Spoiling the Surprise.......
 

Yeah I'm the kid who has to peel back the corner of hiswrapping paperto sneak a peek a week before Christmas morning.;)

I just couldn't take it anymore. I got word from my taxidermist that my 07' recurve buck was mounted over the weekend and even though it will still be around 3 weeks until it's finished my buddy frank had to stop by to drop off his mule deer cape.............and he had his camera phone with him.
He did give me the option of not sending me the picture.
(Yeah like that was gonna happen :eek:;))

So here he is fresh off the mounting and pinning, (you can still obviously see the nose filler, pins etc and there's no paint work done yet but the face! Man it just looks like it could take off running at any second (well if he had legs I guess.:D)
You can also see where I elected to have the busted left G2 fixed and it is still in the unfinished stage as well.
It's just a cell picture but you get the idea.

But overall the detail and pose is exactly what I was hoping for! can't wait to see the finished project hanging on my wall. 3 more weeks.........3 more weeks.

The form is a Joe Coombs right turn "full wall pedestal" if anyone likes it and wants to know the make and model. I thought this guy deserved a pedestal style mount.The Coombs brandcame recommended by Greg and his taxidermist in IL and my guy in PA was very impressed with it.

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Looks real good Matt! Who does your mounts?

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boy mine from this year should be done any day now! im getting anxious to see him again

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Looks great, Matt. Was the G2 busted when you shot him, or did it happen after. Congrats again.

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I love that style of mount my taxi here in Kenosha, Wi recommended it but I didnt take him up on it.
Next one I will though. Congrats.

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I like that pose. I did mine that way last year.

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Looks sweet bro!

Good thing you had a buddy there to help you out the day you found it.... Musta been hell trying to count all those points with just your 10 fingers before your buddy loaned a few fingers tohelp finish off the point count.... :D;)

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Sweet Matt!! Congrats Again!

Dan

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Wow Matt, he looks great. I love the musculature in the neck. What a beautiful animal. Congrats and kudos to your taxidermist. He did a fine job.

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thats a great deer...i thought they did not get that big in PA:D

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Those are nice! Right now I can only imagine what it must be like :)

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Thanks guys!!:)

Jim Keller in Harrisburg. I won't trust anyone with a deer other than Jim. He's a member of my archery club anddoes fantastic work with deer AND turkeys. Hopefully I can drag one of those to him this spring!

I actually think he busted it off when he ran. It was so thick where he tore off through that its possible he smacked a tree with that thing on his head![:-]
The spot where the tine was was bone white and had sharp splintered edges like it JUST happened. I even backtracked looking for it but that could have flown anywhere if he did knock it off. It was only sept 30th so I doubt it was any serious fighting that did it.

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Anyone remember prom night? ;)

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Looks great, Matt. That rack seems to get bigger everytime a new picture arises...simply a great buck...and a PA one at that!

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Nice looking buck! His eyes look better than yours! [:-]

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LOL You guys are probably getting sick of seeing him. :DOnly one more picture to go....when I get him home where he belongs.

When I pick him up I'll be sure to have my safety goggles on.....;)

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BTW, the rack looks bigger to me mounted on the form than when you were holding just the rack for some of the photos.

Looks good!

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There's no Bill "HNI Justin"Dance bass-pro arm stretch here.......maybe that why?;)

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I think seeing it on a mounted cape actually gives a better representation of the overall size of the rack rather than being held by someone.

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It looks great Matt ,Congrats again.

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I like this one

(Congrats, MAtt.....he's beautiful)

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Or this one Jeff,



I have to admit and I told Matt this via an email as I got a sneak preview. The buck looks twice as big on the mount, as it did on the dead buck, or in person cut off the head. That on the mount is one impressive specimen. Congratulations again bud.

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Boy is this ever one well traveled buck. LOL

:eek::D

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Awesome looking mount. Can't wait to see it in finished state.

So where are you going to hang this thing? Have you been able to negotiate one of the living room walls?

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Mount looks awesome!

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Sweet mount! Congrats on a great deer!

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LOL Thanks........too bad when we got home after that night outI wanted to jam that thing into myjuglar vein to ease the pain a bit. :D

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I like the way the ears are. It looks like he is looking and listening for you. Very nice.

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I thought the exact same thing. The facial expression,eyes, ears and attitude all match perfectly. Thats the exact way he looked as I drew on him kneeling in the cornfield as he snapped his attention in my direction.

And the rest is history. :)

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Sweet looking buck Matt! He sure looks bigger then your pics in the field. Excellent looking buck and mount, congrats again!!;)

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You know just about everyone says that until they see the rack in person or hold it, I think people forget that I'm 6'3" and 200+?Kinda screws up the scale a bit. LOL That was a big animal. :D
That inside spread is 21 1/8".

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LOOKS GREAT!!!

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Have you had P@Y score it yet? If so what was the net score? Looks to be around 140" or so I would think.

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That's the amazing part.......and I have to check his math and how they score these things LOL
I got 149 5/8" gross when I green scored him and the offical P&Y scorer got 145 5/8"
Exactly 4" lower and I took my time with cloth tape, marking tines the whole 9 yards....I got the same number 3 times in a row.
Anyway he came up with a score for my buddy frank's buck that was ALSO exactly 4" lower than our gross green score? So I'm not sure what we did wrong because man we were following the letter of the law on gross scoring.

Now here's the fun part and I think I need a second opinion. Because he is missing his left G2 (the broken base is only about 1/2" high) and even though it's obvious a point was there, the scorer said that the next tine down (his split G3) now becomes your G2 and you compare side to side that way.
So basically rather than matching tine for tine on such a symmetrical rack you wind up taking 2 against 3, 3 against 4 , 4 against 5 and it's nothing but deduction after deduction..... right down to his right G5 just becoming a straight deduction[:-]

Til' he was all said and done my net P&Y score wound up being 123 3/8"
:eek:

Can anyone look at a 13pt typical buck with a 21" inside spread and 21" main beams and figure that it won't even net P&Y?

I'm still a little confused by it but hey it is what it is I guess and he's a 145+" buck in my eyes.
If he had that broken G2 the scorer said the only deductions would have been the splits and he would have grossed about 151" and netted around 143".

He would actually net P&Y if I would break off the right G2!!:D

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Thats a shame on the score Matt, I never did like the deductions, the net P&Y score does not reflect the actual overall apperance of many great racks that are in the record books or those like yours missing a G2 that will just miss making it even if it does have more than 145" of bone.
Reguardless of the record books its a great rack, add the story, help from friends and shot with a recurve, I am sure it has been written in your book!

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5'7"/125#'s

Different Perspective.....;)

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NICE!!!

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You look wierd, but tell her not to call me between 8am and 5pm.:D

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This is a great reason that we (HNI community) should come up with our own system of scoring great bucks like this. Screw P&Y and B&C. Great buck!

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Ah it's no big deal, I'm not worrying about it beyond the missing 4"? The guy who scored it did so at the busy HArrisburg Sport Show writing the scores down on the back of a business card......in between bites of some stew. LOL :D
If he added wrong by less than 2" he makes it. I may have it scored again just to be sure but yeah almost 23" of deductions on a rack that at first glance appears to be a mirror image on each side. Even the splits are the same size. I never knew you just pretended that missing G2 wasn't there, that's the worst point to lose because now you have to compare all the others and they are very different side to side all the way out.
He was slashing and burning inches like it was a used car sale.[:-];)

And I got off easy! My buddy Frank!? His rack grosses 139 5/8" (again exactly 4" under what we got) and NETS 92 3/8"!! [:-]It has 6+" bases and 140" of bone and doesn't even net 100" LOL:D He lost 48" in side to side deductions, and I thought he was gonna eat a bullet.