Contributors to this thread:
Scarface
Scarface
This is the buck I call Scarface. I am pretty sure he's 5.5, and am guessing he was injured and blinded in his left eye two years ago while fighting with the buck I killed last year. They both lived on my ground and fought constantly. When I killed that 5.5 eight last year, this guy became the dominant resident. He's running around all over the place in daylight now. He's not the best scoring buck I have, but he's my favorite.
He's got nice brow tines for sure.
I passed on a similar buck a few years ago. Big bodied mature buck and blind in one eye. When he came in the other bucks attitudes changed. He wouldn’t have scored well either but I still regret not taking him home. This was in Carroll co. also. Good luck this year!
Good looking buck Pat. I think we have 3-4 deer that dont have eyes anymore on our property. Night pics and 'no glow' in one eye is a dead giveaway.
This buck is more beat up, but he looks healthy!
A smooth 4x4.... Hmmmm...8^)
Nice...
Redemption after 42 hunts
Redemption after 42 hunts
Quick story. The day after I posted the starting thread I shot Scarface and hit him in the shoulder. Not one drop of blood. I was sick.
A week later I got a video of him. He was limping really bad.
I spent 42 days hunting him. He was incredibly smart, 5.5 year old. He was almost entirely nocturnal. I passed up some really good bucks but I was obsessed with him. So I stayed disciplined.
On Tuesday afternoon, after almost 3 months of trying, scarface limped in. It was hard to watch. He was still limping as bad as ever.
I took a 28 yard shot and killed scarface. As it turned out, I didn’t hit the shoulder after all. I had dead centered the joint where the shoulder connects to the front leg. The joint was shattered. The leg was useless. The buck had probably lost 50lbs.
So happy I held out and got him. He’s a damn good buck, but I’m really happy that I was able to kill him before nature did.
Congratulations on a great buck. Way to grind it out. It is surprising that he did not shed considering the condition his was in.
WOW, yeah way to go Pat, CONGRATS!!!
Crippling weight loss like that, it's a wonder he hadn't shed his rack....
Curious, first shot bone shattering, Muzzy broadhead? Was there penetration past the joint?
Z,
Slick Trick 3-blade standard. Broadhead.
Freak hit. Was actually well-placed. Broadhead busted the joint and stopped.
Wow, thanks for the photo and info...
Pat...that is pretty awesome that you were able to get the buck down in the end. Congrats.
I assume you got in on him coming into food? Curious how you helped pinpoint him to get on him again?
Craig, I kept moving trail cams to hone in on his habits after thanksgiving.
I noticed a trend in December where he would limp into a staging area south of my kill plot and East of my bean field. He generally showed up after midnight and would leave around 4-5 am.
During Christmas week I got one pic in daylight and another the 2nd week of January. Both times when I was away from the land.
By mid January I decided to do something I rarely do; hunt the same stand every evening regardless of wind and weather. I only had 3 daylight pics in 60 days but they were consistently from the same stand where I get 80% of my night pics. So decided to hunt this stand pretty much every day until I killed him or the season closed.
Last Tuesday he limped in at last light and I shot him just before that snowstorm we had. I think the low pressure and bad weather got him moving earlier than normal. Luck= 40%, skill=10%, OCD=50%. :-)
Persistence pays off. Congrats Pat
Wow, very nice Pat! Great Buck congrats!
Pat - Curious if you had his skull cleaned?
Z, not sure what you mean by getting his skull cleaned? I caped him and cut off the skull plate. Took his teeth for aging and tossed the skull with the bones in my coyote bait pile.
Oh, after looking at the wolf skull thread, thought maybe you might of had that young man near the airport beetle clean and degrease it, curious what the eye socket looked like...
It looked broken. Clearly a tine penetrated his cheek and traveled up into his eye socket before it pulled out his eyeball. It was all scarred over and fused together into a knot.
The buck was a warrior.
Ouch...
Thanks for sharing...