"My leg started to shake," Kevin remembered, "and when I would put pressure on it, my other leg would start to shake!" //. In fact, the spot I was hunting was a draw of sorts, and it held as much as six inches of water, so the farmer couldnt get in there to cut them.. Winds light and variable. Hunting public land, he killed a buck in the Natural State that would make a Midwesterner . I just knew it was a big deer from the shed I had seen.. Put everything together and you have a gross 9-point frame score of 193 6/8. The pandemic caused many meat shortages throughout the nation last year, which may have increased peoples view of venison as a healthy and sustainable alternative to beef and pork. Besides, Lloyd had an ace up his sleeve the rut. It has four counties in the top 20 and the highest number of top 21st Century whitetails, with eight, including Luke Brewsters incredible 327-inch nontypical, which is the biggest ever taken by a hunter. Arkansas is known for world-class duck hunting, but that doesn't mean you should overlook its deer and bear hunting opportunities. Weve also likely seen some hunters who had not purchased a license in a few years get reactivated this year, but those are only two factors that went into the high harvest, Meeker said. Suggest Listing Harvest data is just one piece of the puzzle.". Published Mar 19, 2021 8:52 PM EDT. Our current herd matches up well with the available habitat as well as the social carrying capacity of our state, Meeker said. With more than a month left in Arkansass archery deer season, hunters have checked 214,022 deer during the 2020-21 deer hunting season. In fact, because of the clouds of green-timber mallards and rice-field snow geese that hover over the Grand Prairie grounds lying in the Mississippi River Delta country between Memphis and Little Rock, few hunters think of the same region for world-class whitetails. 1 Pope and Young Bucks Before They Were Beat, Iowa Bowhunter Bags Amazing Non-typical Target Buck While Hunting with Son, Kansas Hunter Perseveres Through Medical Condition to Tag Big Typical, Oklahoma Hunter Shoots Target Buck That's Locked Up with Another Giant, Dr. My first impression when I actually saw the rack was that the pictures didnt do it justice, said Latham. But when I shouldered the rifle, the sight of the crosshairs oriented at a 10-4 o'clock angle was definitely a different look from the normal 12-6 position we all practice from. Arkansas deer hunters have been tagging good numbers of record-book bucks. It also has six counties in the top 20 U.S. counties for record-size whitetail. Ken Vitale with Buck Knives chats with Game & Fish Editorial Director Adam Heggenstaller about two new hunting knives for 2023the purpose-built Alpha and PakLite series. The buck was honored in 2019 during the 30th Big Game Awards. The Boone and Crockett Club has released its sixth edition of the Records of North American Whitetail Deer, and at 700 pages, it promises untold hours of geeking out for deer nuts like you. This is another one where the number of state-record bucks is on a recent surge. November 24, 2019. Hunting most days over the next couple of weeks, Lloyd was beginning to lose hope that he might tag the buck. Arkansans have not been listing deer scoring 160+ and 185+ as much as Georgia. The 360 Buckhammer cartridge is designed for lever-action rifles and will be available in two Remington Core-Lokt loads. The National Wild Turkey Federation's mission to conserve wild turkey and preserve hunting heritage is still going strong after a half-century. Tuckers non-typical buck scored 315-1/8 inches and is the new state record as well as #4 on the All-time list. The NASHC publishes Shed Antler Records of North American Big Game every 4-6years. COVID-19, Randy Zellers That is nearly ideal, Meeker said. The previous record harvest was 213,487 deer, set in the 2012-13 season. You have permission to edit this article. Entries (per square mile) the last five seasons: .00086. One of the coolest things about record books like this is that they bring to life the history of hunting, and this new edition serves that up in heapfulsstates and regions and individual bucks that have placed an area in the record books for all time. To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine. Ryan Sullivan was only 19 when, during the 2013 season, he arrowed an Arkansas buck of gigantic proportions. In fact, this years resident and nonresident hunting license numbers are very similar to those recorded in 2018, but still are far below the numbers seen during the record-setting year nearly a decade ago. In fact, this years resident and nonresident hunting license numbers are very similar to those recorded in 2018, but still are far below the numbers seen during the record-setting year nearly a decade ago. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Material from the Associated Press is Copyright 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Remember the Jordan Buck? As the autumn season unfolded in 2018, El Nino-fueled rains left the region awash in water, something that isnt surprising in a delta region known for its world-class waterfowl hunting. I guess Ive been deer hunting almost forever, my whole life really, he said. He asked Meeker whether that is a concern. Conservation I had seen pictures of it before we even talked, and from those, I was guessing something in the 190s, maybe 195. With the exception of last year, Arkansas hunters have harvested more than 200,000 deer annually since that season as well. According to license sales numbers from the last five years, this year is the first in many when hunter numbers did not decline. Eight of the books 21st Century Whitetails come from Illinoismore than any other state. I know of several people who harvested (or attempted to harvest) more deer than they normally would this season to fill their freezer for the coming year, Meeker said. Boone & Crockett Club (Modern Gun) Big Game AWARDS BOOK With the exception of last year, Arkansas hunters have harvested more than 200,000 deer annually since that season as well. They had seen the deer (too) and (had) hunted it., As has often been the case with many other big deer that are tagged by hunters in various parts of North America, local game wardens did their due diligence and visited with Lloyd, the landowner, and checked out the pertinent facts to make sure everything was legal. Score: 204 2/8 inches Hunter: Robert Smith Location: Pendleton County, Kentucky But when you see environmental stressors such as flooding or buffalo gnat outbreaks followed by a good harvest, that is a good indication that the deer population is healthy enough to rebound quickly, so Id say were in good shape where we are.. Contact an Edgar County Land Specialist Marion, Iowa Average Price Per Acre of Raw Land: $4,314 Marion County may not have produced many record book bucks yet, but the ones it has are near the top of the list. The action was fast and furious right from the get-go. Because when it comes to typical whitetails, a massive buck taken in December 2018 by 49-year old homebuilder William Lloyd of Wynne, Ark. In the above video, NWTF's Jason Burckhalter talks about the group's accomplishments and future plans with Game & Fish Editorial Director Adam Heggenstaller at SHOT Show 2023 in Las Vegas. Privacy That's as big as it sounds. Meeker says deer that normally would have been harvested last year may have also added to this years total. 1 in all-time B&C record-book whitetail entries. The rack's 21 6/8-inch inside spread certainly helps to show off its unique character. Second overall, with 1,445 total entries, is Illinois. Spot and range targets without wasting valuable seconds switching between gear with Luepold's new rangefinder binocular, the BX-4 Range HD. The stories of these bucks, and many others, are included in this most recent release of the B&Cs Records of North American Whitetail Deer, which has more than 17,000 deer listings, 300 color field photos, portraits of all the current state and provincial record deer (17 new state records since the books last edition), and state maps showing trophy distribution for each county. Game & Fish Editorial Director Adam Heggenstaller gets more info from Hawke's Paige Shipe at SHOT Show 2023 in Las Vegas. The All-Time Record book is Published every 6 years for only B&C entries that exceedthe 170 typical and 195 non-typical minimum (Approximately 1 in 20,000 bucks qualify). It is Pointers Iowa giant that graces the books cover. Preston Hall with his giant public-land whitetail. Arkansas. A list of the Miller County records microfilm available at the Arkansas State Archives can be found in our County records microfilm collection. For starters, the 6x8 buck has little in the way of deductions, the symmetry differences and two abnormal points totaling up to only 8 6/8 inches. The broadside in this collection is dated January 15, 1898. As usual, hunters in Union County led the state with 7,039 deer, followed by Clark County with 5,915 deer, Bradley County with 5,274 deer and Dallas County with 4,903. Rightmyers buck scored 272-2/8 and ranks #4 in Kansas and #33 on the All-time list. In fact, it kind of went viral in the area that I live in. All three of these factors contributed to what we witnessed in the 2019-20 deer harvest.. The state's biggest whitetail deer to date came out of Prairie County in 1999, and the state record typical scored 211 points. Whispering 'fire in the hole ' while floating the crosshairs on the spot, I gently squeezed the trigger until the recoil removed the buck from my view. But sometimes, things are just meant to be, and that was the case on this gray December afternoon in eastern Arkansas as Lloyd quickly got another shell in the chamber of his rifle. Even so, I didn't figure that would matter if I aimed at the right spot and squeezed off a clean shot. 2023 Outdoor Sportsman Group. 2023 Outdoor Sportsman Group. Well, as impressive as Brewsters huge buck happens to be, equally impressive is a typical buck from the Deep South that didnt receive the same fanfare that the big non-typical from Illinois did. So we must and we will.". Upon inspection, the buck had been shot twice in the hindquarters by what was a likely a shotgun slug several weeks before. LITTLE ROCK With more than a month left in Arkansas's archery deer season, hunters have checked 214,022 deer during the 2020-21 deer hunting season. Deer. A short while later, with no tracking job to perform, Lloyd walked up on the still buck, trying to soak in what had just happened on a fairly barren patch of eastern Arkansas farmland. Phone: 501.682.6900 / Email: (Editors Note: A call to an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission law enforcement official confirmed that the agency looked into the story of the big eastern Arkansas buck, checked things out to their satisfaction, and concluded that no further investigation was necessary.). I didnt have any photos of the deer. Any serious whitetail hunter knows that it's not often that we get a second chance on the buck of a lifetime, or even a first chance for that matter. We estimate he was 7 1/2 years old. Arkansas County in the southeast is in the heart of the Natural State's big-buck zone, and that's where Joe Schimmel of Stuttgart killed our largest typical with archery equipment last year. I wasnt sure what he was going to do.. He actually started walking in my direction, kind of quartering to me. More than 17,000 whitetail deer listings, which include: final B&C score, B&C gross core, key measurements, location, date, hunter, owner, state/provincial rank, All-time rank. All counties in north central Arkansas, northwest Arkansas and most of the River Valley are in the Game and Fish chronic wasting disease management zone. The rack itself is something to behold. If you call the Boone and Crockett headquarters and ask, "Which Southern state leadsin the number of B&C record book entries?" StartFragment The Arkansas Big Buck Classic has enjoyed some memorable moments during its 26-year history, but none bigger than 2016 when it crowned a new state-record typical whitetail. Arkansas. One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 As the hunt progressed, a light wind blew on the overcast afternoon with temps in the 40s a cool afternoon bathed in flat light. The increases occurred in zones 4 (31%), 4A (36%), 5 (22%), 5A (26%), 7 (33%), 8 (20%), 10 (34%), 11 (30%), 15 (19%) and 16 (16%). Newton County. 'I remained in the stand for several minutes to gather my thoughts and calm down, ' Mikell says. In addition, the state tables of all record-book deer include a buck from Lewis County taken by Daryl L. Blum in 2002 that scored 198-6/8 inches and landed #3 on the state list #29 All-time. Arkansas State Archives