For two yearsI have been looking for abuck I shot at and missed as I had my string snag my grunt tube lanyard; I was crouched on the ground in a man made ground blind at the time. My arrow went sailing through the air and the big buck dashed off. I looked for him the entire season. Nothing. Then looked for him all last season and while elk hunting accidentally stumbled across his shed antler only 200 yards from where I got the shot at him, I knew instantly who it belonged too. Still, Inever saw the big boy for certain during the season. (thought I might have jumped him once as he ran off, but couldnt be forsure)He is a hvy racked deer, as his shed and the view I had of him whilescouting him two yearsago and whilemissing him stood out.

Then recently this past month a buck that looks exactly like him .. big main framed 5x5 has been showing up on my trail camera about every 3 days at a late night water hole in which is only 100 yards from the shedfind and 300 from whereI missed him and had been patterning him 2 yearsago.. basically he has moved back deeper into the forest wherethe water hole/spring is...Right now, I have several dozen photos of himthis past monthand figured I'd better share a few. The only difference I see in his rack is a small spliter hes formed on his tall browtines.. I think he has officially earned a nickname.. "spliter" I am almost positive this is the same buck. Hvy rack, not real wide,good tine length nothing outrageous but just a very solid Idaho whitetail. If it is him, .. hes still living in the same big basin of timber backed by the big mountain I missed him on..

Here are a few recent photos, I believe he is a 150 class gross buck and thats probably all he will ever be. I think I missed him 2 year ago when he was 3.5 possibly 4.5. that would put him at 5.5 or 6.5 now..

Nice buck, I hope you get a 2nd chance at him this fall.

I know your pain...3 yrs. ago my brother who lives in New Mexico convinced me to go Elk hunting, and on the last morning Ikept hearing cow calls, so I started cow calling, to make a long story short, what I thought were 1 or 2 cows turned out to be a train of 13 Elk, 10 cows, 2 spikes and a 6x5, he got stright from me and turned and started walking like I had a leash on him, at 40 yards he stopped and turned, I started to draw back and heard my arrow bouncing off every inch of my bow, I peered out of the corner of my eye and seen my nock still attached to my string...of course a 4 min stare down insued with me trying my best to hold my bow back at 50% draw...guess who won. I never been so upset at myself for not checking something so simple as that.

wack away my fellow Deacon, wack away!

Awesome buck, good luck at a second chance.

Let the chess match begin very nice troy

very nice buck, good luck on that second shot. tip-next time, put that damn grunt call on the ground before you shoot!

It is always great to have some history with a certain buck hope you get him Troy.

Good luck getting him this year Troy!

Troy, best of luck to you putting your tag on that brute. Not only are you one of the nicest guys on this site, but you work harder at getting a mature buck than anyone here. No one deserves it more than you. Just make sure you take lots of pics.

Any chance you can give us some details on how/where you construct your ground blinds? It seems like it has been a very sucessful strategy for you.

Awesome buck. Good luck.