Thanks for the new password Russell...
It is true that our yearling buck King Kong was shot during the first week of deer season here in PA. The poacher has not been caught and it looks like without a little luck we may have come to somewhat of a dead end with our investigation. We have 2 private investigators, a state police criminal investigator and the PA Game Commission involve in the investigation. We have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the poacher and have had local news papers and radio stations help get the word out. There have been names turned in that are still being investigated but no evidence yet.
As far as the buck is, King Kong was hit low in the chest with a high powered rifle. The 28 to 30 caliber bullet traveled down and forward exiting lower out the brisket of the opposite side. It appeared that the shooter was at an elevated spot and the buck was quartering away by the looks of the wound. I will not sugar coat this; the wound looked ugly. Thankfully, the bullet didn't break any legs but did leave an open exit hole that would get an infection. His temperature was 105.8 the first time we treated him giving clear observation that he was battling infection. One week later he was 104.1 down a little but still sick as we remove chest tubes that were stitched in for drainage . Today he looks to be on his way to a full recovery. He has not shed his antler caps and has managed to keep his weight up.
I'm very confident that had this injury had been a smaller or more fragile deer they would probably not have made it. I like to count my blessings and see my glass as half full and not half empty and through this ordeal have found that King Kong has proven to be an extremely resilient and very tuff deer. This boy can take a punch. He had an amazing way of hiding the wound. He barely limped and acted like it was just another day for him. I have been reflecting on all the industries loss this last year with the loss of many of the industry greats and am thankful that my deer looks to be pulling through this fight.
Now I'm even more excited to breed this toughness and resilience into the future of my heard. One thing for sure that was a factor is King Kong's massive body size. As most of you know my family has operated 2 hunting preserves and have shot hundreds of deer from all across the country. Every deer we harvest is weighed on a good set of scales and most mature bucks we raise or buy will fall between 210-260 lbs. Two or three a year might make 280+ and I have only ever weighed 2 bucks over 310 in 8 years of hunting. King Kong is a 280 lb yearling! Size matters! Looking back at King Kong this summer he never showed a burden carrying 317" of antler as a yearling. When he would run and stop he didn't even have a wobble head. I'm liking the thought of breeding this into my herd with hopes of bigger body size, stronger neck muscles and more resilience toward antler damage.
Of course King Kong is not out of the woods yet and I feel a lot better as I see him healing daily. I'll see you all at the Top 30 with an update of his progress but for now I'll keep praying for a full recovery of this magnificent whitetail.
Just wait until you see his replicas and mount up close. Pictures do this deer no justice as his body size swallows his antlers in the pictures. He is absolutely huge!
It is true that our yearling buck King Kong was shot during the first week of deer season here in PA. The poacher has not been caught and it looks like without a little luck we may have come to somewhat of a dead end with our investigation. We have 2 private investigators, a state police criminal investigator and the PA Game Commission involve in the investigation. We have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the poacher and have had local news papers and radio stations help get the word out. There have been names turned in that are still being investigated but no evidence yet.
As far as the buck is, King Kong was hit low in the chest with a high powered rifle. The 28 to 30 caliber bullet traveled down and forward exiting lower out the brisket of the opposite side. It appeared that the shooter was at an elevated spot and the buck was quartering away by the looks of the wound. I will not sugar coat this; the wound looked ugly. Thankfully, the bullet didn't break any legs but did leave an open exit hole that would get an infection. His temperature was 105.8 the first time we treated him giving clear observation that he was battling infection. One week later he was 104.1 down a little but still sick as we remove chest tubes that were stitched in for drainage . Today he looks to be on his way to a full recovery. He has not shed his antler caps and has managed to keep his weight up.
I'm very confident that had this injury had been a smaller or more fragile deer they would probably not have made it. I like to count my blessings and see my glass as half full and not half empty and through this ordeal have found that King Kong has proven to be an extremely resilient and very tuff deer. This boy can take a punch. He had an amazing way of hiding the wound. He barely limped and acted like it was just another day for him. I have been reflecting on all the industries loss this last year with the loss of many of the industry greats and am thankful that my deer looks to be pulling through this fight.
Now I'm even more excited to breed this toughness and resilience into the future of my heard. One thing for sure that was a factor is King Kong's massive body size. As most of you know my family has operated 2 hunting preserves and have shot hundreds of deer from all across the country. Every deer we harvest is weighed on a good set of scales and most mature bucks we raise or buy will fall between 210-260 lbs. Two or three a year might make 280+ and I have only ever weighed 2 bucks over 310 in 8 years of hunting. King Kong is a 280 lb yearling! Size matters! Looking back at King Kong this summer he never showed a burden carrying 317" of antler as a yearling. When he would run and stop he didn't even have a wobble head. I'm liking the thought of breeding this into my herd with hopes of bigger body size, stronger neck muscles and more resilience toward antler damage.
Of course King Kong is not out of the woods yet and I feel a lot better as I see him healing daily. I'll see you all at the Top 30 with an update of his progress but for now I'll keep praying for a full recovery of this magnificent whitetail.
Just wait until you see his replicas and mount up close. Pictures do this deer no justice as his body size swallows his antlers in the pictures. He is absolutely huge!
