World class whitetail bucks don’t typically get killed in the state of Tennessee. It just doesn’t happen too often. But 2016 may be the year that puts the Volunteer state in the books. A report on the TN Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) Facebook page shares the story on a buck killed over the weekend that has the potential to break state and world records.
TN Wildlife Resources Agency – Facebook / November 8, 2016
TENNESSEE TUCKER BUCK WILL LIKELY BE STATE RECORD NON-TYPICAL WHITETAIL, BUT HAS POTENTIAL OF BECOMING WORLD RECORD
Stephen Tucker, 26, of Gallatin had a hunt of a lifetime or perhaps hundreds of thousands of lifetimes. On Monday he bagged a buck while muzzleloader hunting in Sumner County in Middle Tennessee, and as it turned out its unique set of antlers had 47 points that totaled more than 300 inches in length.
Tucker with his world class Tennessee whitetail buck. (Photo – TWRA Facebook)
Because the buck’s rack was so unique, TWRA Captain Dale Grandstaff measured it using Boone & Crockett stipulations for non-typical racks. The impressive deer, taken with a muzzleloader on Monday, November 7, had a gross (green) score of 313 2/8ths inches. However, after deductions for reasons defined by Boone & Crockett, Captian Grandstaff had to make deductions and determined that the buck had a net (green) score of 308 3/8ths inches.
The current world record taken in Iowa is 307 5/8ths inches. There is a chance, even if Captain Grandstaff’s measurements are accurate, that the required 60-day drying period could shrink the length below world record status.
Tennessee’s current state non-typical record is 244 3/8ths inches, also taken from Sumner County in 2000, giving the Tucker Buck an excellent possibility of at least shattering the current state record.
The antlers will be measured again in 60-days, and TWRA official Boone and Crockett scorers will determine if the buck is indeed the world record.
If other certified scorers agree with Captain Grandstaff–and he noted that he is the only person who has yet measured the rack–then the next phase of scoring will occur when Boone & Crockett members meet at their awards banquet and other certified scorers determine if Tennessee’s official score should stand.
That B & C banquet will not take place until the spring of 2019.
This photo shows the magnitude of the Tucker buck. (Photo – TWRA Facebook)
Regardless, until Monday only one free-ranging white-tailed buck harvested by a hunter had ever been certified as having more than 300 inches of antlers on its head, according to Captain Grandstaff. That deer is the current non-typical world record killed in September of 2003 in Monroe County, Iowa.
Coincidentally, Captain Grandstaff noted that only a day or two earlier than when Tucker killed the Sumner County buck, another potential world record “typical” deer was killed by a hunter in Iowa. This typical 7 x 7 rack could net between 210 to 220 inches, according to the captain. The current typical world record is 213 5/8ths inches and was killed by Milo Hanson in November 1993 in Biggar, Saskatchewan Canada.
