I saw this article in today's paper so I thought I'd share the pic. 9 pt., 267 lb. field dressed without the heart and liver.
I can see why you folks from that area get hung up on the weight of the deer as they do grow big in that area. Over they years we've seen the size and weight of deer going down a lot here and have very few deer with any age so they are bound to be smaller. Still, there are a few got every year with some really nice antlers. Sadly, I have not seen a big one for a couple years now.
Wow! That's a whitetail bred with a Clydesdale! Indiana doesn't even bother weighing them. Hell, all we do is shoot them, and check it in on the smartphone anymore.
That deer has similar measurements to me.... except the distance from my leg to the tip of my horn is a little shorter
I highly doubt it. Every year there's a bunch of deer shot in the 250 lb, range. Most all of them come from northern Maine. I read an article by a biologist who theorized they may be a different sub-species of whitetail, but I don't think anyone ever pursued it. We don't have a lot of deer here, we only shoot around 25,000 a year. Inland Fisheries and Wildlife tries to manipulate the herd with the doe permits they give out to try to grow bigger bucks. However, as I mentioned above, most of the big deer are up north where it always bucks only
I'm glad Ohio has done the same thing. It was always slightly depressing to show up at the check in station and see 3-4 guys with bragworthy 10-12 point bucks in the parking lot, when I'm checking in a doe or 2.
Wow that was a heck of a buck that guy shot! I can definitely say I have never shot a deer with that kind of size. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
I'm always surprised at the small but prolific deer I see in many southern states. Even in PA I don't seem to see the deer I see in north central or western Mass, or the NH/VT and Maine states. Why is that I wonder?
Deer weights are mostly genetic and the result of evolution. To survive the long bitter winters of the northern states the smaller animals in the herd will perish first as the larger animals get to the food first. Snowfalls build up ground levels in cedar bogs and other yarding areas which allows the deer an ever increasing reach upward into the trees for food. A fawn in Maine is likely in excess of 100lbs when it enters its' first winter. In NJ they can have spots and be 50lbs going into December. Body mass equals longevity in colder climates.
In addition, the license sales are generated so that most of the kills are when the deer are really young. Without age, not many deer will be very large. It really bugs me that so many fawns get shot every year. Then it bugs me when people try to justify it by saying, "But it was a button buck." Well, yes, it was a button buck but it was still a fawn. I heard another one this fall, "Well, it was a big button buck." Okay, it was a big fawn. Probably weighted in at at least 60 lbs... Then they complain because the butcher kept a lot of the meat for himself. But how much meat can you expect off a fawn? Sorry, rant over.
The way I see it, whenever someone shoots a yearling deer, it gives a 2 or 3 year old the opportunity to live another year and maybe become smart enough to outwit hunters.
Lack of deep snow so the bigger deer aren't naturally selected out of the gene pool during hard winters. Add in that most of the southern deer populations are from reintroduction after being hunted to near extirpation
