I'm talkin' 240 to 275 pound Bucks......Any stories? Mine: 283 lb. 9 point I killed on a Bean field in 1979 in Macon County.....FAT as a Hog!!!

9pt dressed 210 killed in lee county , weight him on the scales at the Carville gin in Tallapoosa county
Took four folks to get him out lol

Know of a bunch at of Macon county that dressed 170s to 190s

Saw a lot of big rack bucks but not real heavy come out of Tallapoosa, Lee, Chambers county.

Ain't seen much of nothing come out of Elmore county far from the river

None for me. It was 81 when i made it out 😀

BIL killed a 9pt doe early 80s I think,,,,, that scored 126 in Macon county he had the whole deer mounted

Pictures, Festus?

I have one in my wall that I didn’t kill that was killed in hale county in 82 that weighed 285. Scored 156 as a main frame 7pt with 3 kickers.

Here we go again. I guess I need to calibrate our scales. We've weighed every deer we've killed since 1994, killed in the bend of the coosa river. A couple high 140's, a lot of 130" deer. The heaviest deer we've ever killed and he a 5 y/o was 201 live weight. It was in the rut, so maybe he lost 20-25 lbs. Festus, you must have killed one of those Michigan deer they restocked back then.

Iv seen 2 isolated places around the house that can grow 250+ lb deer live weight . The ones around my house only 2 miles away 170-190 lbs max live weight on a 5-6 year old buck . Still scratch my head on this one . How is there a 70-80 lb discrepancy that close together . Iv seen the same on does , one 5 yo doe will weigh 85 lbs and one just down the road weigh 135 lbs and be a full 6” taller at the shoulder .

I know of a few that have been killed in Dallas County in the last 20 years that were over 250. One was 267lbs and scored 138. The other I helped load on a four wheeler. He didn't have a big rack but he was the fattest deer I ever seen. Don't know exact weight but he might as well have been 300lbs, we almost couldn't get him out of there. He fell dead near a ditch so we put the four wheeler in the ditch and rolled the deer down onto the front rack. He bent one of the handle bars on it. Then we couldn't get the four wheeler out of the ditch because it was wanting to flip over so we had to use the winch to get it out. Now that deer only scored 102, but a few days later another buck was killed a few hundred yards away that weighed 178 and scored 143. Deer are like people, you have your bigguns and your skinny ones. Back when DC had more bean fields than pine trees you could see a lot of 150"+ bucks.

Biggest buck I've ever seen on the scales was a 10 point killed in north Pike county, Saco, around 1968. He was 310 pounds.
I've killed 3 bucks that were around 221 pounds on the scales in Barbour county.

Killed many over 200 biggest was 240

My son killed a 9 pt. in 2011 in south Montgomery county , club scales weighed him at 252, the processors scales weighed him at 248, live weight. Our club has killed a few 200-215 lb. bucks over the last 8-10 years. Most of the time they average 180-190.

Jimmy Bailey, who killed the state record B&C typical, killed two bucks over 300 pounds in the late 70's in Hale Co, both weighed on cotton scales. There was a buck killed in Pickens Co in the 60's that weighed 365 live weight. Dang thing looks like an elk in the pics of it. I saw a deer killed in Wilcox Co, 1974 er so, that weighed 285 live weight.

Why were they that big then but not now? Maybe they are now, I just dont know anyone personally who sees any like that.

I'm guessing because the deer density was low and the northern strain was still 100%. Thru the years deer density has increased and northern strain has been watered down.

More row crops and less pine plantations back then. The heaviest buck I’ve killed was a 220# 9pt here in Fosters back in 1998.

The biggest deer I’ve ever killed was in Blount county. It weighed 200 even on my scales but was only a 6 point. He was aged at 6. The biggest I e seen killed was by my son a couple of years ago in Tuscaloosa county. It weighed 223 pounds at the processor. Scored in the low 120s. But, it was only aged at 3.

When row crops turned to pine plantations away went the good groceries.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks

Not sure what the area you hunt is like but it’s more common where I hunt to shoot a 200+ lb deer. We are surrounded by corn and soybeans so that’s obviously a reason why. My father and I are the only two that hunt it and it’s a very large tract of family land. My largest was weighed at 235# live weight on a set of very good scales. Shot him late November 2016. Around thanksgiving is when our rut starts. Between my father and I, we’ve killed several over 200#. I’ll say that we are VERY lucky to hunt the property we do.

10-15 years a go in Wilcox Co Flatwood HC we would kill 4-6 every year that weighed between 215-240. We didn't have agriculture but the whole 12,000 acres at the time was covered up in waist to shoulder high honeysuckle. that stuff will put the weight on some deer. Then they timber company started spraying and killing everything but pine trees and sage grass and the weights dropped about 50 lbs on average. My son, Team Duckdown killed at least 4 that weighed over 215lbs including an 8point that weighed between 235 and 240 on 2 different scales.

I am with you on that, diet can surely play a big part in an animals weight.

northern strain was found in only a few small select locations. Irrelevant to 99% of Alabama, esp the blackbelt where a LOT of the bigger bucks came from. As in soybeans.

I'm still waiting on a picture. I know there were camera's in the 60's and 70's. And I'm talking about these 250+. I seriously just want to see a picture of one.

Heck, I killed a 242# and a 251# back to back days off the same hot doe, 1995 er so. They still around.

Good read on this subject:
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.co...ig-bucks-ala-hunting-industry/738210001/

Yep. What he said. Pine plantations don't provide much nutrition for deer. When I was a teenager there were corn and soybean fields everywhere here in Wilcox County and 200 plus pound bucks were not uncommon at all. Now it's pretty much just pine plantations. My personal best Alabama deer weighed 220 pounds. 8 point, killed him on a push drive. He stopped two bullets from a 30-06. I recovered both from just under the skin on the off side.

Hush yer mouth, there's a few on here that will tell ya pines is superior to any other habitat in the state.

I don't remember anybody taking pics of Deer back in those days....I searched through some old pics and don't have any Dead Deer pics. Guess it was common enough it wasn't that big of a deal during those Glory days of endless soybean fields....

I saw one mounted in mexican restaurant in Camden Sunday that ad a plaque which said it weighed 264lbs. Killed in 1978. Needs a new cape bad. Whoever shot it said it was their 104th deer.

I've killed 3 bucks that went over 200lbs. Coosda-205lbs and 210lbs. Shot one in Lowndes opening day about 5 years ago that went 213lbs.

Dr. B

I’ve got a few of my grandfathers mounts that he killed during the 80’s in South Montgomery. Both were over 240lbs+ Back when they still had row crops. They had a pile of 130”-150” antlers that had been cut off and thrown in the corner of the barn.

They are a truck bed full when they get that big

Two pages of 200+ pound bucks, blah, blah, blah and not one single picture yet?

I am gonna bet everyone did not have access to scales like we all do today so I expect a lot of the weights were guestimates

And I doult there will be many pictures either

Back then there were scale too . We used scales at cotton gins

I have killed two in Dallas Cty within the last 10 years, one was 230's# and the other was 240# live weight. A lot of ag on the land I use to hunt and it was not uncommon to kill a mature deer that weighed over 200#.

The pictures of two I killed.

First is 230’s 9 point. The other is a 240# 8 that is probably one of the oldest bucks I’ve ever killed. He was full grown body wise.

Think about this , nearly all the big deer back then we're kill because of dog hunting . If I remember right the one Troy stated was killed on a dog drive . Man drives are deadly on big bucks ..

They way a lot of us hunt ain't gonna see deer like this . They get 6/7 or older they hard to kill .


Just add this, imo a muture buck is 6 and ovet not 41/2 to 51/2

I got some did but just like today a bunch just say what they think one weighs

Today I can't judge live weight only dressed weight . Lol

I killed a 215 lb 9 point in Collinwood, TN in 1986. Yes, I know it's not AL, but it was close to the line on some property I bought just to hunt on. There was a huge frost that morning and I killed him at first light backlit against the white frost. I drove a 4 wheeler to him and got him on the back rack by myself because the adrenalin was pumping as this was a giant! When I backed the 4 wheeler up to the tailgate to put him in the truck, there was frost all over the truck bedliner. I tried pulling him into the truck bed and he would slide back into the 4 wheeler because of the frost. Wound up pointing the truck down hill and finally got him to stay in the truck. I stopped at an Ag supply coming home and weighed him on certified scales at 215. Biggest deer I have ever laid eyes on. I would love to repeat that day again!

B

Ok yall got me started . Lol

Back then the forms for shoulder mounts was shitty . If they had mounts then like now some of yall would shucks if you saw the neck on those big bucks back then in full rut

My biggest was a 220# 10pt that netted `125 out of the TNF,,
circa Thanksgiving day 1992.

How bout some pics of these toads? The only bucks I have seen over 240 have been from Alberta or Saskatchewan. I have shot them in Michigan up to 240 and 190 in Alabama. A 240 plus buck is one hell of an animal. Seems that a 200+ buck in Alabama is akin to a "musta scored at least 150" haha.

I don't know about any others but ALL the weights I have mentioned were from accurate scales, nodamnguessing.

I would guess I have killed a dozen bucks over 200# live weight over the last 30 years. All weighed on my scales. Biggest racked buck I have killed weighed 198 live, just missed 200 on my scales. I would of "guessed" it at 200 live, but the scales said different.

Jimmy Baileys state record buck was on a HUGE shoulder form. When we took it off the wall to score I saw that the skin was overlapped down one shoulder because the skin was too big for that huge form. Hard to find a form for a 300+ pound deer.

My 283 was first tried on 200# scales.....he fell back in the truck.....Broke them.....Took him to Society Hill and weighed him on Torbert Brothers Cotton Gin Scales....Got witnesses....Kiss My Azzzzzz....Non Believers!!!

IF you weren't huntin' th' Blackbelt back then.......ONE has NO Conception of the Body Weights....

What I was saying about the necks . Lol

Dang Mike, that buck in top picture looks like he was on steroids. How do you give it to them, those are some serious shoulders

Troy ,,,, how many old guys you know back then that threw the antlers away with the guts and hide

204 Field dressed , should be over 250 on the hoof. Killed 2 years ago, I have a pic of the scales . The pics are after field dressing , thick little feller. That's the heaviest I've killed , but have a pile that field dressed over 160Lbs.

It’s like a Sasquatch sighting! 2dogs done posted a pic of one of his studs!

Well , Sasquatch did ask.

Back then it was a paper form or either a 4x4 post with paper mache shoved in it. What we have now does the anatomy more justice. Most of the old stuff wound up with a more stretched out neck.

ha, several times I've seen it done. I saw a 17ish pointer killed near Camden in the early 70's, 285 pounds, and THE RACK MADE THE DEER LOOK SMALL. don't know the score but it was prolly over 200 non typical. Absolutely huge. The guy didn't mount it, just cut the horns off. I bout cried.

Jimmy Bailey gave away a 140" ten point in the early 80's to some guy he barely knew. All he wanted was the meat. Him and the crew he hunted with would cruise backroads at daylight looking for fresh tracks. When found they would turn out ONE dog and spend the day leapfrogging in front of the dog till someone killed the deer.

Mr Harold killed a big 12 point about 14 years go around camp that weighed 236

Alabama can have big deer. They just gotta get older

Both of the deer I posted where weighed at Central Alabama Processing on Jamie’s digital scales. I do not personally know if they were 100% accurate or not. All I can say for certain is both of those deer where better than average on body size and they were full grown. The scales could have been off but I’ve put my hands on my fair share of 200# deer and felt like the weights were accurate. These were not guesstimate weights!

Ive seen 1 deer personally In Crenshaw county that went over 200. That was killed by my brother in the early 80's. Seen a few in lowndes and Wilcox that were whoppers. Mounted one that came from sardis last year that was an absolute monster. Only had half an ear left.

Nice deer Squeaky! Still not of Festus's standards (250+). Festus, I hunted Society Hill, know the Torbert family as well. Big Swamp Hunting club, George Mann, etc. BullSchit flag is thrown! Back it up with a picture, you started the thread.

Dang toad there! Id hate to imagine smacking into that thing at full speed on the highway!@!

You mean 240+ 🤭

I was 21 years old in 1979....I didn't even own a Camera....and I damn sure wasn't going to piss $$$$ away on any film and developing!!! My $$$$ went towards ammunition, gasoline, Beer and Pussy....in that order!!!!!

I told them above there would be few if any from back then .nobody took pictures back then he'll good many just threw the antlers away.

Most of the ones that took pictures I knew were of bucks killed at night and rode around till they blew up .

Exactly. This was back when you had to send film off to be developed and there was no internet to show off a picture of a buck. What were you going to do? Have a bunch of wallet size photos made up and pass them out to your friends. Most of the people I knew back then were the kind of people that would kill a 130 to 140 class buck and do little more than nail the horns to a barn door. I don't even know what happened to the horns off the buck I mentioned in my first post much less any photo that might have been taken. Different time back then.

Lot different !!!!!!!

This is one my grandad killed in the early 80’s in South Montgomery My dad found it thrown in the barn years later. Finally got them fixed up this year, a little wood stain to darken the antlers up since they had turned solid white and a replica skull brought them back to life. Picture doesn’t do the mass justice. No clue what the deer weighed but the antlers are heavy!!

Kinda what I figured.

You must not have been very successful huntin' that area or you have Short Man Syndrome Issues........

Calling Marshall Dillon....283 my azz.

Looser....

😆

what is yer fkn problem?

I was in the now infamous Riverdale club in Dallas county for several years. They had a set of scales at the sign in board and would weigh every buck taken. I would watch yet another 200+ lb buck weighed in and think to myself man, that deer looks to be no more than 160 or so. I mentioned this one day and the ones who had killed 200+ bucks all blasted me. I put the scale up high and weighed myself with it. I was 190 lbs at the time and the scale showed 220 lbs.

Kinda mystified that 200lb on the hoof deer are so uncommon state wide.

Same here

No problem at all. I just wanted to see a picture of a deer from Alabama that was 280+. Kinda like you, I looked at the thread because I find them fascinating creatures. I would like to see a picture, is that so damn offensive?

Three things to get size deer:

1. Age
2. Food
3. Genetics


Also, too many people shoot the "it's a good 8 point, had to shoot it or my neighbor would have!" bucks. If that makes them happy, fine. So be it.

But you can't get 4-, 5- and 6-year-old bucks - if that's what you want - by shooting the 2.5-year-old spindly 8-point.

They hunt places like here at home in elmore county. I kill one that dresses 135 to 145 I think I done some thing. Lol

200lb deer are not uncommon on the hoof in Alabama, but 250lb plus deer IMO are very rare. Most people don't weigh deer, they just guess.

yer calling BS and acting like he is lying is offensive, unless you know something I don't. I've got pics of every big deer I've killed but they ain't going on here.

Same thing here. Have seen many club rusty old scales that are 20 plus years old and left in the weather or in some dusty shed and pulled out once a year. I have seen a lot of dead deer and have also seen a lot of inaccurate scales. A 200 pound buck is about like the 20 pound string of bass, you know the old "well we didn't weigh em but we had about 20 pounds"!

Same genetics we've had for 50+ years, I'd think with all this new fangled QDM , high octane food plots, feeding programs and such they wouldn't be so hard to find.

One of the funnest damn things I saw was two guy trying weigh a deer on bathroom scales and being half drunk made it even better but the done it . Lol

Old rusty scales typically weigh light, not heavy. Yes there are inaccurate scales, then again, there are a pile of well managed clubs that use digital or calibrated scales. There are plenty of 200lb bucks still being killed on well managed properties in Alabama. Now days, that number drops off exponentially when you start talking about bucks over 220lb. The key is age and nutrition. Back when most of the blackbelt was in Ag, the age structure was better and there were plenty of 220-240lb bucks killed. Anything over 250 has and always will be a sure enough toad. Note that almost all those huge bucks that were weighed back in the 70's were weighed on pretty accurate feed scales at the feed stores. Nobody was into serious management back then, they simply hunted. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of clubs back then didnt even have a set of scales. If you shot a stud and wanted it weighed, you took it to the feed scales or somewhere similar. You reference 20 lb strings of bass, there have been a pile of days that I've been at or over 20 lbs with just 2 fish. Did it twice this spring in fact and there are several on here that can attest. It's all a matter of when, how and where you fish and when, how and where you are hunting (and back then, the blackbelt was the place to be).

I fully believe these older guys like Troy and the others that hunted these prime areas back then. Back when the blackbelt was really at it's prime, I was too young to hunt seriously but I remember the deer that my dad and others killed. By the time I was old enough to start sitting and hunting on my own with a rifle, it was around 1982 and that area was already moving to pines and the body weights and inches of horn dropped off quickly after that. I remember in either 1977 or 1978, I was 7 or 8 years old and watched a deer get weighed on the feed scales in Thomaston, Alabama, that was killed off our club just up the road, That place was surrounded on 3 sides by thousands of acres of ag. Guy shot it 7 times with buckshot on a man drive and still ended up cutting its throat to finish it. It weighed 267 live weight on feed scales with 8 to 10 of us witnessing it. I remember when they skinned that deer, the buckshot sounded like rain hitting on the ground as it fell out of the tallow on that buck. Most most of the pellets had not even made it into the deer's chest. I fully believe these older guys that lived it. I caught the trailing edge of it, but was just born 10-20 years too late to really hit it right. Oh yeah, that 267 deer probably scored in the high 140's and the old man that killed it sawed those horns off with a hacksaw and threw them in the bed of his truck.

A bolt ,,, they cut timber different back then too . Lot f land back then was just thinned not stripped to the ground

For the doubters the above words contain several clues as to why heavier bucks used to be killed much more frequently back when I was a kid.

The first one is the phrase " thousands of acres of ag". Sorry but your 1/8 of an acre green patch can't compare to 1000's of acres of standing corn when it comes to putting weight on deer. Even if you did use some of Ray Scotts extra magic special grass seeds. LOL!

The second clue is that the deer was killed on a drive. People mostly hunt alone now out of tree stands and shooting houses. In other words waiting for the deer to come to them while it's still daylight. Well most 6 year old bucks don't do much natural moving around in daylight. So most people aren't killing the oldest bucks on the property they hunt but rather the first "acceptably old enough" buck that shows up. Most likely a 3 year old. Hell, a lot of people shoot them before they get that old. But back when everyone I knew was either having dog drives or push drives it forced these old bucks to get up and move. As a consequence a lot more really old bucks were being killed.

Read your posts, "yer fkn problem" and finding something offensive just don't seem to mix. I seriously wanted to SEE a picture of the deer since I know that area and the Torbert family. Marshall Dillon and Festus was an attempt at humor. It's hot, come inside and cool off! Everybody knows hunters and fishermen never exaggerate (or how far they can hit golf balls). Have a good day there Fred.

I said pretty much the same in above posts on a lot of that

I killed one at Bank head in the early 90's that field dressed 213

Bankhead used to, and still does, produce some monster bucks, antlers and weights.

Yall may need to bust up them Sanctuary areas from time to time to get them big boys moving . Lol

If its like I'm thinking I'll leave that place for the young healty fit guys

I killed one on some corps land one time that weighed 195 field dressed, so that would have put it over 200 lbs on the hoof. Biggest deer I've ever killed. Got him mounted on the wall at home. If yall want to see it bad enough I'll send it to someone to post.

yes it is, and thats why it has BIG OLD bucks of northern genetics

There is a picture at Ezells (original one) of a 299 pound buck weighed on cotton scales.

It was killed by Dave Barr Tutt in Nanafalia. I heard the story from the horses mouth several times
over the years and it is a heck of a story. It looks like a Canada deer.

Tommy Miller killed a 307 pound buck in the early 80’s in Dayton. I saw the hindquarters
at a processor in Linden and they didn’t look like a whitetail. Looked like
a young steer.

I have pics of 4 we’ve killed, but it’s gonna take me a while.
At work. Nothing close to 250 though.
Lots of big deer killed in our area back in the day because there wasn’t a season on them. When season opened, there were Huge bucks and does for several years. And most folks didn’t still hunt with a rifle which let them grow too.

I’ve got a pic of a 240 pound 10 point killed 3 years ago on the place I hunt.

I can’t post a pic right now since tinypic went down and I haven’t figured out a new hosting site.

If you want to see it I will text to someone to post.

I've got one on my wall that weighed 262 on a certified scale at Taylor's deer processing. My dad has killed 3 or 4 over 225 over the years. Seen several around 250 killed out of south montgomery. Not that uncommon around here.

This. Around my neck of the woods they dont cull deer.

The 310# buck I have mentioned several times was weighed on the Saco store platform scales, probably as accurate as you could find. No pictures, nobody carried a camera around with them back then and there probably aren't 3 or 4 people, if that, still alive that witnessed it.

Exactly. I don't have any photos of my first couple of deer. No one carried an Instamatic, film and flash cubes back then unless you were on vacation, going to a funeral for graveside flower photos, a family or school reunion, or were involved in a wedding.

If it was big enough to photograph you might drop by the local newspaper office IF you wanted anyone to know or it was really significant. Otherwise, gut, cut and done.

Maybe all these gigantic Saskatchewan sized Alabama deer were just before my time. I have been hunting or have known people hunting in Alabama since the mid seventies. The heaviest deer I have ever credibly heard of was a 230 lb 12 pt killed in Sumter County in the mid seventies. I saw the picture of that one and although I cannot verify the weight, it was a toad for sure. I, like others on here have said, would love to see some pictures of these gigantic bucks from the glory days. We may never see Alabama deer of that size again.

What is interesting here in Florida is the rising number of 200 lb bucks in recent years. Just about every club I used to hunt has taken one or more a year lately. I watched a 210 lb 8 pt weighed on good scales last season. When I was hunting Florida, 180 lbs was about the biggest I ever saw. I killed that one on the Escambia River and he had wide skinny horns that probably score around 90". Why are Florida deer increasing in body weight? Baiting has been allowed since at least 1990 so it isn't that.

Interestingly, FL buck scores are going up as well. I know of 3 killed within 80 miles of my house in the last two years that were 140 or better. That was unheard of when I hunted here.

Man pics of all these 250 lb bama deer are rarer than sasquatch pics.

I’ve hunted the same general area since the mid seventies. Those deer haven’t changed much. You see an occasional 200 plus live weight but not much over that, it was the same in the seventies. Very little agriculture then or now in this area.

x2....bout the same here...

Like people, the older they get the heavier they get. More and more folks are letting bucks get older now days.