Behind the Re-creations: Dale Mackey Mule Deer Sheds

Dale Mackey Mule Deer Sheds

In 1989 a good friend of mine found a nice six-point deer antler. Three years later, he finally told me where he found it. Two days later, I was there. The country looked like prime winter range. It didn’t take long before I was off, hiking the area he told me to check. With no luck I decided to work my way up a west facing rocky ridge. After two and half-hours of intense searching, I started wondering if I was wasting my time. I finally found an old base that was off a good buck. Deciding to keep going I reached a small clearing with one incredible large deer antler lying in the middle of it. I was stoked since this 10-point was the biggest shed I had ever found. I tried picking it up with some resistance from a four-inch cheater that was stuck in the ground. Amped! It was getting dark and felt it was best to start heading back, knowing I could look on the way down. With no luck and no mate I would be back as soon as I could get time.

It was hard to wait the two weeks it took for me to get back up into there. But there I was hiking back into that sweet spot knowing the other side had to be in there somewhere. Frustrated after two hours of hunting, I decided to check one last spot. Walking around a big pinion pine I could see a big antler lying on a steep sidehill 35 yards away. As I got closer I could tell it was the other side with 13 points. Wow! What an awesome feeling it is to find a monster non-typical especially that scores 265.

Two years later I found an 11-point single side off this same buck but could never find the match. I always figured he must have stuck the other shed in a tree or bush. Some believe this buck to be the Keller buck that was killed in 1986. This could not be possible since I found these sheds in 1992 and 1994. It is amazing how close the genetics are. One year I showed them to a man and he said he had seen that same buck on the elk hunt. He said that big old buck snorted and stomped his hooves at him and acted quite aggressive towards him. I never did see this buck. I figured he must have died from old age or cougar kill. Three years ago I was watching an 8×8 that was probably only a six-year old that had the same genetics. Of course it didn’t take long before he disappeared (possibly a victim of poaching). It’s good to see the genes are still there.