Rachel my wife is holding a 200 inch buck that we found dead. What a beauty! This buck was shot and lost. We currently aren't sure which hunter shot this one. We had our eyes on 10 bucks in 2014 that were in this category but this one wasn't any of the ones we had seen.
UPDATE: We have solved the mystery. Congratulations to Michael McLain of Alabama! He made a 500 yard shot at a giant on his last evening hunt on the edge of a crop field. No blood was found in the field edge where the deer exited. The hunter called on his way out of town and informed us of the situation, thinking that he had likely missed. Well we found the giant buck about 3 weeks after that hunt in the same scope of woods where the buck fled to after the shot. After reviewing the dead deer carcass data (degree of decomposition, weather conditions, antler condition, etc) with the local game warden, combined with additional relevant data (no sightings of a giant buck since that hunt, detailed description of the buck from the hunter. etc) we determined that the buck was most likely killed by Mr. McLain.
UPDATE: We have solved the mystery. Congratulations to Michael McLain of Alabama! He made a 500 yard shot at a giant on his last evening hunt on the edge of a crop field. No blood was found in the field edge where the deer exited. The hunter called on his way out of town and informed us of the situation, thinking that he had likely missed. Well we found the giant buck about 3 weeks after that hunt in the same scope of woods where the buck fled to after the shot. After reviewing the dead deer carcass data (degree of decomposition, weather conditions, antler condition, etc) with the local game warden, combined with additional relevant data (no sightings of a giant buck since that hunt, detailed description of the buck from the hunter. etc) we determined that the buck was most likely killed by Mr. McLain.