I was trying to remember if I've ever gotten trail cam pictures--on land that I hunt in Alabama--of a real freak racked deer. Or just some unusually big buck for Alabama in general, or especially for the certain area you hunt?? I don't have any photos that I can find (plus I don't know how to post pictures anymore), but really I can only remember one deer like this anyway. My parents have a small piece of land in Talladega Co, and maybe 10 years ago I got pictures of a 140" (+,-) eleven point with matching crab claws on both G2s. Only got 5 or 6 pics of that deer, all in the few days just before the opening of bow season, and later learned he was shot and killed in someone's yard about a mile away that same season. Other than him, all I really remember is getting 10 million pictures of 15" clean 8pts everywhere I've ever hunted.

I’m with you. If you think about it in percentages though it makes sense to me. Say only 5-10% of buck fawns live to be 5yo+. Of those 5-10% maybe only 5-10% of them even possess the potential to become what you would consider a freak racked deer. Then factor in that the majority of those with that potential will be shot as 2-3yo deer. If you look at it that way you can easily see why it’s an uphill battle to find what you’re describing.

You run cameras in countys that dog hunt and your subject to see some real jacked up racks....cause theys alot of deer totin buckshot..ive seen several deer kilt in sumpter co with one side or the other jacked up an you cut open a hindquarter to find a big kankered mass with buckshot buried inem...i aint ever seen many deer in alabama with narly lookin racks score much but i have seen a few weird lookin deer.

My mom has 52 acres near Lincoln. I've ran cameras on it the last 2 years.
Last year had 16 different bucks on Camera.
Only one Truly big racked mature buck showed up.
He was on the edge of the camera, almost out of sight @ 2am.
Looked to be a big 10. Never saw him again.
Rest of the bucks were those clean 8's and 6's.
ALL BUCK PICS WERE AT NIGHT.

Depends on where you hunt. I had much the same experience you did on most properties I hunt. We would get some good deer on camera but very rarely anything over 8points. Then I picked up a little suburban spot in Lee co and it was not surprising for me to get pics of 140+ deer. Also saw drop tines, and other abnormal points. Quite a few better than 9points.

I had one last year not too far from where you're talking about that was a 140" 11 point with a nasty 5 or 6" kicker point off his right G2. I saw him at 75 yards during bow season and was sure that I would get a shot at him during gun season. I hunted him for a month straight during gun season only to find out that my aunt's neighbor had killed him on opening day when two house dogs jumped him out of his bed and ran him right under the neighbor's stand. He's a good guy so I was really happy for him, but it was painful to hear how he was killed.

The one I had was shot right there across the road from Ronnie Lott's underground house. Heck, it was right in the middle of several houses there, no woods around. Story I was told is the guy was leaving for work that morning and went outside to crank his truck first to defrost the windshield. Looked up and saw it walking toward his house, ran inside and got a gun, went out the front door and snuck around the house and shot it. I'm sure that woke up all the neighbors!!! LOL
I took my doggone camera down already this year... I had hernia surgery last week, so I can't get up and down that ridge for a while to check it, but frankly it had been up for 7 weeks and was only getting the same 5 or 6 small bucks every day. The biggest one was like a 13" skinny 8pt.

Friend of mine used to live in that Stonegate subdivision that backs up to what's now that new sports complex in Lincoln. Before that complex was built he used to get some seriously big bucks on camera in there.

Not unusually big but these are the only freaky looking ones I’ve ever got, most of the time it’s just 8 pts

Most likely a function of hunting pressure and thus age structure between the two properties you're talking about. Older deer put on non-typical points and more head gear. Young bucks, 3 and younger, rarely exhibit the traits y'all are talking about regardless of genetic disposition. Older bucks are rarely harassed in suburban settings and typically move more freely than in situations where they are getting chased all over creation from daylight to dark. There is also more human scent in suburban locations and I think that the deer get more used to people and our scents in situations such as that versus a 6 yr old buck in the middle of a 5000 acre 50 member hunting club.

Here's a freak nasty that was killed in Macon Co years ago...…..

Think that’s the biggest Juan he has ever killed?

That's a famous Macon County, Alabama deer killed by an African American
lawyer who resides in that county. IIRC he killed it 25-35 years ago. I think his last
names is Bulls.

I forget what it ranks but that’s one of the biggest non-typical in the record books. It was just by complete coincidence but I’m pretty sure I’ve been on the property where it was killed and it had nothing to do with tracking. We used to have a renter who kept telling me about the big buck George Bull killed on his girlfriend’s families place….black folks. His girlfriend’s uncle was there one day hanging out with the renter and we got to talking about it and he asks me if I want to hunt the place. It sounded like the OE he was drinking just had him talking chit more than anything but I said why not, let’s go check it out. Hell, who knows is what I was thinking. I had never seen that picture before this and knew nothing of the deer other than these stories the renter kept telling me. A lot of folks have big buck stories though so I didn't really think much of it to be honest. It was only later that I looked it up.

So we rode down there to check it out. As soon as we got there and started walking in it was pretty obvious someone else was already hunting it. Shooting house and greenfield with a trough feeder not 200 yards in. I just turned around and walked out and told his drunk arse to come on before he got me shot. Long story short, I’m pretty sure his sister was the one who actually controlled the land. It's in a dang good spot though.

Was that deer taken need Mann’s land? Seen that pic before

I'm in the same boat as you. There isn't anything back in my honey hole that I would even consider shooting right now.

If the info I have is correct, the George Bull buck was killed not too far from Ft. Davis……There was a huge buck killed on the Old Torbert property that borders up to the Mann property back in the 70’s I believe it was. That might be the one you’re thinking of. The “Preacher” killed it. I’ve seen the mount of it in his son’s house. I believe it ranks maybe in the top 15-20 typical….something like that. It has a 27 inch spread……never seen anything like it…..I remember it being the widest spread of any deer I could find in the record book. I haven’t been in there in a while but there used to be some studs hanging in Sistrunk’s store that were killed around there back in the day. I hunted the same property the preacher killed that deer on for 5 or 6 years when I first moved to south Alabama and we never saw anything close to a deer of that caliber. “Good deer” were just your typical 125-130” like you see most places. I think maybe there was more farming in the area back in the day.

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I've got a picture of me holding up one of those deers sheds

Post em up

It's pre digital camera but I'll look for it