Methow Valley Beast! 210 3/8 Gross

[Griz231]

So I took masking tape and drew the best line I thought looked right based off videos online of the main beam line. I may still be off but I remeasured using a non stretchy string and gained a bit. I'll be curious when we take him to someone that knows what they are doing.
Got 210 3/8 this time. Note I ran a line for the little point off his right side and it was right at a inch so I gained one there. Now again I may be off on my line 
I'm learning. 

[coachcw]

I have the book , I'm going to spend a bit of time in one of the northern winter areas come 11/21.

[MADMAX]

That is the definition of a dandy.
congrats

[MtnMuley]

I gave the book away to somebody on here, I can't remember. Honestly, I found it pretty useless. A lot has changed since Zeigler wrote the book. I read it twice and was excited as could be to buy a copy. After two readings, I was disappointed. Sorry to thread jack.

[Capt. Rob]

Awsome buck. I love the mass and more mass he sports.

[Watimberghost]

WOW!!! Congrats on a true monster That's what haunts dreams right there

[no.cen.wa]

What a great trophy! I was hiking all over those 6-7 k peaks and wondered where my buck was,,,, why he was right in your sights!  Congrats man, that is so cool.

[Griz231]

What a great trophy! I was hiking all over those 6-7 k peaks and wondered where my buck was,,,, why he was right in your sights!  Congrats man, that is so cool.

He was about 3600 feet. 

[Griz231]

This deer may have a twin.  Saw another pic of one that looked almost identical to this one.  Thought it was with the pictures side by side, but my friend saw the other one and the individual that shot it.  Two different deer but almost identical racks.

Can you share the pic? I'm curious.

[Griz231]

We are trying to decide what pose to do for the mount.  Any suggestions? 

[2MANY]

Semi sneak with the ears back some.

Will make it even look more huge.

[Rainier10]

Semi sneak with the ears back some.

Will make it even look more huge.

I have two turned to the left, one to the right and another one at the taxidermist right now getting done to the right.

I think the semi sneak makes the neck look a little bigger as well.

[huntnphool]

 Id be sure to turn it to the left, the Rg3 is not as long as the Lg3, and should be forward so as not to appear significantly shorter than the other side.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Hey wea300mag how far do you think he traveled roughly?

Using my mapping software, he expired about 17 miles (as the crow flies) from my camera.

The big question I have been trying to answer. What made that guy travel 17 miles from his summer range to his winter range. It's not weather. Is it the rut?  Is it feed?  If you answer the rut, I would imagine there are still does in his summer range that he could breed. Weird year.

Congratulations on harvesting the buck of 500 lifetimes!

I'm going off memory here, which is dangerous, but a telemetry study in Chelan County about 10 years ago showed the herd was roughly 90% migratory and 10% resident.  The average migration between summer and winter ranges was about 30 miles, with deer showing high fidelity to both summer and winter locations.  As Boneaddict noted, both weather and breeding factor in.  Does, especially with fawns, migrate to transitional ranges on a pretty rigid schedule regardless of weather - except an early snow will send them earlier.  Makes sense if you think about it, no good reason to make fawns snowplow 30 miles to start winter.  Migration studies throughout the range have shown the average date of significant accumulation (6-8") on the summer ranges is a pretty good predictor of when does will migrate, barring an actual early snow - they will migrate about 5-10 days before that average date.  Buck behavior is a bit different; yearlings and 2-year olds tend to follow the does, while 3+ and older bucks stay on their summer ranges until a few days before breeding starts, unless a more significant snow event (12-15") on their summer ranges moves them earlier. 

One other note about migration, spring and fall behaviors are very different.  In spring the deer tend to "follow the greenup", a slow movement driven by forage availability and palatability.  The fall migration is very much "get up and go", with deer traveling as much as 20 air miles per day.  I have seen four years in the past 25 where the mule deer rut began 2-3 weeks early.  Each of these was characterized by an unusually high October harvest of swollen necked mature brutes.  1996 (Wyoming), 2004, 2008 and 2015 (WA).  I have spent hundreds of hours daydreaming about the whys, and looking at precipitation, temperature and other data sets, and have concluded - I have no clue why.

[Karl Blanchard]

Hey wea300mag how far do you think he traveled roughly?

Using my mapping software, he expired about 17 miles (as the crow flies) from my camera.

The big question I have been trying to answer. What made that guy travel 17 miles from his summer range to his winter range. It's not weather. Is it the rut?  Is it feed?  If you answer the rut, I would imagine there are still does in his summer range that he could breed. Weird year.

Congratulations on harvesting the buck of 500 lifetimes!

I'm going off memory here, which is dangerous, but a telemetry study in Chelan County about 10 years ago showed the herd was roughly 90% migratory and 10% resident.  The average migration between summer and winter ranges was about 30 miles, with deer showing high fidelity to both summer and winter locations.  As Boneaddict noted, both weather and breeding factor in.  Does, especially with fawns, migrate to transitional ranges on a pretty rigid schedule regardless of weather - except an early snow will send them earlier.  Makes sense if you think about it, no good reason to make fawns snowplow 30 miles to start winter.  Migration studies throughout the range have shown the average date of significant accumulation (6-8") on the summer ranges is a pretty good predictor of when does will migrate, barring an actual early snow - they will migrate about 5-10 days before that average date.  Buck behavior is a bit different; yearlings and 2-year olds tend to follow the does, while 3+ and older bucks stay on their summer ranges until a few days before breeding starts, unless a more significant snow event (12-15") on their summer ranges moves them earlier. 

One other note about migration, spring and fall behaviors are very different.  In spring the deer tend to "follow the greenup", a slow movement driven by forage availability and palatability.  The fall migration is very much "get up and go", with deer traveling as much as 20 air miles per day.  I have seen four years in the past 25 where the mule deer rut began 2-3 weeks early.  Each of these was characterized by an unusually high October harvest of swollen necked mature brutes.  1996 (Wyoming), 2004, 2008 and 2015 (WA).  I have spent hundreds of hours daydreaming about the whys, and looking at precipitation, temperature and other data sets, and have concluded - I have no clue why.

  thank you Beau.  Very informative.