The next buck from my darting adventures in Maryland we nicknamed ‘Bez’ for very obvious reasons.  The first time I saw this stud buck he was feeding about 400 yards from my parked vehicle.  As soon as I saw him, I knew we had to try and ambush this giant buck.  All I could when he raised his head out of the soybeans were long spears on top of his head…even from that far away, I knew this was the best 6 point I had ever laid eyes on.  A couple nights later, the wind was right for the stand and we set up our ambushes.  I was laying about 4 rows deep in a cornfield that bordered the soybeans, hoping to ambush a big buck if he made it past James in the woods edge where he was watching a trail to snaked its way out along a swamp.  As the evening passed, several does and small bucks came down James’ trail and made it out to my hiding place in the fields.

On cue, the bachelor group showed up with an hour of daylight remaining.  The first buck was a 2.5 year old 8 point (a legal buck to dart, but not the monster 6), next was ‘Blaze’ an interesting melanistic buck that we actually darted this past summer…Blaze was about to get it, when the big 6 showed up.  James made a good shot and the rest was routine.

When we approached the buck though, he was bigger that I had even first thought.  The ‘bez’/’shovel’ NT projection had 5 scoreable points and totaled 16 inches.  Most impressive though was his 6 point typical frame.  Granted he was in velvet, but he taped his typical 6 point frame at 140″ even.  AMAZING!!!!  I would like to know how many 6 points gross a frame as impressive as that.  Sweeping main beams, Roman spears for G2’s, mass to die for, and that character caribou antler equaled a truly spectacular buck.  It was kind of difficult to focus on the mechanics of performing the necessary health monitoring protocol and collar work that we had to do with such a big buck lying there.  Unfortunately, this buck too died of brain abscess and was found during the rut submerged in a flooded ditch.

What a buck!