Which Province has the largest bodied Whitetails???
In the US., I'm guessing one of the Northern Great Lake states, or Maine has the largest bodied deer.
A few years back, one of my friend's son took a (clean dressed) 258# buck in Maine, and it only ranked number 17 in the state that year!!
This is Horace Hinkley's Monster Buck. Taken near Bingham Maine Nov., 1955. Horace had this deer hanging for three days before he had it weighed. All dried out from hanging, the buck still weighed (clean dressed) 355 pounds.
The officials from Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife estimated that this buck's live weight would have been close to 475 pounds.
Last edited by Guest on Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I still think the prairie bucks on average get bigger. I could be wrong?
I've seen and read that Hinkley Monster Buck story. I believe the family got 3 nice bucks that morning. Apparently that one broke some beams in the barn where it was hanging. Very impressive animal!!
I found the story I had read, here it is... It's a great read.
They didn't have to wait long before the action started. Twenty minutes after taking his position, Horace heard a twig snap, spotted a buck and fired. Fortunately for him, he completely missed. Within five minutes his wife's rifle echoed, only to be followed by her excited voice yelling for Horace to come see her nice buck. For unexplainable reasons even to Horace, he never moved or made a sound. Something within (a gut feeling most successful hunters have learned to trust) told him there was more action to come. No sooner had that thought passed when the buck of any hunter's dream was sneaking directly towards Horace. It only required one shot from his .30-06 to put this monster down for the count.
WOW!! You guys have some seriously big bucks in ON.! It's no wonder the VT. Benoits have been hunting there for the past few years!
VT.'s record is a 263# taken in Granby, maybe ten years ago or so. But I don't believe we have a single B&C buck in the books, and maybe only a handful of P&Y bucks.
Nick, I've read that story too. Amazing!
I lived in Maine for 4 years and have heard many tales about the big deer there.
I might be partially wrong, but... if I stand corrected, there's about 25 different species and sub species of Whitetail deer in North America. The biggest bodied deer is actually the " Virginia" species which is in Eastern Canada, and North Eastern U.S.A. The second biggest bodied deer are right here in the Northern Praires. But........................... with heavy hunting pressure, and population growth such as in Eastern Canada and North Eastern USA, deer never reach their maxium potential. The biggest antlered deer in North America is definetly right here In Saskatchewan and Alberta. Just check the record books. Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Missiori, all have nice big bucks also, but with more hunters in the field, this keeps the bucks from reaching old age, (5-8 years and older). Every year any where from 20- 30 Boone and Crockett bucks are shot. Many of these are never recorded, or heard about.
On many of my previous posts, I've drummed up Saskatchewan as a hunters paradise, and I'm not kidding. Our Whitetail deer may be big and exciting to hunt, but our Mule deer are even more exciting to go after. A friend of mine 2 years in a row has shot Mule deer with his compound bow by stalking them in their beds, both have gone over 200 points Boone and Crockett. In fact the one he shot in its bed 2 years ago is currently the world record Mule Deer in VELVET shot with archery equipment.
Now please don't take this as bragging about the hunting here. I'm just calling a spade a spade. Carl asked the question of where the biggest bucks hail out of, and I answered it the best way I can. Take care and happy hunting boys!!
Here is a deer that was taken in Alberta last fall/winter. The guy in the picture is over 6 feet tall (for a reference). The dressed weight was 328lbs.
Deer, bear or rabbits it is all the same. The coldest areas produce the largest animals as a larger animal has a more favorable mass to surface area ratio and this conserves energy through lower heat loss per pound. The Southern climates produce just the opposite in the genetic selection process with a large suraface area in relationship to weigth (mass). A 100 pound deer in the Everglades or Nothern Florida is a monster. While a 100 pounder in SK, MB, or AB would not be considered worth shooting. Nature is amazing in its selection process. In Canada we think of Maine as being South of us. Yet in Toronto I am more Southern than when I live in Vermont. Certainly the winters are not as cold and snowy in Toronto. Cold and genetic selection show again why Maine is the top of the heap in the Northeast. The other factor contributing to size and not frequently discussed is soil types. Low or poor phosphorus and potassium (P & K) levels in the soil will not allow the genetics to come to full expression. Nitrogern and calcium are also major players in this formula. Any farmer raising animals knows how important feed formulation is. Soils for agricultural crops needs analysis to determine shortages or imbalances. Non- agricultural soils are left to return to their natural state. This may mean pH levels are too high or too low while NPK levels will range widely. Deer can only gain nutrients from the food (agricultural and non-agrcultural) they eat. If there are shortages in the soil there will be shortages in the plants and the wild animals will not reach their full potential. P and Ca levels in themid west are great for growing bone but mass (weight) is more determined by cold.
The only ex who has a piece of my heart is Excalibur
How far do the heavy boreal forests extend north in to Ontario before turning to treeless tundra??
I would guess that this tundra line would mark the northern most region of the whitetail's travels. Yes/no??
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