odd situation seeing big bucks mid day out in the middle of a pasture running around like fork horns.

This one had all his tines fist time I saw him. Not this year though. 1993

we hunted out near the KS border a couple of years every buck we saw early and late had broken points, after talking to several longtime hunters they said that was the norm as the ground was missing some minerals, although they grew huge antlers they were weak, those deer were also very aggresive the buck I shot left a hot doe when I rattled the horns, never had that happen.

I passed a nice buck that was broken up this year, he was only a 3 year old, if he would have been old I wouldnt have hestitated.

What's the typical body size, Chad?  Maybe they're all heavy weights with little fists (comparatively speaking).

Maybe they're all offspring of the Italian Stallion.

Fewer doe usually means more aggressive fighting.

If the herd is close to a 1 to 1 ratio you'll get a lot of that with all the competition to breed.

Lot of Does no need fer fighting
 

This is one I got last year. He is covered with scars from fighting, so I thought it was appropriate to leave the tine that was broken off instead of having it repaired....

He was a warrior and was enjoying the fruits of his labor/battles (chasing does) when I was lucky enough to get him....

There were a lot of deer with broken antlers (more than I had ever seen before), so I also wonder if maybe something in their diet was inadequate or lacking during antler growth....

Here are three of mine from the last three years........the buck on the left I shot in some really thick brush and could only see one side of the deer....never got a good look at the other until I got to the end of the blood trail!



Matt