Looking for a BIG buck expert

I just measured the feet of a cooperative 6pt elk and 4pt muley. The elk hoof is 4.5" and the muley 3". Neither is a giant of his kind. I hope it is a deer and I hope you get him.
 
I thought about taking pics that days we saw those tracks. Wish to hell I had done that...

I gotta work nights for the next week; will get back out there asap. Hope to find the deer, as he's making making those tracks...
 
I can tell weather it is a mule deer, whitetail or elk by finding where they urinated and smelling it.......they all have their distinct odor. All or most hunters know that bucks and bulls urinate or their tarsal glands when in rut. When a animal is killed and approached that musky odor is part urine and other odors from the glands.

Elk don't urinate on their hind legs like deer and I'm pretty sure they don't have tarsal glands. They make a rut wallow and urinate over their belly and neck.
Their urine tastes sweeter than whitetail. It's a distinguishing feature most hunters know about, aside from the other obvious fact that their tracks look nothing alike. Elk tracks are rounded in front. Deer have the same shape as moose.

It's amusing how little attention some hunters pay to the game they're after. ;)
 
Elk don't urinate on their hind legs like deer and I'm pretty sure they don't have tarsal glands. They make a rut wallow and urinate over their belly and neck.
Their urine tastes sweeter than whitetail. It's a distinguishing feature most hunters know about, aside from the other obvious fact that their tracks look nothing alike. Elk tracks are rounded in front. Deer have the same shape as moose.

It's amusing how little attention some hunters pay to the game they're after. ;)

Ummmm..... Ick!
 
^ They are definitely deer tracks; not elk, not moose. I'm guessing monster mulie, based on the country where he was traveling.

While I am not an expert on tracks or stride length, a couple of years ago I spent 20 minutes watching an enormous mulie buck out northeast of Hanna before he got tired of us glassing him and wandered off (no antlered mulie tag that year). He would have easily been 75-80% the body size of a mature cow elk with similar leg length. I don't have a hard time believing you have found a buck that is the same size or even larger, they are out there if not very common.


Mark
 
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