Benchleg Buck?

[Axle]

OK folks. I tried to make this short. Here it is in story version.

What does ‘bench-leg’ mean? How does it attribute to a deer? Why do the legs have anything to do with a cross-bred deer? What does a bench have to do with it?
Allow me to give you the knowledge and history that I have on this subject.

In 1975 I moved to Roseburg, Oregon. Not long after that, I met an old trapper who owned a large ranch and was willing to teach me how to trap. He did teach me trapping methods but the first experience on his ranch was hunting blacktail deer. Upon arriving the first day on his ranch, he took a liking to me; walked up to me, eyed me up and down, then proudly boasted ‘we have bench-leg bucks on our property’. I had never heard that term before and was curious. I asked what a bench-leg buck was. He said ‘imagine a stocky work bench with the legs sawed off about half way’. He went on to say – ‘A bench-leg buck is a short-legged buck that looks like a stocky work bench with its leg sawed off about half way’. He tipped his head back and assured me ‘you’ll know once you see one’. His name was Norman and he was right about knowing once seeing.
Seeing that I was more curious for more information, he went on to tell me that the old timers had two classifications for blacktails.
1: Pacific Blacktails and 2: Cascade Blacktails. According to those guys, the Pacific Blacktails where smaller and lived closer to the coast. The Cascade Blacktails live further inland and further north. It is among the Pacific Blacktails that the bench-leg bucks live.
Their range is mainly SW Oregon. According to those who schooled me, the so-called bench-legs are only in western Oregon and the highest concentrations of them are in the SW part of the state. They told me they did not think any lived north of the Columbia River.

The old guys I met back then were born in the late 1800s. I soaked up as much information as they were willing to give out. Even in their 80s, they still ran the hills for deer and trapped in winter.

We did a drive that day for deer and I was chosen to be the designated shooter. There was a nice wide opening the deer would soon run across and I just knew I would get my buck. What I wasn’t expecting of myself was to laugh out loud when I saw a buck run across in front of me. It just happened to be a short, stocky 2 point. Instead of brining my 308 to my shoulder and putting meat in the freezer, my jaw about hit the ground. It looked as if the buck was scooting across the ground on his belly. His legs were uncharacteristically short which was hysterically funny to me. Once everyone met again to stage the next drive, I was ecstatically telling Norm about seeing my first bench-leg buck. Norm told me it is a rare experience to even see one.

I found out over time he was right. I spent every possible waking hour up in the mountains. We lived at the base of a large mountain and if I wasn’t trapping, I was scouting next season’s buck. In the 6 years I lived there, I may have seen a total of 10 of those short-legged deer. One of those bucks made it into our freezer one year. Everyone who saw it said it was the largest bodied blacktail they had ever seen. The bodies of blacktails in western Oregon are not as big as those we have here in Washington. I worked in a slaughterhouse outside of Roseburg for a time and I can tell you, the deer here average much larger. It would be similar to comparing an Idaho moose to a Yukon moose. Animals vary in size by region.

The benchleg bucks have a few distinguishing characteristics.
The first one – if you ever do get to see one – is the lack of leg length.
Number 2, they have large bodies and very large chest cavities.
Then there’s the negative characteristic – they don’t get large racks. Normally 2 points per side is all they can muster up. Rarely will they reach 3 points per side and according to the old guys I knew, they’ve never seen one with 4 points on either side. My experience was similar. The ones I saw all had small antlers and the only one that had 3 on one side was the one I harvested. The others all had 2 points at best.
A certain habit that keeps these bucks from being seen is that they are excellent at staying in thick brush. It is difficult to get them out of the thick poison oak thickets. They just sit there and let you walk by. Then they get up and sneak further into thickets the opposite direction. I spent countless hours watching and hanging out with blacktails back then. I cherished every bit of that time and learned quite a bit.

So – where does the current thought about bench-legs come from?
It was about 25 years ago (or more) that somebody wrote an article in a hunting magazine and the article was supposed to answer the question of what a bench-leg buck was. Problem was – the writer didn’t know. He stated the bench-leg was a cross-breed of blacktail and mule deer. Then as a follow-up, another writer not long afterwards, stated the same thing in a different hunting magazine.
Once written in a fine magazine, hunters everywhere would believe what was printed. I was actually surprised somebody would print the story without knowing the truth. They completely failed to give an explanation of the term ‘bench-leg’.
Think about it - what in the world does a ‘bench’ or ‘legs’ (or bringing those two words together) have to do with classifying a cross-bred deer?
If the old guys I learned it from were correct (and I believe they were) then you’ve just learned the truth about this rare buck and the terminology relating to it.

[2labs]

My friend has a Corgie

[Turner89]

OMG ....with this new info .....what do we do?   Do we continue calling the half breeds bench legs knowing what we know now, and how much Bobcat dislikes the name? Do we have a poll / contest and come up with a new name.      maybe just ignore/ delte Axles post?
 Lets get this figured out

[Turner89]

Thanks for the story Axle

[RadSav]

Something doesn't look right with that photo

They definitely took the fingers off the left antler (right in photo).  Odd that they didn't edit out the squirrel teeth marks too   Fun photo to look at though!  I'll give them an A- for creativity

[Axle]

I'll say this - I agree with Bobcat. I really don't like the name either. The explanation given to me is the only one I've ever heard that makes sense. Nobody else has had any explanation at all.
Until you actually see one of those short legged bucks up close, it's hard to believe.

[RadSav]

Swamp Donkey is racist.

Only if the benchleg perceives it as racist.

The picture does look a lot like the Primos logo. 


That Will Primos...what a racist bass turd!!

[Lucky1]

Can someone please post a good picture of a benchleg buck?
One that shows how short his legs are.
I kind of am thinking maybe Bigfoot and benchleg hang out together.

[RadSav]

I think there were a couple monster benchlegs posted in the "2014 Bucks, Post them here" thread.  Might have been 2013 but I think it was 2014

[Curly]

My avatar pic is a benchleg.

[RadSav]

My avatar pic is a benchleg.

Lets keep saying "Benchleg"!  Even if we take a muledeer or a coastal blacktail I think I'll send Bobcat pictures and call it a Bencher, Bench Buck and/or Benchleg    I can't think of a better reason to use the name now.  I might even think about changing my Hunt-WA name to "Benchleg Bryan"  Ooo, maybe design a new stubby bladed broadhead and call it the "Benchleg Buster"

I'll be like a hunter with Tourettes - throw out "Benchleg" for no apparent reason.  I'll have more ticks than a Winston cow...BENCHLEG!!!

[Turner89]

My avatar pic is a benchleg.

Lets keep saying "Benchleg"!  Even if we take a muledeer or a coastal blacktail I think I'll send Bobcat pictures and call it a Bencher, Bench Buck and/or Benchleg    I can't think of a better reason to use the name now.  I might even think about changing my Hunt-WA name to "Benchleg Bryan"  Ooo, maybe design a new stubby bladed broadhead and call it the "Benchleg Buster"

I'll be like a hunter with Tourettes - throw out "Benchleg" for no apparent reason.  I'll have more ticks than a Winston cow...BENCHLEG!!!

     

[bobcat]

I've never seen a short-legged deer, but if I ever do I'll call it a short-legged deer. 

Benchleg? What's that?     

[grundy53]

I've never seen a short-legged deer, but if I ever do I'll call it a short-legged deer. 

Benchleg? What's that?     

Then we should just call bobcats short tailed cats.

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk

[2labs]

My new rifle build is the "BENCHLEG BLASTER"