Deer Harvest in KY on track to being 3rd Largest

[MHARDY]

HEY RWEYMAN NICE BUCK NICE DROP TINE

[2Poppa]

rweyman, Nice and S-W-E-E-T High Basket Drop Tine.

I shot one years ago, but someone else ended up tagging it ...

[rweyman]

Thanks, thats a real bite on losing your deer, did you see the person who tagged it or just here about it later? I haven't seen your pics of your son and buddies deer, have you posted them yet? Do you hunt w/archery, muzzleloader, and rifle? Just wandering since you live so close, thought maybe we might get together sometime and shot whatever(bows/guns or bull).

[2Poppa]

[center]Sorry it took me a while to get back ... I have a Freshman daughter, dressing Varsity for Simon Kenton Basketball, and a son that plays Varsity for Ludlow, we have had to make up basketball games due to all of the snow days.
Here is a picture of my oldest son,Raymonds, 2008 buck ...
 

 
and my Buddy Smitty's 2008 Buck ...
 

 
I hunt archery, muzzle loader, cross-bow, and Big Gun season ... if they had a "spear or rock" season, I'd be there! I just love to hunt!
 
As for that big buck someone else tagged ... I first saw it the last day of gun season in 1977, and went back to the same spot, opening day gun season, 1978, and the buck shows up at 9:50am.
 
Long story short: I shoot it at least 4 times with a brand new Remington Automatic 742 BDL, with a borrowed 6X Weaver Scope on it. I waited at least 30 minutes and started to track it, and found several pools of blood. It had jumped a fence and laid down, I jumped it, one more time and got another shot off.
 
I realized at that moment, I had crossed a fence, and was worried that I was tresspassing. I hid behind a tree to see if I could see the huge buck again, when a pick-up truck came down a dirt road. I heard men talking ... the tail-gate came down, and the truck took off.
 
I walked back to my buddies house, who was a taxidermist/check station at the time on South Fork Road. That is the county line for Boone and Gallatin Counties. We tracked the deer to Mud Lick Road and could tell the deer had died off to the side of the road as the blood was smeared, from someone dragging it.
 
As funny as it sounds, later that day, someone checks it in to my buddies check station. I had already told him where I had shot it ... sure enough the holes were there. He was giving away a free mount of the biggest deer checked into his station that year. It won, hands down, as the new Kentucky State Record.
 
I actually worked with the taxidermist at Signode on Industrial Road, and took my 35 mm camera to work and "shot" a picture for his business card.
 
After saying all of that, I was at church a couple of years ago, and was telling this story, when a new friend, asked, if I knew the name of the man that claimed it. When I said yes, he replied, "that his brother was married to the mans daughter that "claimed it"!
 
He told me that his brothers, father-in-law told them that he shot it "once"! Well ... that's a lie, I told the taxidermist while we were tracking it how many times I shot it, and when it came in he counted the holes.
 

 
And after all of that, I let my oldest sister's husband, borrow my 742 BDL and he lost it in a card game![/center]

[rweyman]

Very nice deer, congrats to your son and your buddy. Must make you proud to have a son who looks to have the same passion as yourself. Is it his first or has he been hunting for awhile? Sorry to bring up such a bad memory on the record buck, but it must mean that there is a bigger one out there thats got your name waiting to be tagged to it! Can't wait to see you post it someday!!!

[2Poppa]

Ahh, it's not a bad memory, just stuck a little in my crawl! Ha,ha!
Here is a picture of Smitty's other deer ...

 
That's probably my son's second buck since coming back from Iraq. He was a sniper over there, so I think he may have had itchy fingers ...

[rweyman]

Wow!!!  What a brute. Did he take that one in Owen Co.? My Dads buddy killed the state archery record for the year(I think it was one in the 70's),before my time hunting, in Owen Co., out of my Dads stand. My dad had hunted out of the stand for a couple days and did not see anything, so he decided to hunt another stand and his buddy hunted in my Dads. I'll try and find out what year it was and maybe get a picture to post. The deer your son took is a real nice deer nothin not to be proud of. I wish my second buck was that nice!

[2Poppa]

[center]The picture of the "Brute" is actually the Kentucky State Record, Typical, 204 3/8ths.
It was takened in Butler, Kentucky, in 2000.
 
Here is a replica I have of it over the top of my bed ...
 

 
Here is another picture of Smitty as it appeared on the Kentucky Department of Wildlife Web-Site ...
 

 
Smitty is a meat hunter and "takes what the land gives him."
He is always gettin' on me for being so choosy.[/center]

[rweyman]

Yeah, I remember seeing it now. He's from Ft. Thomas if I remember correctly. I think it was on display at Wal-mart in Alexandria. My Dad always tells me that "you can't eat the horns". I always tell him that the does taste better anyway. He actually has been letting the young ones walk for awhile now, but he still likes to give me a hard time.  

[2Poppa]

Where abouts in Owen County did/does your Dad hunt?
I'd love to see pictures of the Archery buck your Dad's buddy arrowed!