The ONE that got away

[IowaBowHunter1983]

Let's see your single biggest deer that you were hunting that you didn't catch up with. Let's see some pics of falls past.

 

[Daver]

Only one? I could play this game all night.

This was a buck that we followed for several years and came "oh so close" a couple of times...but he was a wise one, as well as being a giant. I am not sure if this pic is from the last year of his reign, or the year prior. He had a 27" inside spread when he was taken and was usually a 8 point frame with split brows and sometimes a couple of crabclaws. He was sporting 12 scoreable points his last year, but we always considered him an 8 pointer anyway.

The body matched the antlers too, a true Iowa giant. We called him Megatron and tracked him between our farm and at least 4 other adjacent farms over his life. He was fairly predictable in terms of which farm he would be on at a certain time of the year, but was pretty nocturnal too.

 

[bigbuckhunter88]

I'm with Daver. There's definitely been more than 1, but there's one that sticks out.

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[daniel93077]

This is the biggest one I have pursued. WA state public land mountain buck miles from any agriculture. Night photo was the first year I found him and daylight photo was the season he was killed by another hunter about 3 miles away from the area he frequented most....ended up being 205 inches of bone. Have some other giants that were never killed by a hunter as far as I know.

 

[Nrharris]

Mine isnt huge, but I've always had a thing for big tall 8's and had a lot of history and close calls with this guy. Tallest g2 was 14 inches. A neighbor shot him with a bow 5 miles from where he had been just the day before. So he was definitely covering some ground.

 

[jkratz5]

Holy smokes giants!!!!

biggest one is before I ran cams. Neighbors killed him 194” typical.

this is one of the biggest I have pics of in recent years

 

[203ntyp]

Haunted me for 4 years, ended up getting shot in gun season 2 miles away I put an arrow in him with my recurve a couple years prior...no zone.

 

[Sligh1]

I’ve got one buck on my phone from last 2 seasons. This was biggest that got away. He lived across road & he would go onto a tillable farm I owned a couple times a week. I only had 2 stands hung in small draws of timber. Chances were really slim. He made it til 2nd shotgun when group pushed through the ground that had been a sanctuary & his home. Think he was 200-205. This one didn’t really sting as he didn’t live on my farm, I didn’t own the farm for hunting & my expectations were low at ever seeing him.

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[Hardwood11]

Back in 2014, this buck was on our farm in Warren County, IA...was shot late Muzzy I believe?

 

[QDM]

The wounds are still fresh from 2017 (camera date is wrong). Not sure what happened to him after I saw him for the last time... on the wrong side of the fence...


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[Big T]

This one broke my heart. My uncle had him sneak in behind him while watching another buck. Had him at 10-yards but couldn't get turned for the shot. Caused many a dream for us and nightmares for my uncle.

 

[Justhunt87]

I’ve been able to chase some true giants.

 

[Hanyak]

Gaggers boys! Man I’d loose a lot of sleep and hair if I was chasing those hogs!

 

[MadisonB&C]

This one stung. Died in August shortly after these pictures. I watched a couple bigger in front of cameras that were stolen before I could check them, and one bigger that never cooperated with my cameras, but these are by far the best pictures I ever brought home.

 

[2-bucks]

Oh my Lord! Half of these don't even look real! Keep em comin. I love to see whopper's like this and it probably won't be on the hoof, so this is my best bet.

 

[Tmayer13]

I chased this guy for a couple weeks. First year he had an additional main beam which looked like a club which dubbed him the name "50 cent". The next year he lost the club but put on the serious mass. Never heard if anyone else killed him....

 

[JOSHBRNDT]

I’ve been able to chase some true giants.

I chased that same 8 pointer for about 3 years.

 

[SB3]

Lefty from 2014, came close a couple times in bow season. Never seen him again, neighbors didn't kill him so maybe natural causes or road poachers

 

[JNRBRONC]

I chased this guy for 2 years, had a scar on a back leg so I could recognize him. I was leaving for a business trip, watching him chase a hot doe around a fresh cut cornfield mid-day as I got in the car to leave. He got arrowed across the road that week.

 

[Jdubs]

I love Iowa, man this guy had me tied in knots. Hunted him for 10 days in a row in November and actually had 3 encounters, but couldn’t get it done. The first was at last light 40 yards, just didn’t feel comfortable at that range and running the risk of injuring such a magnificent animal. The second encounter he had his nose to the ground and on a mission, stopped at 26.5 yards quartering to me. My ethics said no. The third I had him dead nuts in the morning but had a thermal swirl updraft with the rising sun. Busted and out of my life forever. Neighbors haven’t seen him either. Maybe he’s nocturnal or old age got him, I don’t know. But hey, that’s why they call it hunting.