Trophy Bucks

The 180-Class Pending B&C World Record 8-Point Buck!

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:46:12 -0500

On December 1, 2011, on the opening day of the second shotgun season in Illinois, Jason Sanders tagged what will likely be the largest 8-point whitetail in the Boone & Crockett record books. Sanders, a 38-year-old farmer and veteran deer hunter, was hunting on his home farm when he set his sights on this world-class buck of a lifetime.

Boone & Crockett: Whitetail Record Entries Have Increased 400% In Past 3 Decades

Online Editors — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:12:38 -0500

by Scott Bestul

I grew up hunting deer in Wisconsin. I distinctly remember how much I yearned to take a trophy buck. And while I occasionally pine for the hunts of my youth, the truth is that my odds of tagging a wall-hanger are far better now than they ever were when I got my start in the 1970s.

According to a recent press release by the Boone and Crockett Club, whitetail entries in the B&C book have skyrocketed in recent years, rising some 400 percent across whitetail range in the past three decades. And some states, Wisconsin in particular, have made incredible jumps. Badger State hunters registered 40 bucks in the B&C book from 1980-85. That number soared to 383 animals from 2005-2010, an increase of 857 percent! Illinois’ jump for that same time period is even higher at 896 percent. And Ontario went from a single deer during the 1980-85 period to 41 from 2005-10—an incredible 4,000 percent gain!

The Best Field & Stream Reader Photos From January 2012

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:06:52 -0500

Each month, Field & Stream editors review the hundreds of photos submitted by readers to our Trophy Room. If your photo is chosen to be printed in the Game Faces section of the magazine, you’ll win a Rapala Fish ‘N Fillet knife!

Submit your photos here!

Here are the monthly Best Reader Photo Galleries from last year:

Giant Illinois Buck Is Potential World-Record 8-Pointer

Sarah Smith — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:11:41 -0500

by Scott Bestul

The term “world-record whitetail” gets tossed around so much these days that it’s easy to ignore. But the buck pictured at left may well be the real deal.

Bizarre Buck: Maryland Hunter Tags 23-Pointer With Brain Abscess, Hollow Antler

Online Editors — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:54:46 -0500

Mark Hahr could not believe his eyes when he walked up to the big whitetail he’d put to the ground just minutes into his first Maryland gun hunt. Expecting to get his hands on the tall, gnarly rack he’d spotted just after daybreak in his scope, Hahr instead saw a curious sight: A raw, bloody spot where the left antler should be. Thinking he’d shot the antler off, he quickly scanned the buck.

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Post-Season Bachelor Party

Online Editors — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:04:24 -0500

by Scott Bestul

The deer season has been closed here in Minnesota for about a month, but I can’t keep from snooping around the timber, even if it’s just for a 10-minute walk. It was on such a jaunt last week that I discovered the unmistakable sign of a buck working some scrapes. So I ran back to the house, grabbed a trail camera and mounted it so it overlooked the pawing in the snow.

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The Best Shotguns of 2012

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:56:43 -0500

The Tale of a 21-Point, 200-Class, Double-Drop Iowa Monster Buck

Online Editors — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:11:41 -0500

Jesse Jans first encountered this dandy Iowa drop-tine from only 10 feet away, then spent a year pinpointing the big buck’s movements. Once he did, the North Liberty accountant told a hunting buddy over lunch one day that he’d have the 21-pointer on the ground that afternoon. Then—like Babe Ruth calling his homer in the 1932 World Series—Jans delivered. Here’s how...

Boy, 10, Tags Louisiana 18-Pointer On Solo Hunt

Sarah Smith — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:33:12 -0500

--Chad Love

Here's a story about a ten-year-old Louisiana boy who tagged a massive, 18-point buck earlier this month. On the face of it, it seems to be one of the typical "boy kills monster buck" stories we see every season.

You know, the kind of story that causes you to wail and gnash your teeth as the black bile of envy rises up in your throat. But this one has an unusual twist in that this ten-year-old boy did it all by himself.

From this story on thetowntalk.com:

Ten-year-old Jack Dekeyzer is an accomplished deer hunter, not to mention being mature for his age. Therefore, his father Peter Dekeyzer was OK with letting his son make his first solo hunt on family property in early January. "Jack has been hunting with me for several years now and has already killed four does and little bitty 'hill' deer that had 9 points with a 10-inch spread. So, when he asked if he could hunt by himself, I really didn't give it a second thought," the elder Dekeyzer said.

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Indiana Bill Would Officially Legalize High-Fence Hunting

Sarah Smith — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:22:07 -0500

--Chad Love

A bill making its way through the Indiana legislature would make Hoosier State high-fence hunting officially legal. As it stands now, high-fence hunting isn't technically legal, but it's not really illegal, either. The bill seeks to clear that up.

From this story in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:

Hunting preserves in which people pay thousands to shoot deer behind high fences would be legal under a bill that passed 8-4 Tuesday out of the House Natural Resources Committee. House Bill 1265 would legitimize four existing captive hunting sites in the state – including one in Kosciusko County – as well as open up the practice for new operators following specific guidelines.

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