VELVET EFFECT!!! What will he score?

[Halsty6]

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Hi all. First time makin a post so if I screw this up, I'm sorry. I go to school in WI but i'm from ND when I grew up hunting. I never had the money or the time to have a game cam cuz i played hockey while in school and my schedule wouldnt let me check it regularly which I knew would eat at me so I thought it was best not to have one. I still hunted whenever I got the chance sometimes driving from WI sat night after a game, hunting sunday, and driving home sun night. It kept me sane.

So...I put a trail cam by a stand that I hung for a buddy. He was an offensive center so at 6'6'' 360 lbs I hung a special stand not trusting his comfort or his life to my $50 specials from fleet farm. I grew up hunting the spot (shown in the pics) from the ground as my dad would push the deer across the field. I always had a ton of action as sometimes it was one of the only spots the deer could get down into the woods because of the snow blowing 10 ft drifts on the top ridge of the coulee. The snow doesnt really drift in this spot so its a MAJOR funnel. Classic case of being born into something good. Late season, in deep snow and the miserable cold, the deer are all herded up and they walk by in a single file line like they are walking back to their classroom after lunch in elementary school.

This year, done with hockey, I realized I have the chance to hunt more than ever. I bought a trail cam and put it by my buddy's stand (my stand). Two days ago, less than a week later, my dad finished combining early so I asked him to pull the card on it and send me any photos of any big ones. There were just shy of 600 pics, half being strictly grass blowing, most of the rest being does and fawns, and lastly, a few big bucks. I attached a couple pics(2 of 9) of the nicest buck and I was wondering what guys think it'll score. Its obviously in full velvet and we all know how massive deer look in velvet. I'm just not sure if i'm being tricked into thinking he's something he's not just because of the "VELVET EFFECT?"

SIDE NOTE: I bought 2 new game cams today. My whole life I've known that there are a ton of big deer in my woods. I've shot several and had several make me look like a child. I just cant believe how excited I am to get in the woods knowing that this hoss or one like it could show up 10 yards down and to the right of my stand. haha

[Tony204ing]

welcome to DHC.For me there are no second guesses on that buck.I would worry about scoring that deer after he takes his dirt nap.

[Bang4bucks]

Its a litte hard to tell with velvet and not being able to see him up close. obviously when really being scored there are deductons. but from what i can see here i would guess him to be around 160-170 ROUGH SCORE. Where was this picture taken?

[Halsty6]

welcome to DHC.For me there are no second guesses on that buck.I would worry about scoring that deer after he takes his dirt nap.

haha I agree!!

as for where... ND baby!! haha Now, I know i'm prejudiced, but after growing up in ND I honestly think that its huntings best kept sectret. Ya, if you drive down highways all you see for the most part are open fields and shelterbelts with nowhere for deer to bed. Feeding isnt a problem, pretty much any deer has a 24 hour buffet (at least on the eastern side of the state before you get into mainly grasslands). Cover is what you need and the only places where theres cover are in the river bottoms. If you look on a map there are all kinds of little rivers flowing into the red river flowing west to east. These creaks form major coulee systems full of solid oaks and surrounded by crops (notice the bean field in my pics). I dont know about where you are from but deer in my woods love beans so I typically try to get myself on the main trails they are using to get there in the early fall (setting up typically on the east side of where they are because of the prevailing west wind). As rut sets in (usually during the rifle season) I cant get into the woods without setting off a spooking chain reaction so I usually set up in a field waiting for them.

All this said I think one of the best spots of all is our yard. My dad shot an 8 pt. last year by sneaking around the barn. I dont know what he scores, probly not much because he's an 8 but he was 23.5 inches wide. haha I'd put him in the 140s which is big for an 8.

Where do you hunt?
By the way thanx for the response.

[Bang4bucks]

I grew up hunting in northeast wisconsin. theres no secret to the monsters pulled from there and upper peninsula of michigan. huntings hard in the northwoods but when you find a big one, you got a BIG ONE!! I spent the last 6 years down in south carolina in the marine corps. The deer down there are rediculous. you can find big racked bucks but their like german shepards with horns. hahaha I currently am living in virginia now about 40 minutes west of DC. I have 80acres of mixed wooded and food plots with a creek bottom running right down the middle of it. only got 3 bucks on camera over the last month that i have been able to scout it. all 3 were decent 8pts. nothing huge. but nice shooter bucks for bow hunting. also got 2 bears. one i am guessing is about 150lbs and the other i would say goes around 300-350. again, nothing huge. we'll see how the season turns out. still got till october 4th till season starts.
You would actually be suprised but 8pts tend to score higher than a 10pt would. They tend to be a little more massive and a little more tine length. if you take an 8pt that scores 140 and a 10pt that scores 140 and put them next to each other, there wont even be a comparison. the 8pt will look significantly bigger.

[Halsty6]

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Hey fellas,
Got some photos back a couple weekends ago during opener in ND. I attached some of the nicer pics that I got. Can see they are coming from three different cam locations. I passed on a nice 9 the second day of the season, but that was the only big buck I had an encounter with. They are just spread all over with the warm weather, and mostly nocturnal. Hopefully I can get one to take a walk once it cools down a bit.

[Halsty6]

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A couple deer from the trail pics I got last wknd for anyone who's still interested ahha.

[Bang4bucks]

he sure is a pretty buck!

[Tex4426]

because of the short G2's and only average mass after velvet im going to put him at 165 to 175...hes gonna be pushin boone and crocket and easily pope and young

[Halsty6]

The beast (meaning the first pic I put up) is dead and you'll never guess who got him... MY MOM! I was hunting a field about 200 yards from our farm yard, when I had two groups, each of about 20 to 30 does come piling outa the woods. Two small bucks were chasing and fighting hard, then headed into the woods while all the does attention was directed back into the woods... Little did I know that my mom and dad decided to go down and sit for the evening about 300 yards away from me, whith all of this happening between us (a hill and trees seperating us). They could see everything perfectly as the first deer that I posted ran around in circles in front of them. My mom tried to screw it up as when she tried to pull the trigger the first time she didn't have a round in so she had to cycle one. Boom! Dead! My dad says the deer looked right at them, had been down wind of them, heard them cycle the round, but just didn't care he was ruttin so hard. When I caped him out, he had a tine hole about 6 inches into his hind quarter. Unbelievably tough and dumb animal. Couldn't be more proud though.

By the way, the deer that I posted with the start of an extra main beem in velvet got shot too and he was a beast. I've got a deer that I'm hunting that I would say has got to be north of 180. I've only seen him once. As for the score of the one my mom shot... its at the taxidermist and I asked him to score it, but ...

because of the short G2's and only average mass after velvet im going to put him at 165 to 175...hes gonna be pushin boone and crocket and easily pope and young

I think he's probably in the 160's ... pretty spot on tex!

[Halsty6]

Hey fellas... got some great new pics the other day. Same spot as the first buck on this forum. Last year he was the first buck I had a pic of and this year, the first buck I got a pic of was a nice one too! Let me know what you think he'll score?

[Halsty6]

I forgot to say that I've got about a dozen pics of him and can see he's a main frame 6 by 5 with one little kicker on his left side...G-4's have great length...

[Halsty6]

Shot him on Sept. 16th at about 7:30 PM. I'll have better pictures eventually... This was just a quick pic I took on my cell phone to send to my dad.