Just a question no pics.

A buddy was talking about maybe shooting a 200" deer. Got me curious. Is it possible to get a 200" deer in Texas without a high fence pen raised deer.

Could a wild deer get to 200"?

Serious question.

Possible and unlikely.

Absolutely. Similar to Mexico there can be some absolute monsters that live their whole life without ever seeing a human. Wild deer can break 200" and have. They just have to have the opportunity.

It's not something you just do by paying for it. He might hunt 20 seasons on premium leases and never see one 200" deer. Sounds like he just wants bragging rights, so why not just pay to shoot one of Keith Warren's pets?

It's been a long time, but if there were a 200 in Texas I would look for him in the deepest recesses of Mc Mullen county.
Growing up my GrandDad had a lease there that took a 4x4 to get to the gate then you were on foot.

There was this buck once in Webb county that folks swore would go 209...

There are some in Dimmitt, Webb, and Maverick counties, too. But most are high fenced.

Small humble brag here but I did kill a buck that scored 208 as a 15 year old on a low fence.

Pics please

Pwhat said:

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Small humble brag here but I did kill a buck that scored 208 as a 15 year old on a low fence.

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So how does it feel to hunt your entire adult life knowing you have already killed the biggest buck you'll ever see?

Yes.
Did it last year. High fence no peened deer genetics.

AggieChemist said:

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Pwhat said:

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Small humble brag here but I did kill a buck that scored 208 as a 15 year old on a low fence.

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So how does it feel to hunt your entire adult life knowing you have already killed the biggest buck you'll ever see?

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I've never killed anything close to a 200" deer but I'm gonna guess that it's a pretty damn good feeling knowing that you've killed a class of deer that many people will never lay eyes on (in the wild).

200" bucks are out there, but most are behind high fences. Los Cazadores has 200" bucks in the low fence division.

pretty sure there are three or four every year registered in the low fence category at Los Cazadores. My initial thoughts are that most of those will come from huge ranches. Also pretty sure you only need to have one side low fenced to be called low fenced - at least I think that is the rule for Boone & Crockett.

Landowner whose place I hunt on up in Wheeler County had one a few years ago they thought would go 200. It ended up going 196.

Pics of said monsters, por favor!!

Yes. I have seen a couple that were shot in North Central Texas on low fenced ranches.

Yes. There are some high fe places that have only native non pen raised deer.

I know one very large ranch back in the early 90's that had many over 200. It was low fence. They did not have any outside hunters. Lots of very brave poachers tried it.

Pwhat said:

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Small humble brag here but I did kill a buck that scored 208 as a 15 year old on a low fence.

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You shot a 15 year old deer?

BurrOak said:

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Landowner whose place I hunt on up in Wheeler County had one a few years ago they thought would go 200. It ended up going 196.

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Where in Wheeler County do you hunt? I hunt up there as well, off of cr 18. We have nothing near 200. You would nearly have to add two of ours together to get to 200.

Place I hunt in Llano has multiple 200+ taken the last few years. High fence protein year round. I'm not allowed to shoot those, only those with the right last name.

Gigemags05 said:

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BurrOak said:

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Landowner whose place I hunt on up in Wheeler County had one a few years ago they thought would go 200. It ended up going 196.

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Where in Wheeler County do you hunt? I hunt up there as well, off of cr 18. We have nothing near 200. You would nearly have to add two of ours together to get to 200.

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Its west of 83, right along the North Fork. Not sure exactly what road.

I've only been going up there for a few years now. I'm only allowed to fill doe tags on that place. I make one trip up there at the end of the season. I've seen several good ones while hunting there, but nothing close to that size. I believe he said that buck was this biggest they've ever killed on all of his properties. He owns land there and also in Collingsworth County.

On the right ranch with the right management 200" deer can be found, it takes nutrition and age. I've seen a few 200" deer come off low fence ranches in Maverick County, actually got to see one on the hoof.

DVM

Saw it; let him go; true story.

Yes

Not to start a low fence high fence battle but I've been to a 10,000 acre low fence ranch in south tx several times with 200" free range deer. I was hunting with the lead lease guy one time and he let a 190+ inch deer walk and he about freaked out cause we saw it a stand it usually doesn't go too and it was kinda close to the fence line. The big bucks all have names cause they've been watching them for so many yrs.

Every stand has 3 feeders at it, 2 protein and 1 corn. Everytime someone hunts a stand they have to throw or 100 lbs of corn out of the truck feeder on ground. Before you get in stand there are 10-20 deer out. They know every buck at every stand, sure they move around durjng rut but they know where the 190+ deer are and know exactly what stand to go to to get which buck. Are there deer on the place they have never seen? Sure...but for the most part it's not diff then high fence hunting to me, but they can shoot 200" "free range" deer and win all the south tx contests. They also have tons of bucks as this particular place does not shoot bucks until they are 7-10 yrs old. Too each there own, I had great times videoing and taking pics.

Pwhat said:

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Small humble brag here but I did kill a buck that scored 208 as a 15 year old on a low fence.

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If you can't produce a pic please delete your post. That's a serious statement in the times of MFBarnes

DeBoss said:

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Place I hunt in Llano has multiple 200+ taken the last few years. High fence protein year round. I'm not allowed to shoot those, only those with the right last name.

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That's exactly NOT what the OP asked. He's asking about native low fence deer. This is a true low fence debate.

Apache said:

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200" bucks are out there, but most are behind high fences. Los Cazadores has 200" bucks in the low fence division.

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Eh, it's a low fence 2,000 acre pasture in the middle of a 10,000 acre high fenced. No ***** I love to look at Las Cazadores but they've gone way commercial in my viewpoint.

https://www.millironranch.com/hunting

Hunted next to this place once. Huge deer. They had a low fence deer go 234" in 2004. Collingsworth County.
We have property in Wheeler County and there are 200" deer in that country but most in 135-165 range.

https://www.ttha.com/article/best-bucks-of-the-decade/

AggieChemist said:

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Pwhat said:

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Small humble brag here but I did kill a buck that scored 208 as a 15 year old on a low fence.

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So how does it feel to hunt your entire adult life knowing you have already killed the biggest buck you'll ever see?

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You shoot does, spikes, culls, and seldom lose your place in the book you're reading.

Doctor51 said:

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https://www.millironranch.com/hunting

Hunted next to this place once. Huge deer. They had a low fence deer go 234" in 2004. Collingsworth County.
We have property in Wheeler County and there are 200" deer in that country but most in 135-165 range.

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Interesting.

My brother and I inherited some land in Wellington that we reluctantly sold to the landowner (whole other story) I mentioned earlier. This was NW of the Mill Iron, very close to the Salt Fork but not quite touching it. But we made in good with the new landowner and he still lets us go hunt up there every year, either on our old place or one of his other properties. He owns a lot of the land surrounding what we sold him. We have seen some giants running along the Salt Fork, and that's where my best buck to date came from. That is my favorite part of Texas to hunt whitetails.

Your other link mentions Bosque County. I live in adjacent Coryell County. There have been some giants killed along the Bosque River system through the years. I've seen pics of 1 that went over 200 a few years back. I know of several more that were in the 170s+. That's almost unheard of in this part of the state.

Our neighbor to the west shot a 212 inch whitetail in 2010 with an open sight sharps .45. Not sure how to post link but google "Mike Gibson buck" and it will come up, Guthrie TX. Beautiful buck. We've taken a 180 and a couple 170s but nothing like that.

Doctor51 said:

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https://www.ttha.com/article/best-bucks-of-the-decade/

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Of all the articles to only have one pic. I am disappointed.

Reading comprehension can be difficult when trying to sneak TexAgs during meetings. My bad.

And for those that have even seen these alive and walking around, how amazing that must have been.