Hi all,
This buck was taken by my friend Travis Crane in Idaho last Wednesday, opening morning of deer season. Although not taken with a Shiloh, it is an interesting story.
Travis and my brother-in-law, Jim Naccarrato, spotted the deer just before opening day last year. At that time, he was 28-30" wide, and had some cheaters starting to grow off his main frame. They could tell he was a young deer. Both Travis and Jim made a deal-they wouldn't shoot him, as they wanted to see how big he could get if allowed to grow an additional year.
The buck lived on National Forest ground, so there was a chance that he wouldn't make the year. Perhaps another hunter, but unlikely, as deer like this go nocturnal after opening day and timber up during the rest of the season, perhaps a winter kill, lion kill, or maybe wolves all could have gotten this guy.
They spotted him again in July, still in velvet but obviously the same buck. Although the antlers were still growing, they could tell he was going to be a monster.
They continued to pattern the buck throughout the summer and early fall, just enough to know his bedding areas. They did not push him as they did not want to spook him, even months before the season. They saw he broke off his G-3 on one side (an estimated 8-10" of antler) while still in the velvet.
Three days before opening morning, Travis was alone on the hill as my brother-in-law could not make the hunt. They knew that opening morning would be the best chance of killing this buck, as other hunters in the area would push him into the timber and they would never see him the rest of the season. Travis, who spiked camped on the hill, woke this guy up and put him to bed, for the 2 1/2 days immediately prior to opening morning.
Initially, on opening morning Travis could not spot the buck. Travis then found the buck about 200 yards lower in the canyon than he had figured where the buck would be. There was a stiff wind that morning, so Travis believes the deer bedded lower to get out of the wind.
Travis fired a single shot from his .270 WSM using a 130 grain Barnes TSX. The bullet broke the onside front shoulder, took a lung, and was found under the skin of the opposite side ham.
The buck is 39.25" wide, 8 scoreable points on one side and 12 on the other, with 4.5" eyeguards.
This is Travis' second monster mule deer buck; 2 years ago he took a B&C typical scoring in the mid 190's. We have all taken bucks 28-31" from this area, our previous biggest being a 34" 8 X 5, but Travis' buck is in another class.
I decided to include the details of this hunt in this forum as I thought it was quite an accomplishment how they had planned to take this buck over a year in advance. Most people would have shot him when he was pushing 30" the year before. I am proud of them both for their dedication, and doing it like this is what hunting is all about. Now, if I could only convert them to shooting Shiloh's!
Manny
