Bill from Iowa asks,
I have been watching all your classic hunts on YouTube and thanks for sharing them. Question is is the G4 buck the biggest buck ever harvested on your farm? Is that the biggest whitetail buck you have ever harvested? Just curious really enjoyed that story and congrats on that amazing buck.
Bill responds,
Topic: My Biggest Buck
Drew Yarkosky is holding the sheds from the Double G4 buck near where we found them in January of 2012. He was the biggest buck I ever shot, but not the biggest buck that ever lived on my farm.
Bill,
Thanks for the support. Yes, he is my biggest buck and he was the biggest killed on my farm during the time I owned it. He grossed around 205. That was not the biggest buck that lived there, however.
There were two that I knew of that were bigger and one that was about the same size. The two bigger ones were a giant four year old 6 X 5 that I hit very high (flesh wound) in 2004. He would have grossed about 225 that year. Neighbors found him dead that winter. Not sure what killed him as he showed up after I hit him several days later and was fine.
There was a giant non-typical that my neighbor was hunting that was on me occasionally that scored around 235. He died in 2004 or 2005 during the winter after shedding. My neighbor found the sheds but the buck never showed back up although he was very regular prior to that time.
The one that was just as big as Double G4 was the buck we called Bubba. He was eight years old when he died of EHD in 2012.
Friend Bill Prucha displays two sheds found on the farm in early 2005 – bucks from the 2004 season. The one in his left hand (our right side) was only 3 years in 2004 and that antler still scored 85 inches. The other one was a giant clean typical. That antler scored 92 inches. Both were found very close to the house. Both bucks died the next year from unknown cause. I saw the one in Bill’s left hand (he was a huge buck in the 225 range that season), but I never saw the big typical past summer sightings out the back window!
Seems that 2004 was a really good period on that farm. During the same time there was a giant typical ten pointer that we found an antler from. That side scored 92 and he was clean – likely would have netted over 190 inches typical!
I saw him just about every evening during the summer of 2005 from my back window as he entered an alfalfa field right at last light. Never saw him on the hoof when hunting, but friends found him dead the following spring when shed hunting. I think he probably died from EHD that year as a small outbreak hit the farm in September of 2005.
Brings back some memories. I sure did enjoy following those deer from year to year. Have a great day. (5/11/21)
Bill, do you have any trail cam pics of these deer that you’d be ok sharing?
Bill do you have any pictures of the 190 inch typical that was found dead?
We found it more than a year after it died and the antlers were eaten down pretty badly by squirrels, so I don’t think we took any photos, but it was obvious from the size of the beam and the spacing of the tines that it was the same buck. I posted the shed from it, however. That was found the spring of 2005. I hunted him 2005 but never saw him. I think he had moved slightly, based on where the carcass and bones were later found.