Unique Deer

If you have been following deer hunting over the years or are a hunter who is passionate about deer hunting. You will know about unique deer such as the Hole in the Horn buck , the Louisiana Freak, the Missouri Monarch, or Milo Hanson's typical world record. Just to name a few. Or talk to hunters and see what kind of bucks they dream of taking. Most will tell you they dream of taking drop tine bucks or something different that many other hunters never get a chance to see. These are the reasons we love to see big unique deer on our magazine covers.
I am no different. I would love to harvest a big buck that most hunters have not had a chance to ever see. I used to think that this may just be a dream that might never happen. But then as I think back on my hunts from the past I remember 3 different opportunities where I got chances to see very unique deer that most hunters only dream about. One was a massive drop tine buck. He is safe because he lives in an area where hunting isn't allowed. Another I had a solid black doe walk in front of my stand.At first I thought I was seeing a black dog. By the time I knew it was a deer it was to late to get a shot. And finally I was scouting public land in the summer one year and got a chance to see what I thought was an albino 8 point buck. As I got closer I saw he had brown under his antlers, black eyes and hooves. That is when I realized I was seeing a piebald instead of an albino.
I also know that I have been blessed to have been allowed to see such amazing and different deer that my God has created. If you ever get this kind of opportunity take time to reflect on God's awesomeness.

The grass is not always greener

Have you ever dreamed about hunting places others get to hunt. Thinking that they had better chances at bigger deer. The old saying the grass is always greener on their side of the fence. But when you get a chance to talk to them they either are unhappy with where they hunt or they are looking for other places to hunt. I've done this with Texas, you hear about big Texas deer on many hunting shows. I got a chance to work in Dallas, TX and I talked to the local deer hunters and told them about me always wanting to hunt in TX. I was informed that unless you hunted the big ranches that were managing for trophy deer, that the average TX deer were small in most places. I was shocked to find that those hunters I talked with dreamed of hunting Alabama, where my home state is.
It made me reevaluate what I wanted in a hunting land. As I look at where the big deer in my home state came from in the past. I also realized that many of the trophies came off public land. It amazes me that people will pay large amounts of cash to hunt for potential trophies. When they could save that money and hunt public land for a better challenge and bigger trophies.
Recently an article was released that some of the many managed deer hunting ranches were buying their trophies from deer farms. This doesn't sound like fair chase. This is another reason I am a fan of public land. But to each their own.