Final chapter has been written.....DOUBLE TROUBLE

[bluedog69]

First off let me say this is the pinnacle of 40+ years of deer adventures. This is the kind of story you only dream about, and see on TV hunting shows.
I hope it happens again, but not likely too. Here it goes for the story......

It has been several days now. The emotions have ran high for days. I did not anticipate the flowing of tears to be so great at times. I tried to post this many times but instead just reminisced, and let the tears flow at times.

This week my great nephew pulled off a feat that has escaped my boys and I for three years. We are glad it took so long for the journey has been the most awesome ride I have ever been on. Had we connected three years ago the mystery would have never unfolded. My boys and I are so happy that my great nephew ended up killing "Double Trouble".

Unbeknownst to us back in 2019 a story was being written that will live for generations in our family. Memories have be made. Joy, laughter, tears, anxiousness, and sadness have been flowing freely for the last two years. Almost everyday Double Trouble has been talked about between the boys and I. Here is our first encounter with Curly Brow who would turn into Double Trouble the following year.

If you notice the is a small inside leaner on right main beam.


At this time we had no clue what he would explode into next year. We just knew we had a nice buck on camera. He also had a small inside leaner on the right. Then in the spring I found his left shed.

We looked high and low but never found the right side with the "inside leaner". This is a "rare trait" that is "common" in our area hahaha.
Old Curly brow would have went about 147''. We had no idea what was coming...another 50"!!!


Later in the summer and fall we got some really awesome pictures of a big buck. We had no clue he was Curly Brow yet.

I knew that this buck was special. I could also see that this buck had double inside leaners. Which is a rare trait that has shown up every now and then. So we nicknamed him Double Trouble. I pondered if this could be Curly Brow? Surely not, if so his inside leaners just exploded from one small one to two large ones.

 

[bluedog69]

Later in the fall we ended up with a few more pictures and they were amazing. The boys and I were on cloud nine just to be blessed with pictures of a buck like this.

These next two pics show the big double inside leaners.

 

[bluedog69]

Then he disappeared. Nothing. Had he moved on? Had he been poached? EHD? He just vanished. I figured like usual the story was done. We usually never see a buck more than one year.....but then we found a shed.

Tackett and Wyatt had been saying "Goodness gracious Rachel" off of a comedy youtube show they had seen. That night I stopped to get a pop at a convenience store.....Rachel!!! I couldn't resist!!! Goodness gracious is right.

 

[Rick Richard]

Great story and nice trophy. Congrats to all.

 

[bluedog69]

He had broke off the big inside leaner on the left side we found above. Roughly about 8 - 9" according to trail cam pics. So we knew he was alive and around again. I searched high and low. Crawled ditches. Went places I never went. Looked in every ditch bottom I could. No match. But then two months later we struck gold!!!

We had found the other side!!! Actually Tackett had spotted it out of our Honda Pioneer. ITS HIM!!! ITS HIM!!!! Tackett yelled. We literally spent 45 minutes to an hour soaking in the excitement and joy. Talking about how rare it was to find a set of sheds that would have went close to 200". The big leaner was gone and it was lucky the entire beam wasn't broke off.

 

[bluedog69]

Three sheds within about 200 yards. I had an idea he was calling this place home. So we flooded the area with cameras. We were blessed with lots of footage. Always totally random. No rhyme or reason. But it was footage.

Yes it must be him. He had a start on the left leaner but what about the right???????

 

[badthirtyone]

Thanks for sharing the photos, the story and the experience!

 

[bluedog69]

The tension mounted. Every day the boys had a question where? When? Do you think we will? Hope he doesn't…. The footage kept rolling in.
What does a 180 - 200" buck looks like on trail cam?

THIS!!!






So he had went from having a right small leaner to " Double Trouble". Roughly 198 7/8.
Then this year he only had the small left inside leaner. But added a g5 on the right. He was also starting a G5 on the left.

 

[bluedog69]

I wanted so bad to post this picture on forums and ask if he'd go wun fiddy?

 

[bluedog69]

So we hunted hard but as smart as possible. No sightings. More footage every week to ten days. Then on November 3rd. The only day I didn't take our canon xa11 video and this would be the only time I laid eyes on him. He went from about 92 yards to passing by at about 50 but 100% brush cover by the time he got close.




I am in the tree in the top left and he was on the game camera. Just barely anyway.


Can you spot me in the tree?

 

[bluedog69]

So I tried to post this for several weeks. Every time I tried I would just get all emotional. I am super happy that my great nephew got him. He is still in the family. My boys got to see him hold him and help butcher him. We are working on making a replica of him and the sheds this winter. We scored him at 184 and change.
I am not sad or upset we didn't get him. Not in the slightest. It is more like losing a good friend. My boys and I had NOT totally obsessed about him. We knew there was next to zero chance we would get him. I honestly started hoping for another set of sheds and one more year. Just for the joy on my boys faces and the sound of pure joy and excitement when they found the sheds and every card pull. This deer even though never seen by them was a pure family experience. We spent hours riding to check cams and hours sorting through pictures. For people who don't hunt deer they will never understand just how cherished all of these memories will be for all of us as a family.

I told a guy the other day who farms a lot but " just doesn't get it"(Those were his words about deer hunting. ) I said I could have $10,000,000 to spend, but I can't buy that deer. He is out there, but may disappear. All the money in the world can't buy a tag filled with him or even another shed antler off of him.

We may never experience this type of footage and sheds off of a buck again. It has been an awesome blessing to share in this with my kids. I still get tears when I think that we won't be getting DT on camera anymore. All I can say is that God is great and hope he blesses us with another DT again.

Here are the sheds.

Score sheet for the sheds.

Here is the score sheet for DT. He lost a lot of the non-typical score, But still impressive.

All I can say is Thank you God for blessing us with this journey. A true family experience that will never be forgotten.
Even now tears of joy roll for all the blessings he brought us. Raising four daughters and now my two boys to appreciate
the outdoors, hunting, and gifts from above is the greatest joy I could have in life.

 

[bluedog69]

After season we checked cams again. We were blessed with one final video of him.

RIP DT.

 

[bluedog69]

Thanks for sharing the photos, the story and the experience!

You are welcome. It is more of a story about family fun and unity than a deer. But the size of the deer helped make it.

The inside leaners are also a mystery. I have a 9 point shed from 1989 with 9 points and it is a massive beast. The biggest time is a big inside leaner. We have seen roughly between 1/2 dozen to a dozen deer with one on either side or the other or both.

In 2010 within 15 miles of me 3 bucks were shot between 185 and 218. All three had big double leaners. This buck gave us the chance to see him go from one on the right to big doubles to one on the left.

Just amazing animals.

 

[Douglas A. Twitty]

Great story. Thank you for taking the time to share. God is Great!