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It took some time to get the age results back, as well as the official P&Y score since it took some time for the freeze drying process to complete and the application to be processed. The buck officially scored 266 2/8 Gross / 259 4/8 Net in P&Y. He was aged using the tooth slicing method at 6.5 years, which is younger than I would have expected. The velvet was freeze dried in a freezer for a year then treated with a velvet tanning solution, rather than placed into a commercial freeze dryer which was going to be difficult to do without splitting the skull to fit into the machine. I think both the mount and velvet turned out well!

Please post field pics again.

Here's a link to the original post that shows a few field photos, and I'll attach a photo of the Bowhunter cover that also has a field photo to make it easier for those reading on cell phones. Thanks all for the compliments.

That issue had a couple booners in it :)

What a dandy buck Marv

Congrats

Good luck, Robb

Congrats again brother!

Brian, I actually didn't start out to save the velvet. I thought I might strip it for record book purposes, but tried to take some care in case I changed my mind. After photos and carrying him back to the truck, I packed my camp and drove about 30 miles or so closer to civilization to camp for the night with a wounded warrior that had been given a tag and to help on his hunt the following day. Then, a parade of people starting coming to camp to see it, and each person had to pick up the head by the antlers and hold it. By the next day I decided I really wanted the mount to look like the buck I killed rather than strip the antlers. I figured that mattered more to me than the record books. I do wish I hadn't let so many people crush the velvet on the main beams handling it, or it would look even nicer. THEN, I had three flat tires on my trailer on the drive out in very hot August weather (90's). The second one required me to leave my trailer in the middle of the road and drive an hour and a half to Utah to buy two tires and a rim. The antlers had to sit in the truck cab in the heat while I waited my turn at the tire shop to get them mounted, etc., and it was crowded. Upon returning to the trailer and replacing the rim/tire, I drove 15 minutes and one of the new tires went flat... After changing it, I had to return to Utah and wait to get that tire fixed for the 400+ mile drive home. It was probably 48 hours after I killed it before I got him into a freezer, only keeping it on the passenger seat with A/C blowing on it during the long drive home. It's a miracle that the velvet was even salvageable to be honest with you!