ORIGINAL: quiksilver

Gary - the old lady that lives on one of the farms I hunt told me (honestly) that she had only seen 5 deer all season. The neighbor told me that they all died of EHD this year. He was serious. Laypeople have no clue what's lurking.

BTW - Rybo lives about 45 minutes away. I think he hunts further away yet.

But back to the mysterious ghost-bucks, I like to think that I DO know what caliber deer live in my own back yard.

Thousands and Thousands and Thousands of deer, every possible time of year... I don't know how else to tell you - but Ido indeed knowwhat kind of deer live in my area. You guys act like there's some kind of higher level of understanding involved... There's not.

I KNOW there's a statistical anomaly or two running around, and I HOPE that someday I'm lucky enough to see one... But I know some damn good hunters. And I know some people who hunt on some greatly-managed farms... And NOBODY is consistently killing PY bucks year-in, year-out in my area.I know this. For sure.

The fact of the matter is, if a big buck exists, it has to either die, or the antlers have to fall off. No way around it. When either of these events take place, it leaves hard evidence of its existence behind. My point is that where NO HARD EVIDENCE IS EVER FOUND - it's reasonable to presume that this imaginary caliber of deer simply did not exist in that area.

The tooth fairy doesn't beam down to earth and suck up the sheds. Aliens don't come down and scoop up the carcass.

NO HARD EVIDENCE IS EVER FOUND