Just what do the biggest pen raised bucks score. I never read a lot about that . Is it even talked about ?

500 inches

I have seen some that were well over 300".

That's a lot of bone

buck in that pic ought to have a hell of a neck roast.....

Yup and I’ve seen a pic of a 600 inch buck He couldn’t hold his head up for long and they cut the rack off.

Just think what itd be during rut . But one hell of a form you'd need

That’s what she said.

She wasn't talking to me . Lol

I don’t really keep up with deer breeding and that side of things. The high fences I work with are managing native deer.

I've seen those get pretty big too . Bama can make good deer in places .

I’ve seen several native deer hit around 200”. All they need is great habitat, reduced competition and birthdays.

Y'all remember, those pen raised deer are just as hard to kill as the wild ones

Yeah , I've seen some big ole deer . They field dress around 200lbs , you got a truck bed full of deer. Gotta have them birthdays though

I dont know if I really want to hunt one , course ill never have the chance.

Some of them are, especially southern ones. There’s deer in pens that no hunter has ever seen from a stand and there’s deer seen in person no camera has detected. Just facts.

I know a guy who killed a 400"+ deer that was only 3 years old in a penalty.

That crap pisses me off, those deer are nothing more than expensive pets. They are wild animals, don't mess with them. Those monstrosities make me sick just like the chest thumping db who shoots one of those deer and acts like he did something. I guess everything can be dumbed down if you have enough money.

Nobody is shooting those 400, 500, 600" deer. The money for the seed is too big.

Use to be like $1200-$1500 a straw didn’t it? May be more now, or I may be mistaken.

I watched an auction and a guy paid $1 million for 1/2 interest in a buck and didnt take it with him. He just got half of what it produced from then on. Big money in big bucks

Most of the breeder bucks in Alabama fall in the 250" range at 2yo and the 3yo's generally are in the 350-400" range.

That being said I have a client in North Alabama that has numerous bucks over 500" each year and he had a 650" deer that died last year of EHD.

If they grow like that what do they feed them?

Steroids? Lol

It’s genetics. Selective breeding. Nutrition helps, but that is not why they are that big.

Yep, one of my close friends had some awesome bucks and he said it was almost entirely genetics. His family got out of the business when CWD restrictions became too much of a pain.

I agree on genetics I been looking at my pictures this morning. I have a lot of tall rack deer. Narrow racks

Its a mix of genetics, breeding the right doe to the right buck, and feed.

Most folks feed high protein deer feed mixed with various supplements to keep them heathly. Also the bigger bucks generally aren't put with too many does. If they breed too many their antlers will be smaller the following year.

Woah!!!! Say what?!?!
You mean if too many does are on the landscape and exhausting bucks with longer ruts it can negatively impact their health? No way.

I’m obviously being sarcastic. This one hurdle is too high for many to overcome.

Nothing about that buck appeals to me at all.

Me either but someone would pay a small fortune to kill it.

How do you know if there are too many does?

Like if I sit there on a good weather day on my property and see 10 is that too many? What if I see 15 one day and then zero for the next couple times I sit there?

Just because bucks are being overharvested doesnt mean everyone needs to shoot a bunch of does to try and fix it

What should you do?

Say it aint so Matt. LOL

All depends on how many breeding age bucks you have on the property to service those 10 or 15 does. Prolonged rutting activity causes tremendous stress for bucks. If your does start into heat in late Dec and you still have does being bred beyond the end of January, you've either got too many does or not enough bucks. 2 cycles should be the norm with the majority of does being bred in their first cycle. Generally rut/breeding activity beyond 40 days is indicative of a balance issue and not good for the health of your bucks or overall herd for that matter. In a perfect world, all your does would be bred on their first cycle and you'd have a very short concise rut. The earlier that the fawns drop the better. The rut in a lot of places in AL lasts 3 to sometimes 4 solid months due to lack of age structure and out of whack sex ratios.

If you don't have a very large track of land that you gonna have for a very long time you ain't gonna tighten up the rut. Or get everyone on the same program you gonna fix it . Fix that problem takes time and a whole lot of finger control. Imo

Limit out of state hunters to one buck and double their license fees..........

Why not just stop hunting for 2 years ?

I get the argument for too many does and the stressors it can place on the bucks, but what about the other side of the fence? If you had too many bucks and not enough does across the landscape the mature bucks are going to get run ragged fighting and trying to keep the does for themselves. I firmly believe you can only hold so many bucks across a given landscape. I don’t know what that number is, but if there aren’t enough does to go around the bucks will leave.

Tip of the hat to 3toe for bringing back the catch phrase from The Office.

The one i killed last year scored 172. I was taken on a disabled hunt for free but here’s the price list so at least 220” at this particular place.

It’s a lot of line breeding. The have the best protein an animal can have fed to them. Line breeding is doubling down on a feature you want more of. Simply look at how certain breeds of dogs have changed over the years from the original breed standards