Hunter: Bill Crutchfield Jr.

MegaBuck: 28 Points, 2681⁄8 Non-Typical Whitetail

Place: Charles County, Maryland

Year: 2006

Equipment: 12-Gauge Shotgun

Rank: No. 1 State Non-Typical, No. 22 B&C All-Time Non-Typical

“I had seen the buck the season before, and had watched him bedded down in a marsh out of range. The next year, after I moved my stand closer to the marsh, I saw him again. He stayed bedded for about an hour and a quarter. He stood up when another good buck that would have been a shooter on any other day came through. He was about 100 yards away. I shot and he ran, but he didn’t go far.

“When things settled down some and I chilled out, somebody asked me what I was going to do next. I thought about it, and decided I was going to use the buck somehow to do something for kids—just like that. I started looking at websites and talking to people, and came across Dave Norval of Savannah, Tennessee, who partnered with Dr. John Waples to start a group called Kids Hunting for a Cure (kidshuntingforacure.org). 

The organization’s main purpose is to raise money to fund research in the development of cures or treatments for children with grave illnesses. One thing led to another and I found myself on the board of directors. Now I’m the executive director.

“Later on, I met Tony Semple, who played ball with the Detroit Lions. He started a charity called The Tony Semple Foundation for Hope (tonysemplefoundation.org). His group is dedicated to making sure that kids with life-threatening illnesses have the chance to experience the outdoors, whether it’s hunting, fishing or whatever. So we do projects together. It’s a great thing when you take a hundred kids hunting and let them experience the things that you might take for granted.”

*Notable Fact: Crutchfield’s buck beat the previous state record, set in 1987, by almost 40 inches.