Zimbabwe (Matabeleland North - Hwange & Matabeleland South - Marula/Plumtree), Namibia, South Africa (Limpopo, Free State, North West, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng)
I love big fork horns. I shot one years ago in Idaho.
I was hunting one a couple years ago on public land in New Mexico. As I was getting ready to shoot, another buck I couldn’t see while he was bedded stood up a few minutes after him and headed my way. As you can see, I changed my mind about the big forky.
Not opposed to it if it's a big mature deer and would definitely pull the trigger on that one! Never killed a big straight forky, these are as close to a big mature forky I've found.
Some of the forked antlered coastal blacktails I saw in the area around Petaluma back in the late 80’s would definitely be trophies but I got an above average for the area 3x3 with brow tines. 8 point to us southern boys.
Mulies are amazing animals. However, being a whitetail hunter makes me rethink how to judge a good buck. Since a nice mule deer will typically not have much in the way of brow tines. They certainly make up for it in width and frame. Then, judging the depth of forks is another difference. I’m so used to a basic check of width and number of points that it makes me second guess what counts as a stellar mule deer.
The 4x4 I included in response to sfranger7gp ‘s comment, would definitely not pass on that buck. The two x two bucks definitely pass on, wait for something more exciting. All those pix were taken while on a scouting trip
The finest mule deer "trophy" I have ever seen was on a buck that was illegal to shoot in BC. It was during the rut and this aged swaybacked animal drifted past us at sixty-yards. Bases were much bigger than my wrist and pearling went half way up each antler. With eye-guards and forks he was illegal in BC where one can shoot a spindly two-year-old 4x3 (must have four points on one side), but not this six or seven year old pensioner. He looked like a gigantic roebuck. With his mass and only six points, he would have still hit 170-175. Amazing animal that almost certainly ended up a mountain lion meal that winter.
I did a report here on this buck/hunt, not a forked but over 31 inches and grossed 170 p&y, 6 or 7 years old as I remember it. 2019 archery hunt, which made it easier to pass up the smaller/younger bucks we saw
While scouting
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