Biggest whitetail you ever seen and didn’t get a shot at.

When I was 17 we went hunting on a friend's farm in western KY. I was hunting on the edge of a field and had a HUGE buck walk out right behind me about 10 yards away. Our friend had a buck mounted in his house that had scored 189" and this deer was bigger than that The light is beginning to fade and he just appears to my right couldn't have been more than 18yds away. Just standing there out of nowhere unfortunately staring right at me. It felt like he was looking right into my eyes, there was way to much junk between me and him to even think about a shot. We just looked at each other for what seemed like forever, suddenly he snorts, stomps and runs a half circle and stops 20yds farther and stands there looking at me for like 10 sec. then he stomped off. Never saw him again.
 
The first buck I got a shot at. I wasn't a teenager yet, sitting in a home made wooden ladder stand opening morning of IN firearm season. I had the buck push a doe out of the swamp and right in front of me at 10 yards. I went to shoot and forgot to take the safety off! He chased her through some more brush and then out into an ag field where I took a shot. He kicked his hind legs and ran towards the neighbors where shots rang out. The doe was still standing there so I cycled the 20ga shot gun and took a shot at her, missing her. I walked to where they were standing and followed tracks for 20 yards when my dad came along. He said I probably missed since there was no blood. I still think I hit him by the way he reacted but will never know, the neighbor found him dead in Jan. Not sure if they hit it as well? but scored 215-1/8, since then my biggest buck has come of the same farm scoring 193"
 
I seen a 170 inch whitetail every morning going to school. It crossed the road in almost the same place every morning on the dot give or take 5-10 mins before or after. A young girl got him durning youth season that year.
 
This is a whitetail doe and was double the size of any of the ones my friends harvested. I'm not sure the photo does it justice. I think it may have been a hybrid or something
 

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In the early 2000's, one of my farm workers and I saw a huge buck in velvet in one of our rice fields. I swear he looked like a moose. That fall I hunted him in a tract of woods that bordered the field. He had a distinctive track that was very large. He moved mostly at night, but one morning I was bowhunting a trail and saw him coming through the woods. He was a monster, but never got closer than 100 yards or so. Never laid eyes on him again but saw his tracks frequently. After the season was over, I stopped seeing his tracks. I later learned that a big buck was illegally killed on a neighboring property. The poachers were caught a few months later because they were bragging about it. The deer's antlers are mounted in the regional Wildlife and Fisheries office, though they have them on a full body mount of a much smaller deer. The buck had 17 points and a 21 inch inside spread. They don't know his weight because all they recovered was his skull plate and antlers, but I bet he'd have gone close to 300 lbs on the hoof. Sure was a shame for him to go down to outlaws.
 
I hunt is several states but the biggest deer I've ever seen and didnt get a shot at came walking out of a swamp at the end of our neighborhood. Walked in front of my truck and into a yard. He stopped, turned and looked at me and then walked off. Huge deer, counted 10 points but there were others on him.
 
I guess there's a couple different answer's to this basic question for me, I posted a response in a hunting scenario which would of course be daytime conditions. Here where I live you can also spotlight during the summer till end of Sept. The big boys are done growing antler by then and traveling in bachelor group's, from midnight till about three in the morning are when you see the big ones. We use it as a tool to find areas to cam and set-up to hunt in season, during rut all bets are off as they travel large areas rutting, but you can find home areas. We have seen 170" class typicals every year since we started doing it. We don't have the non typical's most states have but you do see the drop tine and heavy mass racks on occasion. Camming also yield's some surprises as well, Good thread, it is amazing the size some states produce, heres a couple big ones for up here.
Big Horn 2.jpg
Buzz Ridge Buck 5.jpg
Buzzy Buck 1.jpg
 
I guess there's a couple different answer's to this basic question for me, I posted a response in a hunting scenario which would of course be daytime conditions. Here where I live you can also spotlight during the summer till end of Sept. The big boys are done growing antler by then and traveling in bachelor group's, from midnight till about three in the morning are when you see the big ones. We use it as a tool to find areas to cam and set-up to hunt in season, during rut all bets are off as they travel large areas rutting, but you can find home areas. We have seen 170" class typicals every year since we started doing it. We don't have the non typical's most states have but you do see the drop tine and heavy mass racks on occasion. Camming also yield's some surprises as well, Good thread, it is amazing the size some states produce, heres a couple big ones for up here.View attachment 200863View attachment 200864View attachment 200865

That is one good looking buck.
 
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