Well, here's the Tank, a buck I hunted exclusively for close to two weeks. Took him at 9:25 Sunday morning. He came in from behind me and directly down wind. I just happened to glance over my shoulder and seen him standing 10 yards away looking right thru the Double Bull. I couldn't tell if he had me pegged or was focused on something else. I played a hid and seek game with him thru the window for close to 10 minutes. Finally he started looking around him and eventually began walking towards one of the scrapes I was hunting over. I didn't let him get far before I let the .270 do its work. He's not the biggest antlered buck I've ever killed, and that's just fine with me. However, his 9 point antlers will still score somewhere between 145 & 150 inches gross with 11 inch G2's, 5 inch bases and a 19 3/4 spread. Its the body size of this buck that sets him apart from others I've taken. His neck right behind the ears is over 24 inches and the base of his neck is pushing 45 inches! His dressed weight is 262 lbs, making him the heaviest deer I've ever taken. I got a real quick glimpse of this deer in 2007 and often wondered what ever happened to him. Hunting pressure here is virtually non-existent, however, the Timber Wolf is reaching record numbers, so I figured he was a victim of either the Wolf or Winter. During three seasons of hunting this area, and over 8000 trail camera pictures there was no proof he was even alive. Three weeks ago he showed up out of the blue. Then he disappeared again for 10 days. A camera I have on a scrape took two pictures of him Saturday night. It was a good feeling to know he was back in the area. Deer movement had been slow all week due to the warm day time temps. Sitting all day had gotten tough to do and it was hard to fight off sleep. But it all came together at the least expected time. I'll honor him with a European Mount and I'll use his cape on a giant replica that will go in our Wild Whitetails display.
