hi this is Mike Eastman you know back in the 90s I documented three big Wyoming
mule deer the first one was Morty that my brother took photos of the second one
was Popeye who's over 40 inches and the third one of the Wyoming living legends
was Goliath that a friend of mine videoed now these three Bucks were found
in public land and were hunted with a general license in Wyoming but only one
buck and that would have been Goliath was ever harvested during the season the
other two basically died of old age so let's go look at that footage of what I
call the Wyoming living legends
you know for the last 40 years my family has been filming when arranged mule
deer in Wyoming the last ten years I've been documenting three great big mule
deer we call them the Wyoming living legends these Bucks are found on public
land and been hunted and two of them never been taken Morty and Popeye and
Goliath out of the three goliath was the only
one that was taken during a hunting season now I have some rare footage here
of these bucks over the past several years and you'll be able to look at
their antler growth it's really some rare footage one of them Popeye is over
40 inches so come along with us and you get a rare treat to look at these huge
mule deer year after year on the winter range and these are public land deer
that have been hunted let's take a look at Popeye 94
he's 37 and a half inches wide he has a 207 mainframe and a 245 non-typical
gross score Eddy Bulls got his antlers now I filmed in the year 95 this is what
he looks like he has over a 220 inch mainframe he's got a 29 inch inside
spread a 37 1/2 inch outside spread he grosses 238 non-typical this look at him
in 1996 in the high country in Wyoming Mark McCord photographed him here he's
got over a 41 inch outside spread his main frame went down to 217 gross from
the previous year but his non-typical gross score jumped up to 250 now there
was a lot of guys hunting Popeye that year in the high country but nobody took
him suddenly in November on the winter range here he shows up without 41 inch
outside spread you know nobody ever took Popeye he died of old age how do I know
is because Eddy Bowl is one of the few guys I know that could look at Popeye
without his antlers and know it's him and we had a bad April storm come in and
Popeye was 11 years old and just didn't make it
but what a great deer now let's go and look at the first buck that started all
this which is Morty right here this is the last year of Morty's life his
mainframe was 217 and he's non-typical score was 231 how do I know this some
friends of mine have his drops this is what he looks like he's a big Wyoming
mule deer he's different than Popeye he's only got a 36 inch outside spread
but he makes it up with really good mainframe you know he come on the winter
range 4 or 5 years
the next buck I'd like to highlight is Goliath David long video this book two
years in a row we're looking at the first year that David captured him on
video now this buck has one of the best mainframes
ever video if you notice there his main beam is busted off on one side we think
that either it broke when he was fighting or perhaps a hunter shot it off
during the hunting season now I won't let you know that this is one of those
Bucks that is found in public land and is hunted in fact the third year after
taking this video a hunter from Utah took this great buck here in Wyoming
it's only the only one of the living legends that was ever taken during
hunting season the other two were never taken they died of old age this buck has
over a 217 main frame his outside spread is 37 38 inches wide his back tangs are
over 19 inches tall now the second year that you're looking
at right here he even gets bigger this is truly one of the finest typicals
ever video if you notice there the mass on him is unbelievable on those back
tangs but if you look there this is just one great typical mule deer
let's just kind of take a look at him here he does a lip curl because he's
ruddy well how two bucks like this make it through one hunting season at the
other without being taken number one they become nocturnal during hunting
season the second reason I believe is a lot of these Bucks find a hidey hole to
hide in during the hunting season you got to take those two things into
consideration and adjust your hunting strategies for that look at this buck
isn't he something he turns here can you believe that a mule deer will grow a set
of antlers that large
we hope you enjoyed this week's video make sure you subscribe to the Eastman's
YouTube channel we'll send you an email every time we post something new