Brett Morris
PMA Member
Long story so bear with me. Monday morning I took off to run my cameras. Unfortunately my entire night changed when I got to the first location. The timber that had stood there 2 weeks earlier was completely gone. Every tree, stump, and branch.....gone. As I stand there completely blown away I realize I had a tree stand and a trail cam in that timber, both probably gone now.
After gaining my composure I decided it would be best to talk with the landowner who was working in the field nearby. After some small talk I explained that I had a stand and camera located in his timber (we had permission). Luckily he said the dozer operator had seen the stand and saved it before the dozer did it's damage. But the camera, probably long gone! We ended up talking for 30 minutes and telling some personal hunting stories. Luckily for me the landowners son-in-law was helping him in the field and brought up a story from 1970. Seems the landowner had killed a "decent" buck back in the day. Naturally I probed them for some more details. Before long he was telling me the entire story. Seems it was his first time deer hunting. A couple buddies had talked him into heading into the timber on a December morning in 1970. After kicking up a buck he took 4 shots with no luck. Before long he hears his buddy firing away, assuming he had killed the deer he started to climb down from his vantage point. At the last second he sees the buck coming back, boom, dead deer. In his words it took him awhile to get to the deer and all he could hear was his buddies saying lots of swear words aka celebrating
At this point I've only heard part of the story and his son-in-law throws out that magical 200" number, and a 14" drop tine. Now I can't decide, am I really believing this crazy story or is this some made-up story. He even tells me until a few years ago his father-in-law had the v-cut rack just laying in the corner of his garage. I had to ask if I could see the buck, it doesn't take long for him to answer but he explains that's only if he can find it. What kind of outdoorsman doesn't know if he can find his 200" drop tine buck! Seriously
After an hour of searching for my camera, with no luck, I decide to head to his house. He's found the rack and invites me inside. I was blown away, one of the coolest racks I've ever seen and would be very close to the 200" mark. He also explains it's never been scored, never been entered in the record book, nothing. Just a quiet old mechanic that killed a giant deer and probably hasn't told more than 10 people his entire life. Luckily his son-in-law brought it up or he probably would have never mentioned it. Not because he didn't want me to know, but because it wasn't that important to him.
We ended up doing some research and think it could have been the shotgun non-typical record for several years but obviously he didn't ever enter it. It sucked to lose a camera but building a strong relationship with the landowner and learning about his buck was almost worth losing it
After gaining my composure I decided it would be best to talk with the landowner who was working in the field nearby. After some small talk I explained that I had a stand and camera located in his timber (we had permission). Luckily he said the dozer operator had seen the stand and saved it before the dozer did it's damage. But the camera, probably long gone! We ended up talking for 30 minutes and telling some personal hunting stories. Luckily for me the landowners son-in-law was helping him in the field and brought up a story from 1970. Seems the landowner had killed a "decent" buck back in the day. Naturally I probed them for some more details. Before long he was telling me the entire story. Seems it was his first time deer hunting. A couple buddies had talked him into heading into the timber on a December morning in 1970. After kicking up a buck he took 4 shots with no luck. Before long he hears his buddy firing away, assuming he had killed the deer he started to climb down from his vantage point. At the last second he sees the buck coming back, boom, dead deer. In his words it took him awhile to get to the deer and all he could hear was his buddies saying lots of swear words aka celebrating
At this point I've only heard part of the story and his son-in-law throws out that magical 200" number, and a 14" drop tine. Now I can't decide, am I really believing this crazy story or is this some made-up story. He even tells me until a few years ago his father-in-law had the v-cut rack just laying in the corner of his garage. I had to ask if I could see the buck, it doesn't take long for him to answer but he explains that's only if he can find it. What kind of outdoorsman doesn't know if he can find his 200" drop tine buck! Seriously
After an hour of searching for my camera, with no luck, I decide to head to his house. He's found the rack and invites me inside. I was blown away, one of the coolest racks I've ever seen and would be very close to the 200" mark. He also explains it's never been scored, never been entered in the record book, nothing. Just a quiet old mechanic that killed a giant deer and probably hasn't told more than 10 people his entire life. Luckily his son-in-law brought it up or he probably would have never mentioned it. Not because he didn't want me to know, but because it wasn't that important to him.
We ended up doing some research and think it could have been the shotgun non-typical record for several years but obviously he didn't ever enter it. It sucked to lose a camera but building a strong relationship with the landowner and learning about his buck was almost worth losing it
