After a full week devoted to nothing but mulies, I was going to give our Western deer a little break. My friend Scott Kirkpatrick wrecked that plan when he sent me this photos. How can you ignore a buck like this? Of course, I know absolutely nothing about this deer; the score, where it was taken, the hunter, even the year. If any of you do, feel free to chime in.

When Scott sent me the photos of this buck, he did say something that caught my attention: “I am checking into whether this buck might have been shot behind a high fence.”

Though I do not—by choice—know a whole lot about high fenced hunting, I did not associate that practice with Western game like mule deer. I know there are ranches that are huge and lightly hunted, therefore producing monstrous bucks and bulls. But I wasn’t aware that mule deer are maintained by “commercial operators” who keep their game behind a high fence. If any of you know of such a place, please let me know about it. If not, just enjoy photos of a great mulie buck!