Well ive been meaning to get this picture on here for over a year now and finally got around to doing it. I think this is one of my favorite hunting pics I have ever seen. My dad shot this buck back in the early 1970's shortly after he moved out here from Minnesota. He is the one knealing and his 2 brothers are standing behind. I will say this buck is pure blacktail and shot in SW Washington. He said he had been sitting on a small clearing for a few hours when all he sees is a rack walking towards him.
He said the buck got to within about 50 yards and stepped out in the open and he let him have it with the open sight 30-06. Love how its tied on the hood too...bunch a rednecks! My dad being from northern Minnesota had always hunted whitetails and they hunted for food not for the rack. He told me he would shoot the first deer that came within range, doe, spike, or brutus....didnt matter as long as there was food on the table. With that being said, he didnt think much of this rack when he shot it, thought "...nice buck, wow Im gonna get alot of good eating off him" Needless to say he cut the horns off and hung em in the garage.
A few years later he was moving and was having a garage sale and a guy saw the horns hanging on the wall and asked what my dad was gonna do with them. So my dad says " well they are really big and I dont really have room for them...you want them?"
I can imagine the look on the guys face. Of course he took them and that was that. My dad never really thought of them again until he showed the pic to me........
My dad first showed me this pic a few years ago and I about fell over! He had told me the story before then, but being the humble man he is just said... "I shot a nice buck." Understatement. Well we took this picture and another he has to the head and horns competition at the sportsmans show and showed it to several scorers and also a few taxidermists that were there. The other picture, which I cant find, shows the width alot better and we are guessing 24-25". Well everyone agreed this was a monster blacktail and most said it would easily be in the top 10 blacktails ever shot in the state of Washington. I know there is alot of great eyes on here for scoring and all so wanted to get everyones opinion??
My dad taught me everything I know about the woods, I remember carrying my bb gun along with him before I was even old enough to hunt. Its great reminiscing about all the days weve spent in the woods, Im very lucky that I have a dad that was so willing to introduce me to the great outdoors with the wisdom that I only hope to have one day. I know this is a loooonggg shot, but if there is someone on here that picked up this set of horns from a garage in centralia washington in the 70's, please let me know. I would love to at least see them in person and get a few pictures with my dad.
