TROPHY PHOTOS

Nick Travassos
Arizona youngster drops a potential record book monster mulie. Youngster's dog proceeds to chew up the drying antlers before scored officially.

NAME: Nick Travassos WHERE FROM: Willcox, Arizona HARVESTED: Cienega Ranch, Cochise County, AZ TYPE OF FIREARM OR BOW USED: .300 Savage Model 99C SPECIES TYPE: Mule Deer SIZE AND WEIGHT: 17 point, atypical, 240 DESCRIPTION: Two years ago, I took my son on his first deer hunt. For four days, unusually, we saw none of them. On the fifth day, our luck changed. It was windy, but the wind was blowing straight and steady. We walked over a small ridge and saw five bucks bedded down! None had a rack of less than 12 points. We decided to crawl to get a closer shot. We crawled to a yucca stump where I laid in front of my son, crosswise so he could use me as a bench rest. Just as he was about to shoot a deer, a bigger mulie with more than 12 points, stood up. He had been laying down behind some mesquite. Bang! He dropped him with one shot with my deer gun that I had owned for more than 25 years. The photo shows the 17pt. atypical, 240 mulie. BUT. . . There is a down side to this story. Initial measurements showed that my son, Nick, had shot a trophy deer. We put the head away in the shed to allow it to dry until we summoned the official record keepers. But, one day the door was left open and our hunting dog Diamond (yellow lab) decided that deer antlers were a tasty bit, chewing off virtually every one of the antler tips.