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BuckTracker: On Programmed Bucks
Check out the video link below. It features a clip of a 400” captive buck that is 2-1/2 years old. And no, I did not confuse any of the above numbers. Some readers are no doubt well aware of the antler sizes that can be attained by a buck that has no worries about predation, the quality of his food and, perhaps most importantly, not having to work that hard to punch a meal ticket.
And of course there’s another, perhaps more interesting, issue at work here; selective breeding. Animals like this are genetic freaks, but they’re still produced by pairing the semen from a mutant buck with the DNA of a super doe, and that coupling (translation: Artificial insemination” or as the farmers in my neighborhood call it “A-I”) is rarely left to chance. Breeders of champion (insert livestock of choice here) specimens have little on some of the current whitetail farmers. “Straws” (a small vial containing semen) from the top-end bucks are sold for thousands of dollars each, and of course they come with no guarantees.
So what are your thoughts on a deer like this? Do you find antlers like these an awe-inspiring example of what a whitetail could be if all the cosmic tumblers clicked for him? Or does a behemoth buck not “count” because he’s been—for lack of a better term—“programmed” to do just what this freak has done. We have a long weekend to run this one through the grinder, so feel free to take your time and expound…..
The buck's name is "Sudden Impact." Click Here to watch the video of the monster.
Video doesn't work for me.
Posted by: John D | August 29, 2008 at 04:00 PM
the link doesn't get thru, but I have seen the video before, and it makes you wonder just what all the to-do is all about when it comes to antler size....It used to be we enjoyed hunting just to get in the woods and prove we could "bring home the bacon"...just what have we deteriorated into but a preverted shell of a nobler aspect!
Posted by: jes | August 29, 2008 at 04:17 PM
The video does not work, get an error message
Posted by: Bob Rombs | August 29, 2008 at 05:24 PM
I'm with JES. What is so wrong with just getting out there, taking a doe or small buck, and enjoying the hunt. This type of breeding skinks and should be outlawed the same as high fence "shooting" (let's be honest--such tactics such as enclosed high fence leases and genetically alterned bucks are NOT part of hunting, but rather a form of target shooting, and I am certain that any animals that are produced by the above method will be such "targets". Let's turn such frecks loose in a public area and see if they can be really hunted.)
Posted by: Jon R | August 29, 2008 at 10:51 PM
I find it ironic that this post is just above a post about CWD and baiting bans.
Prophetic? Perhaps.
Jim
Posted by: jstreet | August 30, 2008 at 12:56 AM
I'm with Jon - For me, hunting is about the whole experience of being out in nature, tracking, glassing, spotting that buck, stalking and setting up the shot. Breeding freakish bucks to be shot in an enclosure isn't Fair Chase, and defeats the whole purpose of what hunting is supposed to be about, IMHO...
Posted by: Matt Talbot | September 01, 2008 at 12:26 AM
video doesnt work...would like to see this freak tho
Posted by: J. Glass | September 01, 2008 at 12:29 PM
try this http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback
Posted by: E dog | September 03, 2008 at 11:19 AM
That didn't work I guess but it did work yesterday and they have some huge deer on that site.
Posted by: E dog | September 03, 2008 at 11:21 AM
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1258426438?bclid=1260648959
you gotta drop the /bct
nice deer.
Posted by: chance | September 04, 2008 at 03:25 AM
It's kind of like Jurasic park when Jeff Goldbloom says, "we spent so much time wondering if we could but never asked if we should." not a direct quote but close. No one stopped to think. The animal looked like he was in pain. It's 2 and 1/2 yo neck wasn't developed enough to support that kind of weight. Maybe it will lead to arthritist pain? What happens if he escapes and breads with non domesticated animals?
Posted by: matt | September 08, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Well we've pretty much used genetic engineering on every species of livestock and agricultural product for hundreds of years. Hitler tried to do it with the human race and some say slaveholders and their selective breeding produced the African American super athlete of today. Over 80% of the NBA is black out of about a 12% total population. If we can produce deer with huge antlers is there really a morality problem? But just how big is big enough? If we all start shooting B&C 200 bucks where's the challenge? I'd love to see two year old deer with giant 12 point racks but the novelty will soon enough wear out. We ought to be breeding deer that taste better like we have done with cattle, corn, etc...
Posted by: Dr. Ralph | September 19, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Where's the info you promised in the October 2008 issue of Field & Stream Mag about your further testing of the Moxy Scent Slayer?
I would like that info NOW during the archery season, NOT two days before the gun season!!!!!
Posted by: Dean Morrell | September 23, 2008 at 03:59 PM
Amazing!! You would think that deer would have enormous neck muscle.
Posted by: Jason Russell | September 23, 2008 at 08:24 PM
with all these negitive comments we(outdoorsmen)forget that those that raise these deer make lots of money and spend lots of it to keep groups like peta at bay .I have hunted all my life and now also raise deer for high fence hunts on 1000 acre sites .Whitetail deer will never be domesticated they forever will be wild animals with in hours of being in the open they donot even act like they where ever close to any man .
Posted by: Robert Henson | October 09, 2008 at 02:06 PM