Bullwinkle has left us. He was found by some rabbit hunters on the neighbors farm. I made the trip to the finder's house to get my hands on his rack at last. While it was not the way that I had dreamed about, it served as closure for three years worth of pictures and chasing.
BW had adapted to humans incredibly well. All pictures of him were taken within a stone's throw of both my house and the one on the neighbor's farm. He knew what sounds and movements made by humans were no threat to his well-being. This buck made his way around our farms without detection. Over the past three years he was only seen three times. Once by my step-dad at night, once by me at night, and once by the neighbor while bowhunting. All these sightings were last year without anyone catching a glimpse this year.
I gathered my camera and measuring equipment as I made the trip this evening. While he is a deer that no hunter would pass, I must admit that he made me realize that camera angles can make a deer look much bigger than he actually is. Bullwinkle taped out to 163 1/8" gross and netted a mere 157 5/8". I will admit that is close to 15" less than I would have guessed based on pics alone.
These are not the best pics by any means, but they are all I could muster up from a garage full of beer drinkers.
