That is pretty danged wide no matter how much he weighs.

Keep yer eyes peeled!

He's easy 28"........ his widest measurement will be his tip to tip. I wouldnt be suprised if he's touching 30"

Hardy ol bud of mine. I am sure that you don't need a "cull" buck a breedin them there does of yourn. So good guy that I am, I'll volunteer one of my ol tags for free and just get that there 26"- 28" CULL out of the way for you. And ya don't even have to thank me, I'd do it for anyone anytime.

If that buck is close to 230 lbs I'd say he's almost 28"-30" wide.  Looks like he has some pretty decent mass too.

Here we go again...the yankee is vomiting uninformed mantra from thread to thread.

25-27" and B/C 164 score... nice deer what ever he ends up Hardy

Actually Yankee...YES, that one would qualify for B&C, you stupid smart ass. 

Not to mention that we averaged over 225 lbs. on the hoof last year on this particular ranch.  The largest buck was 250.  You really don't know anything about south Texas do you?

And that's still a protein feeder like I pointed out in a previous post and we don't hunt under feeders.   Maybe that's why you have so much trouble.  You don't seem to "learn nothin'".

You are an absolute idiot...there's no other way of putting it.  You're wrong about everything you posted here.  And, of course, I knew you'd be by and just couldn't help laying some bait for the "eager to be ignorant".

Oh, except for the guided hunt part.  Sometimes it's necessary to have a guide in the blind to keep uneducated folks like you from shooting our "tiny" deer.

I'm thinking 27-28, neat when the MB's never turn back like that.  He is a pig though.

I'm not sure on his age, I think he's mature, but can't tell if he's over 5.  Hopefully we'll get a look at him after he sheds the velvet.

Awesome Buck Hardy!!!

Brian M Thomas Yard of Dreams Landscape Co.

That's the problem with trolls. They don't really know what they are talking about, they just like to talk.

Keep yer eyes peeled!

Oh, I have a "special" deal for you Yankee Richard.  I mean, anyone who is as seasoned and educated as you are, certainly deserves the best deal I can lay on them.

Just come 'on down...I'll give you directions.  There are lots of folks down here who would welcome you with open arms and safeties off.

I figure if you're going to play the "yankee" stereotype so well, the least I can try to do is play the "redneck" one in return.  I will give you credit on one thing though.  I think you'll win this one.

Man, oh man; I love me some Big 8s!!! Great deer!

OK, so we're getting scientific here and putting waaay too much time into this.  Assuming that buck's nose is about 2.5" wide (standard taxidermy nose is 2 and 3/8" {per Van Dyke Taxidermy Supply}), he should go about 29", or 28 and 7/8". 

Closest to the eighth inch wins a free deer hunt for next year, right?

Yankee - STFU and go home!  Sorry fellas that's been welling up since the guy first logged on.  I know some of you are thinking it any way.

That's because you've always been a taker, Yankee.  You're the kind of guy that just takes off the land, yours and mine and then leaves it high and dry.  I'm willing to bet it's actually never been yours though...just someone elses.  And unfortunately, that's why the "old timer's" ways won't work any more. 

There's no management...no concern for the future...just take what you want for yourself.  Because that's what a guy like you is all about...you.  You've proven that here.

And I think it's fine that you don't agree with anything and everything about Texas hunting.  But to do so without understanding it is called ignorant...even in New York.  And to criticize others on things your ingnorant about is just plain stupid...even in New York.  And as my good friend Ron White once said..."you can't fix stupid".

And what, you've never heard of antler soup?  You thought we were just growin' them antlers down here to sell 'em?   "Them racks don't taste to(o) good"...ha!

NYYankee I don't see what the problem is.  On guided hunts they charge money, then they use said money to buy feed to feed the deer herd.  Thats all of the herd.  This is better nutrition then they would normally get.  Thus improving the antler growth and over all health of the deer herd.  This combined with proper deer management practices vastly improve the genetic dispostion of the herd. (that means that there is less imbreeding and you don't have problems like wasting desease).  So what is the problem you have with these deer managment practices?  Sorry Hardy  I do not wish to hijack your thread at all.  Those are some nice deer in you photo keep it up.

I love the term "wilderness" bucks.

So how are huge agricultural fields that then create funnels and corriders as well as provide fantastic nutrition for the deer not "artificial"?  How are doe management permits not "artificial"?  Forest thinning, and managing natural habitat...they're all done by man either directly or indirectly benefitting the deer herd.

So is our "managing natural habitat".  And one of the best ways to do that in this part of the world is by supplemental feeding.  It takes the pressure off of the native plants especially during drought times.  But you don't understand that, do you?

It's all a question of where you draw the line.  You grew up there and that's what you consider "natural".  No problem...enjoy it.   I have a line too, but I'm informed enough about all of it to make that decision.

No one has a problem with you not approving other methods.  But you don't even understand them.  You don't know anything about what you're trying to talk down.  You classify everything together and that is completely ignorant.  I keep using that word, because unfortunately it fits so well.

You know I really doubt that Hardy is forcing the deer to eat from the feeders... I think that the deer are probably choosing to eat from the feeders so really its the deers choice... 

NY Yanker…..hey jackass, your state if filled with the same BS that you condemn TX for doing.  As a matter of fact click on the hidden valley link below and you will find that they even charge more for different class bucks and the prices are comparable to TX if not more.  The big difference is… your chance at harvesting a world class deer is much greater in TX than in NY.  Search the web and you will find that it is covered with NY Outfitters trying to sell hunts for whitetail.  I also found it very interesting that “yous guys” up there find it ok to have deer drives…… let me tell you, there is a lot of “skill” involved with that right there.  “hey John Boy, you go sit over der on dem side of da wood me and ole Joe Bob  and all our toofless childrens will goes over on da udder side of da woods and run all dem der deers your way.  Now when you see da firs sine of dem der deers you justa start shootin.”  You know I have read all the BS you have posted all over this web site and have kept to myself but enough is enough.  You are about as ignorant and uneducated as they come when it comes to the topics you try to discuss, not to mention you give the State of New York a very bad name.  I have done a lot of business all over the North East (predominately New York) and currently have an office in upstate NY.  Up State NY is absolutely beautiful and the people are great too.  You must have been the reject sperm that managed to slip by when your Mom was cleaning herself up after the “Milk Man” left.  You are a F@$^%*! Idiot…. 

Hardy, sorry for ranting on your post but this guy is whack.

http://www.hiddenvalleyvacations.com/deerpreservehunts.html

Master's in wildlif biology??????????????  You can't even F#$%&#! spell wildlife, much less know anything about biology!!  Freaking reject!

You did what on purpose?  Lie...boy that's a shocker.

And your boy Aldo Leopold?  I know who he is.  He wrote the very first textbook entitled (you'll love this) GAME MANAGEMENT.

You are a fraud. 

NYYankee

you are being very disrespectful to the members of this forum.  I ask that you show some decency and respect the views of others.  I wish that it was possible to hunt for free everywhere.  I have not hunted in several years because I have not been able to afford it.  But the simple facts are that the wild life management practices being used down here are producing healthier mature deer.  I started hunting in a county that until last year did not have any state antler restrictions.  During those years we primarily hunted does for meat. (makes for great hamburgers) We would see two perhaps three 3 to 4 year old bucks during that time on the property I hunted.  This property had three feeders that fed from may to December and was not high fenced.  What works for you up there obviously does not down here.  Up there it is mostly forest habitat and down here it is primarily scrub land.  I highly doubt that a person with a wildlife management degree would conduct themselves in the way that you have conducted yourself here.  I also strongly suspect that you choose your screen name so that it would cause an issue with people here.  How ever I believe that it is the fact that you are contributing very little to the forum.  

  I have never paid to hunt and I have hunted on other peoples land for free with permission of course. 

I ask that you only conduct yourself in a civilized manner.  No one here is trying to teach you anything in fact most are wishing that you just go away.  If you dislike this forum so much I suggest you leave in find a forum about free range hunting.

Richard,  Do you really comprehend why he would have had that stance back then (emphasis on back then)?  Do you understand that it has Nothing to do with what we're talking about?

You've done your best to try and insult everyone here that doesn't believe the way you do. 

And now you're going to scream "innocent".  

Who DIDN'T see this coming?!  What a douchebag is right.  Po' lil' Yankee.

"Hey you flashin all the big buck pics around every freakin day"

I knew it would come out if we just stayed at it long enough.  Alright, I suspected it...really knew it, but I just had to see/hear it myself.  It's like when a psychiatrist finally gets what they want from a patient.

That's all I had to read.

First off given away free hunts when you work has hard as Hardy has I don't believe that would be right and I would not accept one.  He has worked to manage his land and his photos prove that he has been successful in his endeavor.  And the fact that he can make money off of his land means that it will not be sold off and subdivided like many other ranches have been.  If any thing I hope he makes more money and is able to increase the size of his property.  That way it insures that there will be undeveloped land  with wildlife on it in the future.

I think that Subdividing land is the biggest threat to Texas hunting.  In the time that I have lived in this county almost a third of the open ranch land has been subdivided into 10 acre or smaller plots.   Some having houses others having double wide pre-manufactured homes.  That is something that really scares me.

Back to the free hunt issue you also have to consider time, fuel to get to the place and back as well as a host of other issues.  I am still young and plan on one day owning my own property. I have plenty of time to hunt in the future.  And while I have not been hunting I still go fishing, canoeing and shooting.   Not hunting the past few years was and economic choice for me.  That meaning I wanted to do other things with the money I had available such has deep sea fishing and digging for diamonds in Arkansas.   Time is more of an issue then anything right now. 

Yank, you haven't insulted anyone? There are plenty of your posts that would cause people to disagree.

Troll.....bye

SO...whadday'all think 29 inches??  OK, sounds good I win. 

Hardy see you after Thanksgiving 2009!! 

I crack me up!!! LMAO!!

29 I think is pushing it. I think hes closer to 25 or 26 inches.  Just my guess.

I think he will real close to 30".  Thats a wide deer.

Aldo Leopold?

ROFL... Yeah.. he knew a hell of a lot about herd management... basically enough to say that probably killing all the Buffalo and Elk would be bad for the Buffalo and Elk numbers...

Don't get me started...

Not feed in the winter even when conditions are harsh... what an idiot.  If you are going to try to take the top off of the herd in a boom cycle to protect habitat and property, you should also fill in the valleys so you take the edge off of the bust. 

If you are going to manage... manage all the time.

Sorry Hardy...

Didn't mean not to respond to your post's original question...

I don't think he is 30".  Looks to me more like 28ish.  That pole in the way kinda makes it hard to get a decent idea.  We've killed a deer over 30" and he seemed wider.

Herding animals?  I thought we were talking about the whitetail. 

As to there being no deer herd without my interference, that's pretty laughable.   Your problem is that you think hunting pressure on animals is an aspect of fair chase.  Fair chase is about the animal's ability to evade.  Fair chase has nothing to do with whether or not you get a chance to hunt the animal, or that the animal didn't have to run a gauntlet of people shooting out every age class from 1.5 on.

I hunted and killed big deer without a fence and without feed for a long time.  People from up north didn't like the way we hunted then either.  They were obviously better woodsmen because they could drive deer through narrow strips of brush in draws in thousand acre corn fields, and could sit in corridors and shoot deer that had nowhere else to travel.

Same crap, different decade.  The arguments change but the sentiment stays the same.  You don't know anything about how we hunt, and hopefully none of us is burdened with ever having to deal with you.

Does the Internet have a Mason-Dixon line?  I would ask that you get back on your side of it.

The side that won what?  It amazes me that you think that would be an appropriate response to provoke more attention.

Woooo... watch out... Richard hunts in a state that was in a war 150 years ago and won... hahahahah

As to your edit...  Yeah you can fly home and hunt deer.  Doubt you will ever kill one as heavy as some of the stuff we are killing in South Texas We killed a deer that was 276 liveweight last year... or as heavy horned for that matter with over 40 inches of mass...

They GET heavier up where you are and can GET bigger bodied... but you rarely let them live that long.

I don't think your a hunter I think that you are one of those PETA people that thought that the polar bear cub Knuit should have been killed because he would have died in the wild. 

And by feeding the deer year round we are pumping loads of currency back into US companies that cater to wild life products.  That means that other Americans have jobs that make feeders, feed, ship the feed grow the feed.  I suppose you would like to put them out of work just so that the wildlife is not feed...

Oh Hardy I have a suggestion you might like.  Try spray painting some marks on the legs of the feeder at one foot intervals so that we can have better size references.  I am horrible at judging lengths at a distance.

Hey Yank,

Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and post some of those GREAT NY MONSTER BUCKS YOU have taken with all your GREAT HUNTING SKILLS!!!!!  Don't steal anymore photo's from the web either.  You were already busted on that once.

Dean,

Jason gave Yankee the death sentence. He is off the site.

Keep yer eyes peeled!

Yes, I did see that after I put the post here.  It's a good thing to.  That guy was consuming my days at work.

Hardy is that the son of the buck your dad killed from the hunt that aired on Versus?

Hey Hardy-

Haven't heard an update on this guy.  I guess he made it until next year?

Andrew,

He's still out there.  Had a bad limp in one of his rear legs the last time we saw him, but that's not uncommon this time of year. 

Just hope he recovers and makes it until next season.

I attached a shot from about 3 weeks ago from one of my photo blinds.

He is way out there for sure! WOW!! I was reading through the posts and wondering what was going on after your first post to the yankee dude and then realized his posts had been deleted.LOL!! I thought you were talking to Lamar!! LOL!!

 Don't know if it was mentioned.. but you could measure from the pipe on the feeder to the feeder leg(where his head lines up) and get close to a minimum width. That would be my redneck way of getting an idea at least. Just my 2 cents.

Nice Buck regardless!!