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1962: 500 lb Iowa deer

Maybe it's kinda like all the old muskie records from that era. They were straight up phonies. Hopefully not though! Looks big.
 
Obsessed said:
I'm not seeing anywhere close to 500 or 400 lbs there, but maybe the old dude is a giant.
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I agree, I think that guy isn't very tall. More like a 230# dressed which might mean the buck is closer to 300# live weight. Unless that guy is related to Andrew the Giant.
 
203ntyp said:
I agree, I think that guy isn't very tall. More like a 230# dressed which might mean the buck is closer to 300# live weight. Unless that guy is related to Andrew the Giant.
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This is what I was thinking. Maybe pushed 300# on the hoof. I've personally only laid my hands on one buck that broke 300# and that's out of multiple hundreds over the years.
 
Never weighed my biggest from Illinois, 203", neck was 34" around halfway down. The taxidermist out there said it probably dressed 260#+ and he's seen hundreds of big guys. I know his heart was enormous, filled both hands cupped.
 
Obsessed said:
Check out The 400-Pound "Michigan" Buck here: https://www.wideopenspaces.com/whitetailwednesday-7-viral-big-buck-photos-and-the-truth-behind-them/

Now, THAT's what a 400 something whitetail buck looks like. I've never seen anything close to that in real life, and I'm betting almost none or none of you have either. Just sayin.
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Just FYI, the 400lb Michigan buck was high fence. He was likely on steroids. But yes, that is what a 400 lb deer will look like

www.wideopenspaces.com

The Truth Behind the Viral 430-Pound Michigan Deer

A 430-pound deer was seemingly harvested in Michigan in 2009 after a photo went viral on Facebook. But was it real?
www.wideopenspaces.com www.wideopenspaces.com
 
I recall an article around 1990 in an IL Game & Fish of a roughly 310 lb field dressed buck that became our new state record. It looked every part of it. I think it had a regular big 9 point rack.

203ntyp do you have any pics you don't mind sharing? I love pics and stories but I totally respect that some guys don't want to showcase it.
 
We have one running around one of the farms we hunt we named 300, I'll see if I can find a pic of it. I was going to post it earlier just to get some guesses. Maybe I'll place this rusty tag I have on him and put him on the scale. I'm sure he's down from pre rut. We've only seen him at a distance once, big deer...don't know if he'd go 300 though.
 
Yeah, 300 is possible, but not common. 400 is a freak of nature that dosen't exist naturally without human 'assistance'. 500 is probably impossible altogether.
 
At one time I live weighed every deer I shot for possibly 10-15 years. Most of the larger mature bucks I shots weighed very close to 250 lbs. The largest buck I have ever harvested weighed 275 lbs. and ironically he turned out to only be 3&1/2. I wonder how big he would have been a few years later.
Many years ago I saw the biggest deer of life. He was traveling with two other younger bucks. I ended up killing one of the other two and he live weighed 215 lbs. What I vividly remember from that day was that he had the largest typical 10 point frame I have and surely will ever see in my lifetime. The other thing, and the most striking thing was that he appeared to be literally physically twice as big as the buck I killed that was traveling with him. I never saw him nor heard about him again.
 
Without a scale, it really takes something else to compare them against, that you know the weight of. The only 300 pounder I've ever encountered looked like a freak of nature. It had a huge belly on it, along with neck and shoulders and rump. I personally run at a solid 6-2 & 260, and when I laid down beside it in the field, it absolutely dwarfed me. When we field dressed it, it's entire stomach was full of corn. I didn't know their stomachs could stretch that much. Like enough corn to fill a 5 gallon bucket. 5 gallons of water weighs 40 pounds, but I'm not sure what 5 gallons of corn weighs.
 
Biggest deer I have ever seen or shot was a doe. This was back about 1980.
We did not get a weight on her. The check station guy in Albany MO said he thought she would go 275-300 gutted.
I was in Jr High. I had no clue I may have shot a record deer weight wise, she was just a big doe to me. The only measurements I had on her was length and chest density.(more on the chest density later)

We strung her up on a motor hoist in a garage with a 10 foot ceiling. We crammed her legs up agaist the ceiling as tight as we dared to go. Her brisket was barely off the floor. Her entire neck and head still layed on the floor. We roughly measured her at about 13 1/2 feet when she was strung up. Now for the chest density measurement.(HAHA)

I shot her at 75 yards broadside with 180 grain corelokts out of a 30-06. She went down on her front knees for a second then stood back up.
I punched her again. When we gutted her out both of the bullets stopped on the inside of the ribcage on the far side. So there was an entrance hole and double lung damage for both shots, but zero rib damage on the far side.

My daughter shot a buck about 3 years ago that gutted about 261 on the scales. Giant! But he was no where near 13.5 feet long and her 117 grain 25-06
passed through. I have seen a lot of 200-230lb dressed bucks on our scale, and the one that went 261. None were as big as that doe.
 
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