The Best Bucks of 2011

I hate to say it, but the deer season is almost over. It was a somewhat disappointing year for the GDI staff, with not very many mature buck encounters. They showed up on the trail camera a lot, but were never willing to cooperate and walk by when we had a hunter in the stand.

That doesn’t mean it was a bad year for everybody though. There were actually several bucks taken that might break the state record in a couple of different categories.

Here is Outdoor Life’s list of the 20 biggest bucks of 2011:

Illinois Hunter Kills 30 Point… Doe?

Imagine what you would be thinking after you shot a 30 point buck… a buck of a lifetime. You walk up on the animal and see that tangle of antlers, you pick his head up to inspect him and count all of his points. What a feeling that would be.

After minutes of taking it all in and inspecting your new trophy, it would come time to field dress it. You spread the bucks back legs to get started when you realize… somethings not quite right. You look at the deer’s antlers, then back at the missing plumbing, then back at the antlers again. Then you scratch your head. You realize that your buck of a lifetime is actually an antlered doe.

If it were me, as soon as I made that realization I would be jumping up and down and doing cartwheels (or at least attempting them), because a 30 point doe is a not a buck of a lifetime, it’s a deer of several lifetimes!

For the full story, click here.

A Warning for Santa… from a One-Year-Old Baby

This one-year-old isn’t messing around! Threatening Santa is usually never a good idea, but this baby just took it to another level! Can you think of any other captions for this photo? “It only took me one shot… from the hip.” or “I sat in the stand for 1 whole week before I got this buck!”.