Love the stories guys. Keep them coming.

WestTx, those are some great deer. What size is your place?

Retrieverman, looks like I need to start hunting in Ok. Seems like there is alot of raw land up there. Heading to Ok. city next week for my wifes Horse reining show. There is a whole lot of nothing between the border and Ok city.

Txfisher- that is a awesome looking typical.

Do I get props for passing him up, it is East Tx ya know....

The buck I was the most sick about not getting probably scored 120'ish as an 8-pt. But he was in Bedias, TX, at a place that I've hunted multiple times every year for the past 8 or 9 and have NEVER shot a single buck. The biggest deer (apart from the one I'm talking about) I've seen out there was probably a decent 6-pt that was 2.5. No-doe county and a bunch of people that poach all year = close to zero bucks. It's crazy too, because the property is awesome and has tons of browse, acorns, creek bottoms, and cover. Just no bucks.

So one evening there is a light drizzle, and like complete idiots, my buddy and I are hunting our arses off. I'm literally laying on my back next to a hay bale right by a game trail trying to ambush a buck (that probably doesn't exist). My buddy is set up in a tripod with only a platform and no seat about 300 yards to across a field from me (there's no chance of overlapping shots or shots towards one another). About 20 minutes before legal shooting time ends, I see him walking towards me. The drizzle has gotten to him, and the fact that we never see any bucks tends to make us not want to sit out there freezing. It's Miller time.

We crack open a couple of beers under a tree next to the hay bails when all of the sudden, movement catches the corner of my eye. I look over my shoulder and see this obviously old, actually pretty decent 8-pt walking down the middle of the road straight at us. I literally spit my beer out in shock.

My buddy and I get into position where we think he's going to emerge, and it plays out perfectly. Except for 1 thing: Buddy's gun is not sighted in. He misses 4 wide-open shots at this deer that never even runs but just stares at us while he's firing trying to figure out what that noise is. We tried to run back to the truck for my gun, but he figured us out and bolted.

I was absolutely sick. His cousin shot it 2 weeks later.

Not a 150, but a 200 for where we were hunting.

tye I own 640 and lease my neighbors 640. we are the only place w/in miles w/out cattle. trying to let it really grow thick. every year we are getting more and bigger deer.

not a 150" by any means, but some ppl in the area would probably think he was a good buck. Neighbor ended up ground checking him Thanksgiving weekend. You win some, you lose some. His homie was a decent little buck this past season, but not hanging around the fields near as often.



just couldn't let this one walk.....

I hunt a 160 acre place in Nacogdoches County. I have never seen a 150 inch buck on that place. The biggest I have passed up were in the 115-120 range. I have also killed a couple in that range.

I recently started hunting a 150 acre low fence place in Van Zandt County. I killed a 6.5 y.o. 15 point buck that scored 167 3/8 this past December. The only other time I saw him was the weekend before the season started. The other bucks I have seen there were young and very small.

The bottom line is that in nearly 40 years of East Texas hunting I have only seen one buck in the 150-plus range and I did not pass him up.

the ones in my last post are Nac Co deer. Congrats on the 167!

Thanks. Those are some really nice ones in your photo. We don't shoot many bucks off our place. No one hunts the adjoining 300 acres or so. Despite that the biggest deer we typically see are nice eights. I forgot that I did pass up a young 10 two seasons ago. I think he would have been 125-130 or so. It is the biggest one I have passed up. My dad happened to be with me and had passed him up the weekend before.

Never passed on a buck larger than about 120". I have two big boys on the wall: a 178" killed on public land (Fort Campbell) in 2004 and I killed a 150" on a low-fenced place in Kansas last year.

The 178"


the 150"

This rancher let almost no one hunt on his place, and right next door was a large managed high-fence place, but the rancher told me some of that neighbor's imported stock had escaped thru the fence onto his place.

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...ute#Post1027414

This guy was shot on our low fenced place but he scored 145.

Great lookin' buck. I would not care what he scored!

I've passed on a number that were young and 150ish, but I have the luxury of little or no hunting on the adjoining properties. Easy to pass if you know that the neighbors not going to shoot them.

I've never seen one that big.

Killed in Callahan County..... Low fence

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I pass up deer that score over 150" low fence every year and some that score in the 160's.

This is my largest typical that scored 180 and just missed the book. It has a typical 11 point frame.
My largest non typical scored 188.

I shot this 155 with my bow last year. It was my largest bow kill.
All three came off a low fence ranch. Like the gentleman said earlier you can't get 170" deer if you keep shooting them when they hit 160". You can let them walk but that does not mean you will see them next year. Of the large bucks we let walk, it is less than 50% we ever see in the following years. I am blessed to have the resources to hunt a large low fence ranch. I have about decided if I ever lose this place I am on now, I will probably become a bird hunter. BTW, I do sell hunts on my place if anyone is interested.

2G's, I love those tall tight racks with those incredibly long G4s. My first deer to break 150 was very similiar to your deer but his G4s were only about 6 inches. Yours look to be 8 or 9 inches long. Mine only had a 14 inch spread.

This one was only 12.5 inches wide inside..... His G4s were 8.5.

Great bucks guys! RTP & 2G's how many acres are you hunting and RTP what area, generally speaking.

I have never seen a 150" deer much less passed on one. My best deer to date is a 140" deer. For me that is a deer of a lifetime and probably will never shoot one bigger than that but I won't stop trying.

Tres, I am currently hunting 10,000 acres. My two biggest bucks came from Webb county. I just got tired of the 5 hr drive so now I am hunting in Refugio county. The deer are not as big but we do get 160s pretty much every year and some years we get bigger ones. The ranch record is 194 and it was taken in 2004.

I would rather hunt these kind of deer than all those super freak high fence ranch deer. It a shame but it was only about 10 years ago that a 160" deer would really turn some heads. Nowadays its seems like you just get a ho hum reaction from most hunters when you take a 160.

You have killed some really nice deer. I remember when a 160" was a true monster too in south Texas. I agree that some HF places have altered the genetics to make some really freaky deer. I think that more people are management minded which in turn produces more "bigger" deer than say 10 years ago. It appears that the majority of south Texas has some larger "low fenced" places that are producing awesome bucks because of the management practices and allowing deer to mature. Unfortunately the majority of the state doesn't have these large low fenced places with great genetics to boot.

Nice bucks

I've passed several 150s, two one season while bowhunting (I was hunting a 170+ was the reason)

My biggest is 154 and I've killed two that score 154.

The second 154 is on the right, brothers 163 on the right.



These are deer I've been apart of killing/passed on/or hunted for.

Guided my cousin to this one 3 weeks after killing the 154 above, scored in the 170s.



Passed this one in kansas bowhunting.



The 12 pt I was hunting for

Another kansas bowhunting buck...couldn't close the deal on him.







First "trophy deer" we've grown and shot at the ranch, cousin shot him opening morning, scored 156 as an 8pt.



Then I found this deer and was hunting him hard





Then he went and did this to himself

i have passed quite a few 150's and killed a 164 and 168... but these were in kansas. never passed one in tx that i could have shot. i have seen them but either didnt have access to the land or was out of season or range.

These came off of my place, all but the Big 10 grossed over 150, he netted 163 6/8ths.