Comparatively speaking, I think you are correct, Catman. It does look 5.5

I hunted this particular area frustratingly hard 2 years ago. While post season scouting last year, I found buck sign that suggested a big racked buck. In impenetrable thickets around the edge of a huge field, we found bedding spots where every small tree was extensively rubbed. To the front is a large field, to the rear is a maze-like slough. Much of the field edge is chest high briars. In the narrow buffer zone between the field and the slough are plenty of mature oaks and dozens of persimmon trees. Infinite Cover, food and water all within mere feet of the bedding areas. The deer could easily watch hunters park and see which direction they would walk. The briars are so dense that you could walk within 3 feet of a bedded deer and never see it. Or, the deer could disappear into the slough with 3 leaps. Out in the slough, where I found this buck, the deer seem to like to bed on little "islands" i.e. mounds of dirt, surrounded by water. Cattails and reeds grow 10-12 feet high. In the off season, I have found numerous of these little island with deer hair on them or imprints of a bedded deer in the dirt. You bump one of them, they jump in the water, making a ruckus, causing all the other deer to likewise spook. If you bump any ducks out, deer will often spook as well. The entire area is wired up tight with a natural "alarm system."

After hunting there for two years, I had only laid eyes on a single 3.5 year old buck. I've pretty much thrown in the towel on trying to hunt individual bucks in this particular area, because, after analyzing the way that they are bedding, I'm not sure if there is a legal/ethical tactic that could lead to success unless it was pure, dumb luck. Its nice to have at least confirmed my suspicions that there are some big boys (or, at least 1 big boy) using the area.