BRF PATRICK JR.
Buck Run Farm originated in 1995 with the purchase of a pregnant doe bred by Lester. At the time, I never imagined what an important role our first fawn, Abby, would play in taking Buck Run Farm to the next level. Abby never disappointed and delivered several buck fawns that all surpassed 200” by 4 years old.
As I began to feel I had finally developed a herd with great potential, the deer industry turned a corner and changed drastically. The use of artificial insemination and laparoscopic artificial insemination allowed breeders to specifically select genetics to enhance or add traits lacking in their herd. In 2003, a 250” buck was considered big; however, now 200” yearlings, 300” two year olds, and 400” three year olds are being produced. Despite my view that 200” to 250” clean typical bucks are still beautiful deer, the bar continues to be raised. I decided in 2003 I needed to get serious about breeding whitetail deer by introducing top genetics before I got left behind. I began by purchasing four straws of semen that would augment the Lester bloodline. First on my list was Highroller, one of the biggest bucks in the country with basically everything a breeder looks for in a whitetail deer aside from a clean typical buck. Next, I chose to buy two straws from Avalanche. I saw him as a two year old and was extremely impressed with his symmetrical drop tines, mass, and great pedigree with Thunder as his sire. Finally, I bought a straw from Johnny Cash. This particular buck did not catch my attention until he was six years old and renamed Patrick Junior. I dreamed of producing a buck like him with exceptional width, long brow tines, and symmetrical drop tines. Patrick Jr. had a look that I wanted to duplicate.
The spring of 2004 was an exciting time as all four does took to the artificial insemination. Unfortunately, the Highroller fawns were born during an extremely cold night and did not survive. The following night was also below 40 degrees. Abby was due next, so I woke up to check on her at 2:30 in the morning. She had delivered twin four pound buck fawns. I brought them in for the night to prevent another loss. Over the next few days, I noticed Abby’s milk sac was small. I offered the twin bucks a bottle of formula and they eagerly took it, so I began feeding them full time. I became concerned because Abby was also very thin, so I drew blood from her and had my veterinarian, Dr. Brian Deland, analyze it. Unfortunately her kidneys were shutting down and she did not have much longer to live. The two does artificially inseminated with the Avalanche straws delivered their fawns without any complications. As expected, a few months later Abby went into complete renal failure.
Overall, I ended up with five healthy fawns from the artificial insemination. The twin Patrick Jr. buck fawns, two Avalanche buck fawns and a doe fawn. During their first year of growth, one of the Patrick Jr. and Avalanche buck fawns seemed to stand out in comparison with their twin, so I named them after their sire. BRF Patrick Jr. scored 127 6/8” and BRF Avalanche Jr. scored 133 5/8” at one year. At two years, BRF Avalanche Jr. stood out with 11” brow tines and 13” G3s scoring just under 200”. BRF Patrick Jr. was a clean typical 5 x 6 with no stickers scoring 157”, so I was thinking he was nothing special. Naturally I figured that BRF Avalanche Jr. would be the one to watch over the next few years, so I had Earl Souva draw semen from him. At the same time, Earl drew semen from BRF Patrick Jr. only because Abby had died and he was one of the last bucks out of her, and I still felt he had a great sire. As fate would have it BRF Avalanche Jr. died before he had a chance to grow his third rack. It is always disappointing when the possibility of having a great buck is lost and his true potential is never revealed; however, for every disappointment life in the deer business brings, there is a silver lining.
BRF Patrick Jr. proved to be far from a disappointment.
In 2007, he grew his third rack adding more than 70” to his score and gaining several inches in width with signs of four drop tines appearing. He finished the season at 233” B&C. As the growing season approached in 2008, I was not expecting anything extraordinary from the bucks; however, as I took pictures every two weeks I was amazed at the growth BRF Patrick Jr. showed. His rack was wide and the symmetrical drop tines grew. In mid July, I had friends over to see the deer and my friend’s nephew jumped off the Ez-Go and startled the deer. While BRF Patrick Jr. was lying down another buck jumped over him and broke his right G4. Fortunately, it did not break off completely and refused, so BRF Patrick Jr. finished the growing season looking phenomenal except for his fractured tine.
When the time came to tranquillize the deer to test for TB, I was anxious to score BRF Patrick Jr. I did not think he would reach 300”, but I knew he would be close. An inside spread of 28 2/8”, four brow tines at 9 to 11”, symmetrical double drops at 10”, main beams at 30” and a total hard antler score of 304” left me in shock. I was in pure awe of the fact that this animal was born on my farm. I am well aware there are many other larger bucks out there some with a better pedigree, but for me BRF Patrick Jr. is the buck of a lifetime and the type I only used to dream of producing.
Needless to say, it was not long before other deer farmers started to take notice of BRF Patrick Jr. Mike Gillis told me the only thing wrong with BRF Patrick Jr. was that he was not in his pen! Dean Borntragger asked if he was out of a Highroller doe because of the many similarities. Russ Walk, a man I highly regard, felt that BRF Patrick Jr. is one of the nicest framed bucks that he has seen. Numerous deer breeders have echoed Mike Coureya’s opinion that “He is a Buck who has everything you’re looking for when breeding width, great typical frame and drop tines. These are the type of genetics that bring top dollar at a hunt preserve!” However due to the lack of time to promote BRF Patrick Jr. the way that I should, I am considering selling the semen rights to him to any interested parities.
As for what is to come for BRF Patrick Jr. in 2009, I am still holding my breath.
Due to an incomplete pen expansion, my only option was to expose him to 29 does last fall. Since finishing the pen expansion this spring, he has also been moved to new pens three times and he has been treated for a sore foot. Unfortunately, I have put him under stress this year but as of June 15, when I compared his pictures to last year he seems to be right on pace as far as his width, brow tines, drop tines and 5 x 6 main frame are concerned. As the rest of this 2009 growing season passes, I think we will be seeing a cleaner buck with fewer stickers at the base and less kickers coming off his G2s. I feel it is also time to start watching out for his sons. Two stand outs who are coincidentally both great grandson’s of BRF Abby are Crossfire, a two year old born and raised at Buck Run Farm, and Sheriff, a one year old buck out of a doe purchased from BRF by Tom Minoske of Trademark Whitetails. There is no need to say anymore about Sheriff, a picture is worth a thousand words. Hopefully, there are more good things in store for Buck Run Farm and for those of you that have purchased semen from BRF Patrick Jr.
