About this buck I killed on Saturday. If his age is close to what I’m thinking, I may have killed my oldest buck ever. Time and cementum annuli will tell the tale.
In the meantime, take a look at these teeth and tell me what you think. Was his jaw broken at some point? Maybe an abscess?
If you look at the bite where they would meet up, you can see he adjusted to an odd bite from something that changed the norm.
Thoughts on age of this buck?
Ya....that mouth looks painful. Did he live near corn fields?
This is the buck. We’ve also had a little history with. On a whim, I put my lightweight set on my pack and went to the furthest point of our property and got the wind right. It was a good plan as I shot him at 1:55 pm @ 25 yards. He went 80 and tipped over.
Link… age means A LOT to me. Knowing that I outsmarted a buck that his lived past 5.5 is very rewarding. Most every buck that I’ve had cementum annuli aged always fell in the 4.5/5.5 range.
Congrats Rick! Love to see the smile in these pics! Happy happy joy joy!
Right now we are in the middle of our Oklahoma gun season. I had been pondering all week to go to the far edge of our property where we don’t have stands currently and do a hang and hunt.
Friday afternoon (11/26) we made our way down to the property. I used that time to get my Hawk lightweight setup attached to my pack and coordinate all of my gear for an all day sit. The plan was to go in in the dark and be where I need to be at daylight. It was a 1.1 mile trek in the dark through some pretty thick stuff (no trails) and also had to navigate up and down a steep creek. Then it was a matter of picking a tree and hoping for a few shooting lanes.
I got setup in a nice big red oak at daylight and had a perfect lane in front of me out to 20 yards. There were a few other slim lanes that might provide me a 30 yard shot, but things would have to be perfect. All in all, I was satisfied and the day started off with a few small bucks and does. Several of the does actually passed behind my stand, which I figured might happen. The fact that I was on a bit of a bump in the landscape actually made my 15 foot setup more like 20 feet or so and none of the does that passed behind me ever boogered. The S/SW wind was perfect!
About 9:30 I had a small buck out in front of me and it was looking south towards the creek and a heavy river cane thicket. Wouldn’t you know it, a darn coyote comes running out and the buck runs off back to the north. The yote disappeared for a bit and twenty minutes later comes walking straight towards me. I’ll kill a coyote. He’s closing the distance and at 20 yards I draw back and when it turns broadside (walking) at 10 yds, I let it have it. Fortunately, he ran back down toward the creek and into the cane thicket.
The morning was pretty busy with deer and with the wind, you had to be on your toes. At one point I stood up and turned around to get something from my pack and there was a young buck 10 yards to my west and making his way to my tree. Dang, where’d he come from?! I got down about 12:30 and ate my lunch and by 1:00 pm I was back up the tree, no napping today!
The day was what I would deem perfect. Temps in the high 50’s and cloud cover had submersed the landscape. It was prime!
At 1:54, I look towards the south where I can see about 150 yards through the timber and lo and behold, here comes a good buck and he’s walking with the wind!
As I stuff my phone and reader glasses into my vest pocket, I’m sizing him up. From a side view, I didn’t think he was the “Big 8” we had seen on camera. When he turned his head towards me, I knew without a doubt it was! He was on track to walk out in front of me around 20-30 yards. I was looking for holes!
As he marched closer, I clipped my release on and got ready. I was never nervous, just looking to find my shot. I saw a 2 foot wide lane where he would walk through and I knew I had to stop him there or he would walk out of my life. I drew back before he reached the lane and once there, I mouth grunted him to a stop perfectly. I buried the pin just above his elbow and released. The arrow hit him perfectly through both lungs and he exploded towards the East about 60 yards or so and stopped. I knew he was dead. He drunk legged it and then bolted forward about 20 yards and tipped over. Couldn’t believe it happened!
I sat down and thanked the lord. This plan that I had at 1:53 seemed like it was just that, a plan. Then the deer gods put one in my lap. I called my wife (Lana) who was at camp having lunch and told her the news. She was ecstatic! I then called my good friend Aaron (Native Okie) and told him as well. He was happy it worked out too. Those calls are fun to make from the tree!
Pretty amazing what hard work and knowing the land you hunt can do. I think I’m more proud of this deer than any I’ve killed. Simply because of his age and the work involved to make it happen. Hang and hunts will be more of a thing for me in the future. Oh… the getting him out was a b—-h! But I loved every minute of it!
Enjoyed the story.
Nice to see your setup too.
Deer are tough and that buck must have suffered with that jaw.
He doesn't look old.
I had an Oklahoma game warden that does a lot of aging by tooth wear look at the pics also. His reply was “10 years plus”. Who knows. I’m curious as hell now. :)
