Wyoming’s hunting community is abuzz after photos and video surfaced of a monster mule deer buck that — if it’s legitimate — could easily surpass the state’s record for the biggest buck ever.
Prominent Wyoming hunter Guy Eastman described the buck as a “million-dollar deer.”
Meaning, if it was on private property, the landowner could likely charge a well-heeled trophy seeker $1 million for trespass rights to come hunt it, he told Cowboy State Daily.
“He’s knocking on the door of 300 inches,” Eastman said of the buck’s gigantic antler rack.
That could obliterate the current Wyoming record by nearly 15 inches.
“A 300-inch mule deer in Wyoming would truly be amazing,” said outdoorsman Rowdy Anderson of Riverton.
Anderson added that he and other local hunters have been seeing more bucks and better bucks this year, but nothing that would come close to the rumored Bondurant monster.
Is The Buck Already Dead?
Eastman knows well what makes a true trophy. He represents the third generation of the Wyoming outdoor multimedia family that specializes in chronicling fair-chase big game trophy hunting.
Most of the chatter about the buck places it somewhere in the Bondurant area, although it could be somewhere else in northwest Wyoming.
Word was also trickling in on Friday that an archery hunter might have killed the buck that morning, said Eastman and avid deer hunter Zach Key of La Barge, although that hadn’t been confirmed.
What A 300-Plus Score Would Mean
To qualify as Wyoming’s biggest ever, the buck would have to meet standards set by the Boone and Crockett Club (B&C). The B&C measuring system is considered the gold standard for hunting trophies.
To qualify, the game must be taken in a fair-chase hunt (a hunt in which the animal has a reasonable chance of escape).
The process starts with a green score, versus a final score.
The green score can be taken right after the animal is killed, but it doesn’t count for an official record book entry. That’s because antlers shrink as they lose moisture from a living animal.
After a mandatory 60-day drying period, the final score can be taken.
Mule deer antlers are scored by taking length and circumference measurements at several points along the antlers’ structure. There is also a measurement for the spread or width, the point of greatest distance between the two main antler beams.
The numbers are crunched, minus deductions for anomalies, broken point tines, and the like, to render the score in inches.
There are two basic classes for mule deer and other antlered game, typical and non-typical.
"Typical" refers to deer with that classic, straight, mostly symmetrical antler structure.
The non-typical category is for antlers that are twisted or bent in odd ways. Or, that have unusual features.
Those could include the huge, bulbous “drop tine” (downward-pointing tine) on the rumored Bondurant monster’s left antler.
So, this buck would be non-typical.
Wyoming’s standing record for a non-typical mule deer is 285 4/8 inches, taken by Catherine Keene in Fremont County in 2004.
A deer called the Hoback Buck holds the typical record at an even 217 inches.
“This buck prowled the Hoback Canyon area south of Jackson, Wyoming. In 1925, a hungry hunter killed the buck for meat and left the head behind,” according to B&C.
The typical mule deer world record is 226 4/8 inches, killed in 1972 by Doug Burris Jr. in the San Juan National Forest in Colorado.
The non-typical world record buck measured 355 2/8 inches and was shot in 1926 by Ed Broder near Chip Lake in Alberta, Canada.
‘Rooting For The Buck’
Eastman and Key said they have no plans to join the hunt for the alleged all-time Wyoming monster buck.
In fact, many hunters are “rooting for the buck,” Eastman said.
“There’s hope that he’ll get bumped into some hidey hole where no one can find him,” he said.
On the other hand, it would be great if the buck was taken by a Wyoming resident on public land, Eastman added.
Key said he hopes that the buck survived and has found a perfect hiding spot.
He added that to his knowledge “at least 10 or 12 guys are hunting this buck,” and he has no desire to join the crowd.
Regardless of whether the monster buck turns out to be the real deal and sets a new state record, this should be a good season for trophy mule deer, said Eastman and Key.
While the low country might have been dry, there was steady rain throughout the summer in the high country in the Wyoming Range mountains, so deer had access to plenty of rich forage, Key said.
Eastman said that, likewise, he’s seen plenty of excellent forage for deer in the high country.
Many deer stayed up in the high country this summer, gorging themselves on brush and forbs packed with protein and other nutrients necessary for antler growth, he said.
“I’ve seen photos and videos of at least four bucks this year that will easily go over 200,” he said. “This is going to be a good season for the record books.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
