Rhino

Here's the best profile view I have of his body.

This is on a hunting club in Mississippi I'm in with 11 other members. Seriously doubt anyone is going to let him have another year or 2 if they see him. The body size of these MS bucks is smaller than most areas of the country. Fully mature bucks average 185 to 190 on this place. We weigh them all. Got some profile views but my best guess is he's 4.5 years old. Real hard to say on these bucks until after velvet shedding and they fill out their chest and necks. Cool to know he's out there, especially in an area where I have a number of stands. One of my bow stands is ~15 yards to his left.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined getting trail cams pics of a double droptine buck in Mississippi. I've never gotten pics of a buck with any droptines before on my home turf. So...needless to say, I was shocked when I ran my trail cams here in Mississippi and saw this guy. This is a huge surprise!

Yea...my main hunting buddy will have a guest or 2 that wouldn't hesitate to kill the freak. Heck...my son would probably take him out too. Got to remember, he's a fully mature buck. As you can see in this profile pic he has an old man's belly. As you know that means dealing with an well seasoned buck. Yea...my buddy and I have been blessed having a great piece of property to manage and hunt. We've worked hard (still are) to continue to improve it to try our best to get the herd what they need to stay healthy and allow bucks to grow to maturity. This will be our 7th year to hunt it. I'm still looking for a particular buck from the past 2 seasons I didn't get on the 1st trail cam run. Last year I thought he was a net B&C typical 12 point with split brow tines on both sides. Sent pics to Gene Wensel and he said the same thing. One of my younger hunting buddies that takes off a week of work to help us every year on the farm had a shot at him at ~20 yards. He said he got so shaken up he shot way over him. Didn't even know if he looked through his peep or not. Just drew and released. LMBO! A few days later he killed a dandy 155" 12 point.

Going to pick up my new gas engine Ranger tomorrow. I'll haul it to the Mississippi club and run my 5 trail cams there. Then I'll go home Sunday and haul my Li-Ion Ranger home that's at the MS camp now so I can haul it to Missouri next time I go there. The Missouri bow season opens on 9/15 but I'll wait for the 1st cool weather front before I go there to kick off the season.

He's on the hit list Cory!

With that said though...the mature freak buck in my other post is going to get a pass unless I've already filled my 1st buck tag. He's just too ugly! Id use my 2nd buck tag to take him out of the gene pool, if I have the chance after filling the 1st tag with a good one.

William...3 years ago I tried to target one particular buck (this main frame 12 point that was a 17 point NT). That was the year we had an EHD die of. The last trail cam pics I had of him were part of part of the 2 below on 9/13. We found his remains the following February ~100 yards from one of my other stands in the same area. I suspect he died within days of 9/13 because there was no odor at all to his skull. His gross score was 184. I had my taxidermist mount him and he's hanging in the lodge in MO now. I passed up a couple of real nice bucks hunting him until mid November when I was convinced he was gone. I ran trail cams all through the areas where I got him the prior season multiple times and never got another pic of him after 9/13. Since then, I decided the 1st upper end buck that passes inside the circle of death for my bow is going to get whacked. Bitter lesson learned.

Here's some of the best bucks we got from our 1st trail cam run in Missouri. High hopes for this season!

Ran the cams while I was in Missouri this past weekend. These bucks baffle me. Not just 1 buck but 2 of them! One appears to be fully mature, the other appears to be a 2 year old...both with the same trait. We've never gotten any bucks on cams in the past with this trait either. Makes me wonder if it's genetic or just mother nature playing games with my head. I'll do another post of normal antlered bucks...for the most part anyway.

Been in Missouri since Thursday afternoon getting things ready here for the season and running our trial cams here for the 1st time. Most of our time has been spent around the house...fall clean up, inside and out. This will probably be my last trip here before the season opens on 9/15.

Understand...for me it was going with something lighter than a gas pole saw that performed just as well. Working with a gas one fully extended in the heat wears me out fast.

I also have a lighter weight black and decker electric saw too but it's 20V. The pole is plastic making it lighter but the RPM's are a lot slower. It can only go to 9 1/2' with it but since it's ligher, it's easier to use to cut limbs from the stand. With plastic poles, you can't add an extension to it for more length. The battery amp on the Kobalt 40V saw in your link is a lot lower (2,5 amps) than the Hooyman (7.3 amps I think) so I suspect it will run out of juice quicker. I also have a dewalt electric chainsaw 40V with a 7.5 amp battery. For light duty, it's great.

There was definitely something terribly wrong with the electric motor of yours right from the start! I didn't order mine from Midway. I went through Amazon.

Sounds like something was VERY wrong with yours from the start for it to have trouble cutting a 1" limb. I've had one for a year now and no issues at all with it. Great tool for trimming limbs and VERY glad I have it. RPM's on mine are almost as fast as a gas motor pole trimmer and less than 1/2 the weight. Mine cuts through 4" or less limbs real fast. A 2" or less limb is like a hot knife cutting through butter. On limbs larger and out to 6" it's slower but so is a gas motor pole saw. I also have the optional extension so I could reach out to 13.5'. I bought an extra battery when I got mine but it's not really necessary. One battery last a long time.

Al; Rhino; 64; MS and MO MS dates: Oct. 1st - Jan. 31st MO dates: Sept 15th - Jan. 15th

Welcome back!

Still sticking with the Montec G5's here. No reason to change. Haven't had any problem recovering deer and African game I've hit with them. As the old saying goes...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Thanks Tim...nice to know there's some good ones that survived her close to home. Got a few nice ones in MS during the 1st run here a week or so ago but still too early here to tell what they'll end up growing. Headed to Missouri on 8/23 to run our cams for the 1st time there this year. Should have some studs there.

Got some on a cam in MS I couldn't get to until it was time to start running them. Here's a link to a thread with some great survivors for this part of the country caught on cams in early March.

Sure...count me in unless you want me to sit on the sidelines. ?

It was a work weekend at our Mississippi camp. I was part of the 3 man crew getting all the bow stands ready to hunt. Started around 7:15 Saturday morning...finished around 2:00 Sunday afternoon.

Yea...I think the 10 is a fully mature MS buck. As you can see from the pics the 10 was there 2 days after the tall 8 was. Without a doubt he has a bigger body.

I agree with Dawg...that's more of a concern to me than anything else. I tend to disagree with your thoughts on bows being long distance weapons now. For some that can shoot accurately at that distance...maybe...but only in open fields, if the deer doesn't react to the sound of the bow. Hunting inside the timber...not likely. I prefer hunting in timber because I enjoy it more and feel my odds of encountering a mature buck are better inside cover. I have at least 20 treestands in the timber in Missouri and there isn't a single stand that has an open shot out to 50 yards. The only way I could create shots that far in timber would be with a chainsaw and then I'd ruin the spot. My opinion on trail cams is they are more of a help to make a shoot or don't shoot decision quicker. Many hunters think a buck caught on a trail cam will be close to that spot often. It down't work that way. They certainly help in patterning deer but from my experience bucks, on average travel in their core area 1.5 to 2 miles. Where I caught the double beam buck on a cam I killed last bow season in MO was over a mile from where I killed him. I did see him in early October about 300 yards from where I kill him. On Nov. 9th I killed him in a funnel, in the timber between the 2 spots...at 5 yards from my treestand. I agree with William that trail cams emailing pics in real time is going too far. However, if a hunter can go there to hunt that deer relatively quickly, the response time gives the deer a lot of time to be long gone. Now...you feel anything that totally removes an animals senses should be illegal. Does that include camo with current patterns? If you don't feel like it TOTALLY removes an animals senses, I can easily argue a lot of other things like scent control clothing, scent control body washes, sprays and ozone gizmos don't either. The reduce your scent profile but don't eliminate it. I enjoy the journey...that's why the vast majority of my deer hunting is with a bow. That also means I'm more of a spectator than a killer. However, it also allows me to learn more about the animal too so I can adjust for close range encounters.

A mix of wheat and oats were planted there last October. BTW...that tall 8 and that 10 are the best bucks I caught on my trail cams in MS during & after last season. Found one side of a shed from another nice probable 10 point too. I may be wrong but the tall 8 sure looks like he was a 3,5 year old buck last year. Harder to tell after they've been worn down from the rut.