Probably the biggest deer that I have ever seen in person and on camera for the centex area was back in November 2008. Of course, I haven't seen him since. For the record, nobody in our immediate area has ever shot or seen this buck (not much hunting pressure around), and I realize he could have succumbed to natural causes, predators, etc.

Not trying to get my hopes up, but I'm curious...how many of ya'll have had a great deer go MIA for a few years only to reappear later on?

all the time....

a buddy of mine has a 1000 acre trap (high fence area) within his main high fence ranch. He had an enormous 9 point in there and it went unnoticed for 3 years. no one ever saw it at a feeder, never on camera, or on stand from the time it was 5 until it was 8.5.

it was ear tagged, so there was no mistaking the deer.

I hope that's the case..I had some 3.5yr olds in '08 that need to make an appearance in '11

Happens all the time but could have been poached also and why it was kept quite. Deer can also change their look from one season to the next so much that it makes it difficult to pick them out when you do see them.

I have a hunch that if one buck ruling that bedding area will ever get shot, I'll have better luck holding onto some of those deer.

But you also have that "X" factor to deal with too.

got a lot of X factors...wife, orange vest tribe, qbeams, etc

I hunted on a 5000 acre ranch in Crockett county for 11 years and we had quite a few bucks that we would watch from 2.5-4.5 and they would show up like clockwork. But when they would turn 5.5 they would disappear, only to show up again when they were 6.5 or 7.5, so don't give up hope on seeing them.