Joe's giant AZ archery buck!!! UPDATE!! More pics

Joe Gonzales stands and admires his 2011 AZ archery mule deer.



 

Holy smokes, were do we start. Joe was able to fill his OTC archery deer tag today after having several close encounters with many smaller bucks. Joe's buck grosses 190 7/8". This buck is very decieving both in pictures and while we chased him. With 21" of mass per side which added up to an 84" left horn, an 81 7/8" right horn, and a 25" inside spread, the inches add up quick! The hunt for this buck actually started in September when we came across a new area that we seen several great deer in velvet. During the elk hunts we stumbled across several great sheds from these bucks and we began thinking we might be able to find these deer in the late hunt. Once the late archery season opened up, Joe and I were behind the big glass scouring the brush fields. Incredibly, everytime we went in to this area Joe chased nice bucks. This morning we glassed up a herd of deer with 4 bucks, including this bruiser. Once Joe got in close, he simply sat back and waited. The deer were rutting and since this buck was pre-occupied with chasing other bucks and does, it was only a matter of time before the opportunity presented itself. Well, if finally happened and at 43 yards, Joe's first hit was a bit far back so we sat back and watched him bed to give him time to expire. As soon as one of the other bucks in the herd seen he was hurt, he went in for another battle. Joe's buck gave a good effort but being wounded he was quickly beaten down and the other buck spent the next 15 minutes putting a good beat down on this buck. While this was happening, Joe took advantage of the chaos and close the distance to finally put this heavy buck down for good. I was able to capture some rough footage of Joe's final stalk through the spotting scope so we'll have to put a quick video together. Congrats to Joe on a whopper of a deer. Let's see what else our new spot may bring in the future..



Check out the mass on this guy!!

This is the shed from Joe's buck that we found in September.

The day after harvesting this beautiful buck, Joe skinned and caped the buck in preparation for a shoulder mount. When he removed the hide, the true damage caused by the other buck was evident. The first picture below shows only the arrows entrance wound. The next pictures shows the bucks other side, this is the side the other buck stomped and gored him. We knew from watching the fight that the other buck had put a beating on him, but we had no idea of the damage he inflicted. Look at all the puncutre wounds and bruises! You can basically get and idea of the spread of the other buck based on the puncture wounds on this buck's side. This was the other buck's opportunity to show his dominance while the bigger buck was wounded, and he took full advantage of it.