Double drop tine sheds

[Iowa_Buckeye]

So the last week of December last year my buddy said he saw a big double drop tine buck on the north end of the farm. I told him he was smoking dope. He set several cams in the area and ended up proving me wrong with pics shortly after. This was a new deer to the farm, but the cams showed he soon found our main food plots and decided to stay around. My buddy ended up finding his sheds in February. I met him for lunch that day to see them and realized they looked like a shed I had found the previous spring. Well after putting the pieces of the puzzle together, we realized we had both sheds from the prior year (he had one and I had one). Looking at the prior year pics, we noticed he first showed late that December also (12/22 was the first pic). Even more surprising was realizing he was only a 3yr old with the double drops (scores 183'ish). Needless to say we have high hopes he survives bow season and both shotgun seasons out here and comes back to our place for late muzzy. Could be stupid big!

Since the sheds are so cool, he decided to get a cape and get them mounted. The taxi is starting to mount them up and he sent me a pic of it today.

One of the first pics we got.



I think some of the coolest 'as they lay' pics as they come.



Me holding them, jealously.....



With the prior years sheds.



He is gonna look incredible.

 

[Bigslam51]

Nice, that outta be a sweet mount!

 

[hickslawns]

Geesh. Nice deer. So you think he is 3yrs old with the double drops and all the junk on there? Is that pretty common in your area? Just curious. Doesn't seem like we start seeing that until 4 or 5 or older around my area.

 

[xbowguy]

WOW! That will make yer heart skip a beat or two. Hope to see it finished.

 

[Fullbore]

Incredible buck! Great genetics that deer has! I hope for your sake he does a lot of breeding in your area! Nice shed pics and thanks for sharing. Good luck this season!

 

[bowhunter1023]

Geesh. Nice deer. So you think he is 3yrs old with the double drops and all the junk on there? Is that pretty common in your area? Just curious. Doesn't seem like we start seeing that until 4 or 5 or older around my area.

This. Kickers even at 2.5 is unreal. Just goes to show how ridiculous the deer are in Iowa.

 

[Boarhead]

Awesome buck!

 

[Hortontoter]

That is a great set of antlers. It will make a great mount when finished.

 

[Diablo54]

Dang! Did you say 183?

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Hickslawns - non-typ points are real common in this area, seems more deer have them than those that don't. We have had a few that grow a bunch of non-typ junk when they are 3, but most do put it on when they are older. Droptines are rare. I shot one with about a 3 inch drop in 2003, and I've heard of one just up river a few years ago. Seem we mostly have forked tines and multiple brows in this areas genetic mix.

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Yea, 183. He went from 120, to 183, to ?????. We'll dream all summer/fall, and a neighbor will probably shoot him!!! I really just want to see what he looks like this year.

 

[Big Weff]

What a stud! Good luck with him

 

[Big_Holla]

Wow, incredible buck! Just think if he's that age how much more potential he could be this year and next!! Good luck on your path's crossing!

 

[finelyshedded]

I friggin just love those ATL pics!!! What a great history you guys have developed with this deer! Unbeliveable how much IT this sumbitch has!!! rotflmao

Hope you guys can kill him this year even though he could use another year or two to maximize his potential! rotflmao

He's a one in a couple 100k prolly!

 

[hickslawns]

Nice. From what we read and watch on TV, in a perfect world. . . . .He "needs" 1-2 more years to make full potential. In a real world I'd say if you don't shoot him someone else will. If nobody shoots him this year, he is one year smarter. Is it possible this is one of those deer who dies of old age and wisdom, then is found by some dipstick walking his dog? lol

Not what I wish for you. I hope you get a crack at him. You just have to wonder sometimes. These things can play out so many ways. Anymore, I am not surprised when I hear the outcomes of deer. Some are tagged, some hit by cars, some go MIA, some found dead with no explanation. They are just that amazing. These are the reasons we get so obsessed. lmao

 

[Bigslam51]

Going off what Phil said, at 4 years old a deer will express about 90% of his antler growth potential. For a deer that scored 183" as a 3 year old that's fuggin crazy! Ain't no way I'd be giving him another year or two though!

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

If the farm I hunt was his core area we would only shoot him with a bow this year. We wait till they are 5 before we shoot them with a gun. Reason being if they make it to gun season, chances are real real good they will still be around next fall since we are the only guys around who plant decent size plots. Come December, the deer have no reason to leave the farm and get shot elsewhere. Since it isn't his core area, we'll pop him with the muzzy this year if he makes it to late season and shows back up. I'm assuming he'll get shot early as the surrondings farms do see fair hunting pressure. Unless he gets poached I'm sure I'll hear about it and hopefully get a pic. If so I'll post it so we all can see what he turned into.

 

[finelyshedded]

How many acres do you guys hunt or have control of? Much sanctuary around your farm or is it all hunted?

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

The farm is 565 acres consisting mostly of river bottom timber. It has had selective timber harvest in prior years, and a HUGE windstorm back in 2011 that opened up the canopy both of which has created great deer bedding cover.
No real sanctuary around the farm, but the surrounding farms are mainly big agriculture fields that have minimal cover/food once they are combined (just timber along waterways, fence-lines and such). That leaves this farm as the only game in town as we plant about 35 acres of plots, mostly being beans/corn which we let stand. We also don't push during the gun seasons, and really don't even enter the timber/bedding come December. We just focus our efforts in tower stands we have over the plots. Surrounding farms do push the areas they can, which just pushes them onto our place.
We actually don't shoot many bucks during the gun seasons, and mainly focus on pounding the does then.

 

[finelyshedded]

The farm is 565 acres consisting mostly of river bottom timber. It has had selective timber harvest in prior years, and a HUGE windstorm back in 2011 that opened up the canopy both of which has created great deer bedding cover.
No real sanctuary around the farm, but the surrounding farms are mainly big agriculture fields that have minimal cover/food once they are combined (just timber along waterways, fence-lines and such). That leaves this farm as the only game in town as we plant about 35 acres of plots, mostly being beans/corn which we let stand. We also don't push during the gun seasons, and really don't even enter the timber/bedding come December. We just focus our efforts in tower stands we have over the plots. Surrounding farms do push the areas they can, which just pushes them onto our place.
We actually don't shoot many bucks during the gun seasons, and mainly focus on pounding the does then.

That's AWESOME!!!! I would do exactly what you are doing and wouldn't change a thing! Your property sounds like the ideal set up and would be a place where you can let super nice 3-4 year olds walk! Congrats on being in your situation!!!