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Trophy Room.

Cant stress it enough....posts like this are the reason we come to this site....so we can dream!

Thank you very much for sharing!
 
Skip, I had the opportunity to shoot the largest buck and passed on him. I realized later only after I put a picture of him I took with my small point and shoot camera as he walked by me, onto my computer at home, that I had quite likely made a mistake.

I went back about 5 days later fully intending to shoot him when out walked the 181 gross 6x5 that I posted. As mentioned, he stood around way too long in front of a guy who had baby number 2 on the way any day. I simply then got lucky that nobody else shot the "Mistake Buck" and I then killed him the next year, right where I passed him Here is that old hand held camera photo from 2005.
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Absolutely amazing Kaare. Thanks for taking time to share all of those pictures and stories that go along with them.
 
Awesome pics Kaare! Like everyone else says, it never gets old looking at your pics and hearing the stories.
For the breakers, it looks like they're set back in a box? Maybe some cabinet doors made out of old wood...with deer horn handles!
 
Kaare,

On any given year what would you say you pass up (lets say 150-170 inchers)?

Awesome room!!
 
Great thread Kaare. Those bucks are sick, I love that hog you passed as a 190. I have quite a bit of stuff from AK I could share if you don't mind me tagging onto your thread? Living up there was a dream I had for a long time and it would be fun to share.
 
Absolutely amazing! Thanks for taking all that time to share. Heck of a beginning, good luck in the future with your boys.
 
I have quite a bit of stuff from my time in Alaska that I could share if you don't mind me tagging on to your thread? Living there was a dream I had that would be fun to share.
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Not at all, share away, the more the merrier. At the end of the day I've been real fortunate when it comes to many things in life. For a sportsman (hunter/fisherman) it really is a paradise here. Winter sucks though, getting harder to handle each year.

On any given year what would you say you pass up (lets say 150-170 inchers)?
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Totally depends on the year, this year three, all under 160. 7, 8 years ago, it could have been a dozen or more. It is so much more tied to the winters than I ever used to realize when I was younger and just fully surrounded by the perfect storm without totally understanding it. Our bucks need more years of age that the avg one down there to reach that size as a general rule. When conditions are so harsh it sets them back and you notice it the next year a lot. I think many people think we exaggerate on body size but when you get a fully mature 5.5 yr old plus buck here, you're looking at a tank of an animal, they simply have to be to survive.
 
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SaskGuy said:
Our bucks need more years of age that the avg one down there to reach that size as a general rule. When conditions are so harsh it sets them back and you notice it the next year a lot. I think many people think we exaggerate on body size but when you get a fully mature 5.5 yr old plus buck here, you're looking at a tank of an animal, they simply have to be to survive.
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I actually think deer in Iowa peak out at 6-8 years old. I'll happily shoot most 5 year olds and it's a "go no-where" discussion to talk to guys about getting bucks to 6-8 years old but, if we simply talked reality, I think our peaks would be in that 6-8 range. Most people think all these bucks go down hill at 7 years old, etc. On occasion, yes (heck, some go down at 5 years old vs 4, each deer is different) some go down but I've seen multiple situations where some old genius buck that was 170" as a 5 year old gets killed at 8 or 9 and turns into some crazy 190" buck. Just a random rambling that really doesn't have too much of a point or purpose BUT all I'm saying is there's some real mammoths that occur when the rare occasion comes where some beast can make it through the old gray years of 7, 8, 9 year olds, etc. I shot 2 bucks back to back that I each aged at 7.5 years old (2011 & 2012) - they both were super heavy and cool bucks with gigantic bodies (both were over 240 lbs dressed - even though some mature bucks do dress out super light - just like people, heavy or skinny from deer to deer) , really fun & rewarding shooting those ancient survival studs.
 
I agree sligh,

I have had two bucks make it to seven years old or older. They got bigger every year up until 10 years old.

I've watched 8 bucks over the last 6 years make it to 6 years old. Everyone of them got bigger every year.
 
I actually think deer in Iowa peak out at 6-8 years old.
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Don't get me wrong, I wasn't stating 5.5 for their peak yrs. I too have seen deer peak well past 5.5, I was simply stating that by then you are usually looking at a very big bodied animal. I think that an 8 yr old deer here will outscore himself at 5.5, nine times out of ten, if conditions are the same and winters are equal. I've killed one 200" deer that I am certain was 9.5 and have picked 200 class sheds from a buck that I think was 8.5. He stayed 180's plus from 4.5 until then. I can think of many, many bucks that just started getting real good once they hit 6.5.
 
6.5 yr old buck. He basically never changed from 3.5 to 5.5, ranging from 150-160, then boom. 196. He'd have been bigger at 7.5 I suspect.
 
8.5 yr old deer. Very similar to 7.5 in terms of score, larger than at 6.5 but smaller than 5.5. I am certain a real bad winter beat him down from 5.5 to 6.5. Whitetails, aren't they great?
 
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