Like sands through an hourglass, today marked yet another installment of the quest for quality hunting land. The cast of characters for today's shed hunt was none other than our own
Rybohunter, and
*obviously* The Undisputed King of Archery.
A 6:45 a.m. meeting at McDonald's kicked off the trip. With heavy eyes and the rising sun at our backs, we pressed-on, driven by an undying lust to succeed and raw optimism for the element of the unknown.
Our first stop was a bust. Nice land. A few deer. The only noteworthy finds were a couple too-close-to-the-road stand sites, a frozen-solid silvermax glove, a doe carcass and a rifle target (completely missed). Honestly, things looked fair at best, as we convinced ourselves that the situation would improve as we migrated into greener pastures . . . and migrate we did.
A second random pull-off and subsequent hike yielded a really solid stand site. Duly noted. Great geographic pinchpoint, shrouded on all sides by plenty of cover. A large scraped confirmed the obvious. We vow to return and pick trees at a later date. A few clicks on the GPS and "X" marks the spot. Holla at a playa.
Success. Onward.
It wasn't long before we left all vestiges of deer sign in the rear-view mirrow. Optimism faded as our once-light-footed saunter turned to a slow, plodding slog. Nothing seemed right.
Back to the car.
Have you ever been in one of those positions where you want to go somewhere, but you don't know where to go? Welcome to our world. We did what any other rational person would do - we stood back and threw a dart at the map. Guided by Bowhunting Jesus, we were on our way to spot #3. We had nothing to lose but time.
Heading up the first ridge, we caught a stiff whiff of coyote. Not just a dab. Not a little whiff. This was a bucket of dog piss with your head inside.
Ryan's life was the first one to change. "Dead Deer. Huge buck."
...and Huge it was. A really, really solid buck.
4x4 with a side of junk. Great mass. Chocolate rack with ivory tips. Pushing 130, by our best estimate.
Nobody likes to see this, but if it's laying out there, it's always better to see and know than not see and not know.
The deeper we went, the sheddier it looked. Eventually, we hit a field that was screaming "shed hunt me." I said "Ry, I think we might want to spend a little time in here. Grid it out. There's GOTTA be a shed here."
Obviously, you don't become The Undisputed King of Archery without the occasional prophecy.
150 yards later . . .
Cash Money.
A 55" shed from 2007. A shed that big is worth the time. Every time. A silent fist pump put the exclamation point on the event.
Less than a minute later . . . it was time for Bowhunting Jesus to step up big and lay one down for the King. Pow.
Same buck, fresh shed. 10 yards away from his '07 drop. Unbelievable. 66" mainframe 4x4.
Just like that, my life changed. What a buck. 11.5" G2. Split brows. Insane mass. 24" beams. An absolute warhammer of a whitetail. Shed so fresh it felt like it was still steaming.
As the shoeleather and daylight wore away, we methodically gridded-out the most obvious shedding hotspots and I was able to snag not one, but TWO more big sheds out of the immediate area.
I scored the match to his '07
56", 10" G2
I closed out the day with a suspicious oldie.
2006 shed, 54", light mass, amazing similarity to the '07 set.
An exhaustive review at home this evening revealed that I found not one, not two, but THREE years' worth of this buck's sheds in one pass.
This buck is no joke. He's going to be an absolute smasher next year.
The face of victory, and a Great American Bowhunting Legend.
It seems that this buck, in fall of 2006 at age 2.5, was already pushing PY. He didn't have much mass, but he had fantastic tine length. A tall, tight rack with a leaning-forward G3, twisting G1, and a trademark hint of a sticker coming off of the G2. With a 14" spread credit, and mirrored right side, he grossed 122". A pencil-thin rack, but he made his score with giant G2-3. He has the genes. Apparently, he has the brains.
In 2007, at 3.5, his rack didn't change much - all measurements were within 1". He packed on a good amount of mass, but actually lost a bit of tine length in the G3, which I found intriguing. It could've been a food thing. Could've been a genetic thing. Could've just been the addition of raw mass. The new mass is palpable, and he went from long and spindly to long and sturdy. He appeared to be healthy, with no antler deformities evident. With a 15" spread credit, he grossed 125.75"
His 2008 rack, at 4.5 years old, exploded in size. Main beams grew 4", mass measurements were up .5-1" all around. G2's pushed one foot. His twisting brow tine became a split brow. He retained that signature bulge on the G2, as well as a clubbed beam where the G4 would normally sprout. The clubbing in the beams first presented in '07, and grew significantly in '08. Despite all his gains in every scoring category, he continues to be a mainframe 4x4, high and tight. With a 16" spread credit and doubling the 66.5" measurements, he comes in at a very respectable 149.
Between '07 and '08, this buck's rack grew 16%. If that trend continues, he'll be grossing in the neighborhood of 172"
I don't care who you are or where you hunt. That's a big buck.
Obviously, you just don't walk into something like that and back off. This story has a lot of chapters yet to be written, and I will make it my life's mission to kill that deer. I'm prepared to walk the treads off of my boots to find the match and figure out what grinds this big fella's gears.
I've gotta give a shout out to Rybo for being a huge part of my best shed hunting day ever. And another holla goes out to Pottenger, who taught me how to hound out a bone or two.
The King will leave you with this: A photo of Rybo looking for deer sheds.
"You just walked past it again."
