Mystro

I shot a large 9-point (20 3/4" spread) last day of the 2003 Pa. rifle season(12/13/03) on state gamelands in North Central Pa.
I shot the big 210lbs deer in the neck with my 300 Win Mag and the impact blew both antlers off. The deer dropped in its tracks and both antlers lay neatly in front of the deer.
I have never seen this before so early in Pennsylvania?? After a close inspection of the antlers I noticed they were 1/2 way shed. The taxidermist estimated the deers age of 4 1/2 to 5 years old. Upper neck measured 23".
Has anyone else seen this before??

UPDATE..The entire story "Where did the antlers go" has been picked as a finalist at [link]http://www.pabucks.com/[/link]
The stories have to be about this years hunt. They were not looking for the bigest buck but the most interesting hunt. Check it out and vote for me. To clear the winter boredom, I have since gone back to the State Gamelands where I shot this big bruiser. It was a hike but we had a blast reminiscing and scouting for next year.

WhiteRaven

Why do I always have to be the one asking the hard question? Mystro, perhaps you can enlighten me a bit. How is it you determined the inside spread to be 20 3/4". You said it yourself, the antlers fell off. I mean I can see saying 20" or 21", after all you'd have to be estimating. But you seem pretty precise at 20 3/4", I mean even to the point of fractions of an inch. How can you possibly justify that figure? ? It just sounds like so much more BS. And there's been plenty of it floating around this year. . Nothing personal Mystro but even your posting is full of contradictory information. I mean you said "the antlers fell off". you didn't say they were hanging there, or partly attached..you said "fell off" even to the point where the antlers were lying in front of the deer. So if they "fell off and were in front of the deer" how is it when you came upto it they were still half attached? Now before anyone freaks on me, you have to admit these are an honest questions.

justhrowit

I have seen this. A buddy of mine shot a buck three years ago during late bow season in MI. It was Late December, I think Dec 27th. Well, the buck went running through some trees. When we found the buck....no horns. Fell off while running through the trees. Never did find the horns. There was about 3-4 feet of snow they sank in.

WhiteRaven

lol.

Charlie P

Maybe it's me but that sound personal.

A guy shot a really big buck during late muzzle loader around here a couple years ago. One of the antlers came off.

Mystro it sounds like a nice deer even if your off by an inch on your guestimate.

White Raven they have this new thing out it's called Midol try it sometime.

8mm/06

If you have the deer and both antlers it shouldn't be difficult at all to get a measurement that would be accurate up to an 1/8 of an inch. When the antlers drop there are fairly distinct points of origin where one could hold the antlers on to the skull.... it becomes fairly simple to see where the antlers were in their original fixed position.

Phil J.

Sorry Mystro, I know it's not funny but when I read your story it made me chuckle! The only conclusion I could come to would be that you have TOO MUCH GUN! I've never heard of that happening, but wow that would be something to see, sorry for your misfortune man. Try a little .243 or something next time, or better yet stick and string, bet they won't fall off from those.


Maybe if we all ignore her she will just go away............[:'(]

MossyOak02

It could possibly happen..

WR: No comment.

Charly:Agreed.

Cyrus

Tsk, tsk,tsk, That's exactly what I'm talking about WR. Why did you have to go and do that? Some kind of weird compulsion?

Give the guy a break. Why imply that Mystro is not telling the truth. Sure it would be hard to get an accurate measurement but it is possible.

Mystro,
Congrats on the buck. Sucks about the rack. Funny story though.

We're seeing bucks drop their antlers early this year too. I've seen it in harsh years but it hasn't been bad at all this year. Weird.

WhiteRaven

Oh great story. I laughed my ass. And you know I really do believe it happened. But come on why didn't he just round it off??? It doesn't make sense. I mean if I'm fishing and I catch and release a nice bass do I say it was 23 inches long and about 5 1/2 pounds or do I say it was 23.6 inches long and weighed 5 pounds 4 3/8 ounces. Do you see my point here? I mean he's supposedly estimating it.