Winner 2009 Ugly Buck Contest

What’s that old hunter’s saying? Oh yeah, you can’t eat the horns or something like that…

Here’s one of the most horrible looking bucks I’ve ever encountered. After passing up a small buck during my annual PA deer season this year, I came home to hunt NJ for both 6 day shotgun and our 3 day permit shotgun seasons. Our herd on the private land I hunt in Sparta, NJ is over-run with deer, so we need to manage the herd and reduce their numbers. That means that we shoot all small racked-bucks without decent potential to grow large and all does during doe season as well as any trophies if we encounter them. We pass up “basket bucks” like the one I passed in PA.

Opening day of 6 day shotgun brought a first ever for one of my buddies and at first light. I shot a 3 pointer about an hour later, dragged it out and we both checked our deer and climbed back in our stands, this time with my buddy picking up his son. Later that afternoon, his son shot his first ever buck, so that was exciting to be involved with. Father and son first ever deer on the same day! We butchered those 3 bucks a few days later in my garage and I sat out one more morning on the final day, Saturday, but didn’t see another buck that day. The next Wednesday brought the 3 day shotgun permit season and I wanted to kill another deer to lower our herd. At first light a one-horned, older buck came right past the stand never aware of my presence. He appeared to be blind in the one eye as I watched him through my binoculars. I confirmed his blindness by waving my hands and his lack of response confirmed what I had suspected. For unknown reasons, I decided to let him walk. I remained in my stand until shortly after lunch and then headed home to work. The next day I had meetings in the morning, so sat in that same stand until dark. I had decided that if I were to see that same buck, I was going to shoot him because his genetics were poor and he was a larger and older deer than all the others we had taken off the property this year. Sure enough, right at dark he came walking down that very same trail just as he did the morning prior. I shot him at a laughable 15 yards, a veritable chip shot with the 12 ga. rifled slug gun and off he ran straight down the side of the mountain to die. Ugh, what a horrific drag up the mountain that was by myself!

He hanged in my shed for a couple of days to age properly and then was butchered and divvied up with a neighbor, some of which was ground and made into sausages by yours truly and some into venison jerky (which will make Lout Camp in May!). Here’s a photo of the ugliest buck of the season, perhaps of my lifetime…