Posted By: AUdeerhunter
"Nearly 9" (Before & After) - 01/02/17 12:03 AM
I'm sure many of y'all saw my pictures in the LFTT thread yesterday, but my Dad punched his third "buck tag" of the season yesterday on a great buck. We called that buck "Nearly 9" and here's the story behind him...
This buck showed up on camera in 2014 (2 years old at that time) and he was a mainframe 9 point without a left brow tine and a short G4 on the left side...I had a close encounter with this buck that year while bow hunting and almost got a shot at him. The buck was at 30 yards, but I never could get a clear shot. He would've been my best bow kill, so I didn't care that he was only 2.5 years old...After that encounter, Dad and I began calling him "Nearly 9" because he was just nearly a 9 point...This was him in 2014:
"Nearly 9" grew a lot in width and tine length going into the 2015 season and we were eager to get after him. He had a left brow tine now, but that same G4 was short again. So, he was still nearly a 9 point:
My wife was hunting with me around New Years last year and this buck came up behind us early that morning. The buck was only about 60 yards from us when we saw him and he pegged us about the time we saw him. It was very cold that morning and I reckon the buck saw our breath. Nearly 9 hauled butt and blew at us from the next ridge over...We never saw Nearly 9 again last season, but he was still all over my cameras after season ended:
Dad and I had a feeling that this deer would be something very special coming into this season, but he never showed up on camera in August or early September like he had in the past. We were beginning to wonder if EHD had gotten him or something else had happened to him, but he finally showed up on September 30th. He had grown a lot wider and with more tine length again. This year his left G4 was fairly long and he'd almost grown a scorable G4 on his right side. He was a "Nearly 10" this year:
Nearly 9 frequented my cameras throughout the Fall, but not a single time in the daylight!
This buck showed up on camera in 2014 (2 years old at that time) and he was a mainframe 9 point without a left brow tine and a short G4 on the left side...I had a close encounter with this buck that year while bow hunting and almost got a shot at him. The buck was at 30 yards, but I never could get a clear shot. He would've been my best bow kill, so I didn't care that he was only 2.5 years old...After that encounter, Dad and I began calling him "Nearly 9" because he was just nearly a 9 point...This was him in 2014:
"Nearly 9" grew a lot in width and tine length going into the 2015 season and we were eager to get after him. He had a left brow tine now, but that same G4 was short again. So, he was still nearly a 9 point:
My wife was hunting with me around New Years last year and this buck came up behind us early that morning. The buck was only about 60 yards from us when we saw him and he pegged us about the time we saw him. It was very cold that morning and I reckon the buck saw our breath. Nearly 9 hauled butt and blew at us from the next ridge over...We never saw Nearly 9 again last season, but he was still all over my cameras after season ended:
Dad and I had a feeling that this deer would be something very special coming into this season, but he never showed up on camera in August or early September like he had in the past. We were beginning to wonder if EHD had gotten him or something else had happened to him, but he finally showed up on September 30th. He had grown a lot wider and with more tine length again. This year his left G4 was fairly long and he'd almost grown a scorable G4 on his right side. He was a "Nearly 10" this year:
Nearly 9 frequented my cameras throughout the Fall, but not a single time in the daylight!
