Mortenson
5 year old buck +
Guess this story got started back on 3/5/21, when my son Chris and I found the matched shed from an ordinary 2.5 year old 8 with browtines that swoop back. The kids gave the buck the name because early that morning we had our dog, Sophie, put to sleep.
Deer often disappear around here, never to be heard from again. We frequently hear about what the neighbors harvest, but we don't hear about what the public or gov't snipers shoot. The Sophie buck returned in the fall as a 3.5 year old 8, several inches bigger, but nothing spectacular. He was now the size that nearly all my neighbors would shoot, so the odds weren't in his favor. He prevailed through all the various seasons, but would he make it through the 2.5 month long sniper season? That was our worry. A buck that age still has a pretty large range, and the dnr has pretty long guns.
Just before Halloween of '22, Sophie returned to our farm as a strong and muscular 4.5 year old. He still roamed many farms, but he was clearly a dominant buck on the majority of our own acres. He rarely went to our south end. He played his cards well that fall, and made it through the seasons unscathed. My 5 year old son, Toby, was hunting with me on the second to last day of the season, when the buck slipped up and showed himself to us in daylight. It made Toby sad, but we opted to pass the buck that afternoon. I explained how the deer had made it that far, and was so close to only having sniper season to make it through. I said in a perfect world we'd find his sheds, he'd live to see his 5th birthday, and maybe he'd grow or add a giant droptine.
We found those sheds, and low and behold this past summer my good neighbor sent me velvet pics of an unmistakable swooped back browtine buck with a giant droptine. Sophie moved onto our farm earlier in the fall than any of his prior years. We had pictures of an ancient 7.5 year old buck, and we also had hope of (what would turn out to be) a monster 200 incher that ranged up our way occasionally from his home core further south. Sadly both those deer were taken in bow season before I had a chance to really start focusing on hunting. I was down to only one buck on my list.
Deer often disappear around here, never to be heard from again. We frequently hear about what the neighbors harvest, but we don't hear about what the public or gov't snipers shoot. The Sophie buck returned in the fall as a 3.5 year old 8, several inches bigger, but nothing spectacular. He was now the size that nearly all my neighbors would shoot, so the odds weren't in his favor. He prevailed through all the various seasons, but would he make it through the 2.5 month long sniper season? That was our worry. A buck that age still has a pretty large range, and the dnr has pretty long guns.
Just before Halloween of '22, Sophie returned to our farm as a strong and muscular 4.5 year old. He still roamed many farms, but he was clearly a dominant buck on the majority of our own acres. He rarely went to our south end. He played his cards well that fall, and made it through the seasons unscathed. My 5 year old son, Toby, was hunting with me on the second to last day of the season, when the buck slipped up and showed himself to us in daylight. It made Toby sad, but we opted to pass the buck that afternoon. I explained how the deer had made it that far, and was so close to only having sniper season to make it through. I said in a perfect world we'd find his sheds, he'd live to see his 5th birthday, and maybe he'd grow or add a giant droptine.
We found those sheds, and low and behold this past summer my good neighbor sent me velvet pics of an unmistakable swooped back browtine buck with a giant droptine. Sophie moved onto our farm earlier in the fall than any of his prior years. We had pictures of an ancient 7.5 year old buck, and we also had hope of (what would turn out to be) a monster 200 incher that ranged up our way occasionally from his home core further south. Sadly both those deer were taken in bow season before I had a chance to really start focusing on hunting. I was down to only one buck on my list.
