I killed this buck in 2000, and to date, is the largest AL deer I've been able to take. I've always wanted him remounted. I wasn't satisfied with the mount, and to be honest it wasn't bad. It just wasn't what I had envisioned. So here he is. Kinda gets me fired up for this season.

Dang looks wonderful Matt. What did he score? Love that bone color rack. All mine are dingy colored

That's a great looking cape too.

He scored 148" and some eighths. It was either 3/8 or 5/8 but I don't remember.

One reason I've waited so long to mount him was because I was being picky on capes. I wanted one that was comparable in size and age to the original. Took a while to get that. This deer was 6+ years old.

I knew he was big. That's a stud for a main frame eight. How long is that g2?

Well you did good Matt cause that's a good looking cape.

Longest G2 is 12". Shorter one is 10.5". Most impressive thing for me about this deer was the mainbeams. They wrap around and really added inches to the rack.

Impressive

Looks good Matt.

He turned out good. Looks bigger in person. Tell everybody about the hunt. I'm sure they'd love to hear how you killed him.

Looks really good. How long are those main beams? When they do a remount like that,do they use the original cape or a new one?

It is quite an entertaining story, and not as good unless my dad tells it. I'll try.

Little history. We had cows on the family farm back in those days, and they had recently just been removed due to the death of the cattle owner. So there was a time frame in there the farm was cattleless. It was common to see deer grazing in the pasture early mornings and late afternoons once the cows were removed.

I woke up about 9 am on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day in 2000, after expressing full intentions of waking up and hunting that morning, because we were out of school. Obviously, lazy teenagers don't always get up like they say, so I didn't make that happen. When I came downstairs I found a girl I went to HS with babysitting my sister. She says, "Your Papa called this morning about 7 o'clock to tell you there was a big buck in the pasture chasing does, but I didn't want you mad at me for waking you up so I didn't say anything." Well, you know how that went. I scolded her for not waking me up.

Fast forward to the next morning, a school morning. I had to get up and go to school, but I decided to wake very early, warm me up a pop-tart and a cold glass of milk, and wait for sunrise with a rifle in hand in my upstairs bathroom, looking across the pasture. Right at first light I see a huge bodied deer making his way across the pasture alone, and I could see his rack with my bare eyes at nearly 200 yards in the early morning light. I knew he was nice. I cracked open the window, slid a soft pillow in the frame, propped my gun on it, waited until he was within 125 yards, and dropped his butt right there. I had NO IDEA this deer was that big. I made my way down stairs, with momma asking me what I had shot. I told her I'd know in a minute. So I go down, walk up to him, and just stare in disbelief. I loaded him onto a trailer, pulled it into the carport, and left for school. I would clean him later.

I get home that afternoon, after not being able to focus on school at all, to find my dad and granddad looking at the deer, giving me congrats, and ready to take pics. My granddad says, "Son, that ain't deer the deer I saw two mornings ago. He was wider than that deer." I found that hard to believe because this buck is 18.5" wide, and was to that point the widest deer I'd killed. I couldn't imagine one wider. So we cleaned the deer, took pics, etc.

I thought about what my granddad said all night, and got to wondering if there was a chance there was another deer he had seen, possibly larger than this one. The next morning my dad was off from work, and he worked hard, so he didn't wake up early. He took advantage of his off day. I got up to get ready for school and heard mom downstairs getting ready for work, and thought I heard her say something about deer to dad, who's still in the bed. I hadn't put on my glasses yet, so everything was blurry, but I could see 4 deer standing in the pasture, one of which was a larger unclear blob than the others. So I ran downstairs in my underwear, like a mad flash, to grab my rifle. I heard my dad say, "Woman, are you sure there's no horns on any of those deer?" Dad knew by my frantic scurrying that I had seen something. She replied, "No I don't see any." About that time, I had already eased the window open, put on my glasses, and realized the wider buck my granddad saw was standing there with three does. I settled my crosshairs and "BOOOM!" Immediately I heard my dad yell, "You told me there was no horns!!" The deer hunched up and just stood there, so I sent another one and he dropped. Dad comes upstairs asking what in the world I shot. I told him to put some clothes on and we will go see. We drive up to the deer and dad says, "Well good grief son. You gonna let your old man kill anything this year?" I just smiled (he was referring to the fact I had already killed two 130" deer that year, which was my best year ever, and still holds). I was looking at a 20" wide perfect 6X6. The only typical 6x6 I've killed, or even seen in my life. I have yet to see another one, or even get pictures of one on camera. He was a wide deer, with good beams, exceptional mass, but real short tines. He doesn't have a tine over 5" long, but he scored 132".

So that is the story behind this deer, and the other one that followed. I don't think it would be as good a story without including them both, because I killed this deer because of the other.

Longest is 25.5", and the other is 24.5".

I used a new cape on a deer my dad killed last year. I was waiting on a large cape from an old deer. He delivered.

Got a pic of the 12 point. A 150 inch 8 pint is unreal. I have a friend that has one and you can't appreciate how big they are unless you see them in person. Congrats.

Great story Matt! Thanks for sharing!

Nice remount and story!

I don't have a digital photo. I'd take one but it's hanging up at the camp.

Man......we did not have quite that kind of quality....but, I fondly remember those days of waking up early and scanning the pastures for deer. Or, sliding the window open and listening for a gobble.
Things have really changed around here, though.

Dang fine buck, man.....and great story!

That's an awesome story. If your Dad told it any better, I'm not sure I could stand it! Great-looking deer....glad you got the mount that you really had hoped for!

Awesome! Nothing like a big ole 8 point bruiser

damn fine deer