WB - Happy for you and your boy. Great buck.

That is a stud!!! I think every State can produce huge bucks if they’re allowed to grow. It’s finding a buck with potential and learning everything you can about him and praying he lives long enough to reach that potential. Most of our “trophy” bucks average at about a 3 year chase.

Super Buck, Congratulations!

The story on that one is that they have watched him for 3 years. He was killed on a 90 acre farm, but the guy who killed him puts a bunch of $ and work in. I trapped a place not far from this spot that is highly managed and the guy talked about having some giants on his place.

I dont have the time or patience so I still shoot the small ones!

Right on! Glad you guys found him! Very nice buck!

We had a 202” killed in our county several years back and the buck started out on our place and disappeared at 3.5yrs old. 3 years later he was killed 4.5 miles due South. Now the crazy part is he ended up on a place I trap. The landowner shared his sheds with me and he laughed when I said we know that deer. I showed him our pics we had and it was in fact the same deer. He was hunting that deer, but that buck let love get the best of him and followed a doe across the highway to another property and was shot. The guy that ended up shooting him had pics of him too, but all at night. We shared our pics of his younger days and the landowner gave him some of his sheds to add to the trophy.
We’ve found at about the 3.5-4.5 stage is when bucks decide where they are is home or they strike out to other areas to take up residence. If we have them at that age we really try and keep up with them. Even then they have their Summer areas and then their Winter areas on the property. They eventually tell you the story of their travel patterns. When they reach that “take’em” age they really become spooky. The buck my son killed would be a no show on camera for one to two days if he went in that area. Day 3 he’d be on camera multiple times a day for days on end. It’s also like that deer knew what winds he could travel in and be safe. When they blocked that area a couple days before my son called and said it’s either gonna make it easier or run him to another area, lol. You’d have to see these areas to understand the height of these weed fields.

WB - what do you mean by 'blocked'? You've mentioned that several times.

Wild bird plantations will “block” the hunting areas. All have dedicated “feed trails” throughout the property and managers will “block” (cut or chop) parallel either side of the feed trails and then make U shapes every so often off those cuts. It leaves cover next to the feed trails for the quail, but the blocking actually makes it easier for clients to walk when dogs go on point.
At his plantation they have huge weed fields (ragweed, partridge pea, camphor weed, broomsedge, etc) and they will actually cut it up like blocks. It also allows access for hunters and dogs yet still provides food and cover for quail.
All these properties are strictly managed for quail and nothing else. No feeders, no plots, no anything directly for deer. Deer are just a byproduct of the management practices. Manage for quail and everything prospers. These properties are also on a burn rotation every year. Everything is done to benefit quail.
Blocking is always started Oct 1…never before. Burn season starts after quail season ends at the end of February. Burn season ends no later than the first week of April.