Sometimes one year makes all the difference for a big buck.
These days we consistently hear about age classes when it comes to antler sizes in whitetail deer. Hunters today pass up bucks our forefathers would never dream of in hopes that deer will live one more year and have a chance to reach his true potential.
We know not everyone is into big antlers, but for those who are, a little patience on the stand is never a bad thing. You may go a long time between harvests, but many hunters find the dry spells are worth it.
Because you never know what a buck will blow up into if just given a little more time to grow.
If you need further proof of that, look no further than this video from onX Hunt featuring Aaron Sligh. He's after an Iowa buck he nicknamed "Angry" for the animal's frequent, dominant displays around other bucks. This was a deer that Aaron already knew about. He had even found his matched set of sheds. However, it's clear Aaron never expected this animal to blow up into the deer of a lifetime. That was, until the summer of 2021 when he realizes this wild buck has added about 80 inches of antler from one deer to the next.
With that, Angry's awesome non-typical rack with stickers and drop tines going everywhere shot this deer to the top of Aaron's hit list for the 2021 season. It takes Aaron a bit of scouting work, and a lot of hours in the stand before he finally gets his chance. Minor language warning on the video.
This video just goes to show how age is everything with mature whitetail deer. This buck scores around 240 inches, making a true buck of a lifetime. Fortunately for Aaron, Angry lived up to his nickname. Those rattling antlers pulled this buck in on a string looking for a fight. In the end, his aggressiveness got the best of him.
We cannot imagine how hard it was for Aaron to keep it together as this beast closed that gap, completely fooled by the antler rattling sequence.
Seeing the amount of antler this buck grew in one year is jaw-dropping. Of course, it helps that Iowa is a rich agricultural state with plenty of forage both natural and planted by hunters to help supplement antler growth to an extreme like this. It's going to be hard for Aaron to top a buck like this, but it sounds like he's willing to try.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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