Outdoors enthusiast and owner of the YouTube channel Old Hat Outdoors, Matt Keller, shared a video showing some massive antlers in a small creek.
Matt set out that morning to go fishing and was walking through a river when he spotted a deer carcass lying in the middle of the water.
“My intent was to film a sweet brown trout video,” Matt said. “That didn’t happen. In fact, the fishing sucked.”
He pulled off some sticks piled up on the carcass to investigate the animal and became confused at what was really under the brush.
At first, he thought it was two deer, but after clearing some debris he realized it was actually just one massive head with antlers and he got excited.
The deer had been expired long enough to for its hair to rot off but its body was still fairly intact. Matt pulled on its antlers and hauled it out of the water and onto land so that he could further inspect it.
He was so impressed by the size of the antlers that he tried to remove them from the head. However, he wasn’t able to do it so he decided to hide the deer, leave it on the bank and come back the next day.
The next day, he brought another person with him for help and they carefully sawed the antlers off as they bared through the potent smell.
According to locals, this deer was a local legend.
Many hunters have recorded the big buck on their trail cameras for years trying to track it down and hang those antlers on the wall. Locals have even tried to offer a nice sum of money for them too, but Matt has turned down all offers for now.
“The trophy has nothing to do with the antlers or skull to us,” Matt commented. “The value was in the experience and we wouldn’t change a thing.”