# Nocturnal Monster - Age/Score



## JRATexas (May 1, 2007)

I am sure this has been brought up a ton of times... But I thought I would see if yall have any new tricks or advice for trying to bag a ghost... A couple of years ago me and a family friend decided to throw some game cameras up at his family farm. It is a small 100 acre gettaway outside of Brenham. We had seen some deer and wanted to know more about the deer population. To our surprise we had a number of bucks and does coming to our feeders. Over the past few deer the bucks we saw have gotten MUCH better, extremely surprising for the area. I checked the game camera this past weekend and was scrolling through recognizing all the bucks visiting my feeder when my heart stopped. The buck below appeared on the screen and I just stared for 5 minutes in astonishment. We have only shot a doe off the property (archery only due to land size and preference) but this past weekend I heard a couple of rifle shots in the distance. Historically there hasnt been much pressure, but as the deer numbers have increased, so has the hunting interest. Any advice for trying to draw this monster out during shooting hours? Also, age and score estimate if yall dont mind! Thanks.

J


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## JRATexas (May 1, 2007)

I will also try and post a few more pics tonight showing the width... also hopefully better resolution.


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## bollomb (Apr 23, 2013)

age gotta be 4.5+ score low to mid 140s? you gotta get out there n get this stud. When is the rut in this area? Thats prolly ur best bet to catch him slipping. Good Luck!


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

Old bucks really only mess up during the rut. Hunt hard and long during that time. Other than that, scout out where he lives and hunt the fringes of that. He may move right at dawn or dusk other than the rut.


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## bobbyoshay (Nov 29, 2008)

Rut will be the time to hunt him and hope he slips.

There is also an article in the latest "American Hunter" magazine about killing old, big bucks. The author has killed quite a few that were nocturnal for the majority of their life and they changed when they got older into daylight bucks. His kills were either 6 or 7 yr olds and pretty nice deer. Might not what you wanna hear but they have to make the change and its all about their personality. Some bucks change from year to year but he had pics for years of them being nocturnal until they changed. Goodluck and hope you stick him.

BTW.....100 acres is plenty enough to use a rifle on if push comes to shove


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

HydraSports said:


> Old bucks really only mess up during the rut. Hunt hard and long during that time. Other than that, scout out where he lives and hunt the fringes of that. He may move right at dawn or dusk other than the rut.


I agree with this. They don't that old by being stupid, and he may not even move during daylight during the dark.

Super cool looking buck, I think he is 5 or older...if I had to put money on it, I would say 6.

Score is hard because he is not typical, his gross is going to be much higher than his net. I think if you measure all those kickers and that mass, the gross will make 160's....but that is just a wild guess.

Good luck.


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## JRATexas (May 1, 2007)

Thanks for all for the replies! Guess I better stop typing and start hunting. Good luck to everyone this weekend!


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## LaSalle30 (Nov 17, 2008)

Good luck on that 160 class deer!


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## BBBGP (Dec 11, 2012)

Age and score are hard from those photos. I would just say he is a shooter. I would guess him to be 5yo and score IMO is high 130s-low 140's.


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## Deersteaks (Mar 30, 2010)

From the looks of it, his rack is shaped that way because it looks like his chachalaca's are missing, or so it seems!!!


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## fishnfowler2 (Aug 19, 2013)

*just a thought*

I used to hunt the Sabine River bottom up in east texas for about 10 years when I lived up there.
We would use feeders near trails just to keep the does using the trails and actually hunted mostly over mock scrapes right off the same trails.When I first started doing this, my hunting buddy thought I was a bit nuts until he saw how productive it was. Used these primarily during the rut.
We didn't use feeders that much because the acorn crop was so strong. Hunting mid week may help also if possible, less activity going on than during the weekend, just a couple of thoughts that have worked for me in the past.


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## Law Dog (Jul 27, 2010)

Hard to say, nice Buck!


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