I just received a chain-link email of this monster with the subject screaming, “May Be New #1 Whitetail.” The giant was supposedly shot last season, but nobody in the chain—which included a guy doing great work over in Basrah, Iraq–knew when or where, or who the hunter was.
The hunter’s old camo looked fishy, so I did some digging. I found some answers on the Boone and Crockett website.
B&C had gotten a flood of recent emails on the bruiser, too. They went back through their archives and found that they had posted the buck on their site in December 2003.
Lance W. Jacob killed it on November 7, 2000, in Coffey Co. Kansas. The giant officially scores 201-1/8 as a non-typical. It also scores 178-1/8 points as a typical–the rack looks a lot bigger!
B&C says the Jacob buck was at least the tenth “new record” they heard about from the 2005-06 hunting season.
Ah, the Internet, people seeing and/or shooting world-class monsters everywhere!
Outdoor Life gets its buck tales, too. My editor at the magazine, Doug Howlett, sent me this email the other day from his office on Park Avenue:
There was a great rumor flying around in Virginia before the 2005 season. People in Surry Co. (near where Howlett was raised and still hunts when he can blow out of New York City) had been seeing a 300-plus buck. A local game warden was watching the monster. It lived on posted land where no hunting is allowed; authorities feared somebody would poach it.
Supposedly some guy with a camera phone took a photo of the freak, but it was too fuzzy to make out any details.
The buck sightings dried up once the Va. season opened in October.
Hmm, a 300-inch buck…that’s a good elk!
UPDATE Monday Feb. 20, 4:45 PM
Just got another email. Two guys who supposedly know a big whitetail when they see one tell of a giant rack in a taxidermist’s shop up in Saskatchewan–a typical that might push 220 inches, or 6 more than the current record Hanson buck. Anybody heard of this one?
Everybody loves a juicy rumor. If you hear one send me a comment or an email.