Whitetail Buck with funky antlers

I had the pleasure of photographing this guy during the November rut. As you can see, his rack is not typical. I included a "going away" shot so you can see the unusual rack from the rear. I've never seen another buck with a rack similar to this.

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Nice shots, but I'm missing the unusual part? Look like a whitetail rack to me.

Hard to tell which is the main beam on his left side. Looks like he has double eyebrow tines on the right side, and the left side main beam splits.

Geat shots. That is a cool rack.

As a whitetail hunter I absolutely loved looking at your whitetail gallery. Some amazing shots in there and it looks like wherever you are shooting there is a very healthy population with very good genetics. Private land or public? Very nice stuff! Thanks for sharing.

What do you shoot with?

gjl711 wrote in post #9432518
Nice shots, but I'm missing the unusual part? Look like a whitetail rack to me.

Here's the answer, gjl:

Hntr wrote in post #9432566
Hard to tell which is the main beam on his left side. Looks like he has double eyebrow tines on the right side, and the left side main beam splits.

CrazyED420 wrote in post #9432719
As a whitetail hunter I absolutely loved looking at your whitetail gallery. Some amazing shots in there and it looks like wherever you are shooting there is a very healthy population with very good genetics. Private land or public? Very nice stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Ed Most of the photos in the Whitetail gallery were taken just this past November.

I shoot on public land. I know that many of today's "top whitetail pros" shoot captive deer on private land, so shooting wild deer puts me at a disadvantage, so far as antler size is concerned. But there's nothing like animals that are wild and free, and I don't want to "sell out" by taking photos of privately owned deer in big pens.

CrazyED420 wrote in post #9432719
What do you shoot with?

I primarily shoot with my 5D (classic) and the 400 f2.8 lens. I frequently mate the 1.4 extender with the 400. At times I shoot with my "backup", the 1D Mark2, with the 100-400 on it. It's a much easier outfit to carry when hiking in off the road.

Here's another image, the angle of which further shows this buck's unusual antler formation:

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Very nice stuff! Yeah for one do not believe in photographing high fence/game farm animals. For me it's all about the thrill of the chase, and a fair chase for me. I realize many just want perfect photos of beautiful animals but to actually catch them in the wild is what it's all about that. We manage 200 acres of private land in Wisconsin but unfortunately i'm just so busy I dont get to spend as much time out there as I would prefer, but I will say I never miss the November rut, the woods comes alive. I just ordered a 5D2 yesterday so hopefully I can continue to find more time out there in the woods!

This guy eluded me all season - although he did walk in front of my trail camera a few times and my dad took a fair picture of him with his 400/f5.6. Hoping he survived the season so we can get some more photos of him next season. It's always cool to find a buck with some character like that one you found.

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Your Whitetail gallery is sick! My favorite is #71. The action is jaw dropping. Nice work. These are the best I've ever seen.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #9433080
I shoot on public land. I know that many of today's "top whitetail pros" shoot captive deer on private land, so shooting wild deer puts me at a disadvantage, so far as antler size is concerned. But there's nothing like animals that are wild and free, and I don't want to "sell out" by taking photos of privately owned deer in big pens.

For "at a disadvantage" you have some awesome pictures!!

I do most of my shooting near our house or at a nearby state park here in central Wisconsin. I was a bowhunter all my life so now hunting deer with a camera has kinda replaced my bowhunting.

CrazyED420 wrote in post #9433836
BTW what is your strategy, just spending 100s/1000's of hours in the woods/outdoors? Ground blind, tree stand? Or are there really just that many deer out that way? Loved your bighorn pics too, and just about everything on your site well done.

Thanks, Ed
I do the "100s/1000s hours" thing. I was very fortunate to be able to spend the entirety of this past November photographing Whitetails. It's hard! There were several days in which I didn't get any useful images at all. But then some days would give me good opportunities with 3 or 4 different bucks!
By the way, that looks like a great buck you're working on.

scpictaker wrote in post #9436664
Your Whitetail gallery is sick! My favorite is #71. The action is jaw dropping. Nice work. These are the best I've ever seen.

Thanks, scpictaker. I'm glad you enjoy the images; it's been greatly enjoyable making them.

Hntr wrote in post #9439801
For "at a disadvantage" you have some awesome pictures!!

I do most of my shooting near our house or at a nearby state park here in central Wisconsin. I was a bowhunter all my life so now hunting deer with a camera has kinda replaced my bowhunting.

Thanks, Hntr! I, too, used to hunt with a weapon quite a bit. Now I've found that I enjoy hunting with a camera even more. It's nice not to be limited by stringent seasons and bag limits.

Hntr, I'm starting to feel the same way about what weapon to take into the field. These pics almost do more for me than bowhuntin itself. But the meat is a huge help for the grocery bill.