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HUGE TENNESSEE BUCK COULD SET A RECORD
Update
Boone and Crockett officials spent several hours on January 9 scoring
the 47-point buck tabbed the “Tennessee Tucker Buck” as the Nashville
headquarters of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The buck was
harvested by 26-year old Gallatin resident Stephen Tucker.
The deer rack scored 312 3/8 in the Boone and Crockett tabulation. The
tabulation was held after 60 days had passed since the original “wet”
score indicated that the buck was a potential world record. As it
stands, the score will break previous mark of 307 5/8.
Here’s hoping you had a good season even if you didn’t take a trophy
buck!
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Volunteer State deer hunters are still talking about the huge buck taken
recently that may well earn elite status. Here’s the scoop from
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on the recent harvest of this trophy
buck:
Stephen Tucker, 26, of Gallatin had a hunt of a lifetime, or perhaps
what amounts to hundreds-of-thousands of lifetimes, if you count the
millions of hours hunters have spent pursuing white-tailed deer through
generations.
Tucker bagged a buck while muzzleloader hunting in
Sumner County in Middle Tennessee and as it turns out, this deer’s
unique set of antlers has 47 points totaling more than 300 inches in
length.
Because the buck's rack was so unique, Dale Grandstaff, a captain with
the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, measured it using Boone &
Crockett Club requirements for non-typical racks.
The impressive deer, taken with a muzzleloader on November 7, had a
gross (green) score of 313 2/8ths inches. However, after subtracting
deductions for reasons defined by Boone and Crockett, Capt. Grandstaff
determined that the buck has a net (green) score of 308 3/8ths inches.
“When I first saw the buck, I thought this is going to be a state record
for sure because it had about the same number of points as our standing
record, but it surprised me when I measured it and it went above 300
inches,” said Captain Grandstaff. “That is something you just don’t ever
expect to measure as a certified scorer.”
Taken in Iowa, the current world record buck is 307 5/8ths inches. Even
if Capt. Grandstaff's measurements are accurate, there is a chance that
a required 60-day drying period for the antlers could shrink that length
below world record status.
Grandstaff noted that plans right now are for the antlers to be measured
again in January at TWRA’s headquarters.
Tennessee's current state non-typical record is 244 3/8ths inches, also
killed by a hunter in Sumner County in 2000, giving the Tucker Buck an
excellent possibility of shattering the state record.
If other certified scorers agree with Captain Grandstaff’s recent
conclusion--and he noted that so far he is the only professional who has
measured the rack--then the next phase of scoring will occur when Boone
& Crockett members meet at an awards banquet in the spring of 2019.
When that happens, other certified scorers in the Boone and Crockett
Club will lay tape measures to the rack and ultimately decide if
Tennessee’s conclusion stands, whatever that conclusion becomes, after
January 2017.
Regardless, until Nov. 7 of this year, only one free-ranging
white-tailed buck harvested by a hunter with a muzzleloader had ever
been certified as having more than 300 inches of antlers on its head,
according to Capt. Grandstaff. That deer is the current non-typical
world record killed in September of 2003 in Monroe County, Iowa
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