8 World Class Bucks You May Have Never Heard of Before

These monster bucks are lesser known in the record books.

Milo Hanson, James Jordan, Mel Johnson, Tony Lovstuen. Say any of these names to a big buck enthusiast, and they’ll likely know exactly who you’re talking about and the deer these hunters shot.

Many hunters who kill a world class buck end up being household names in the hunting world. But for today’s #WhitetailWednesday, we’re going to look eight bucks that are high on the Boone and Crockett’s all-time lists, but for some reason just aren’t as well known to many outside of the areas they were shot.

The Tim Beck Buck

This monster Indiana buck generated some headlines right after it was shot in 2012 and its score entered into Boone and Crockett in 2013. But for whatever reason, the hunter, Tim Beck, didn’t exactly become a household hunting name overnight the way Stephen Tucker did in 2016 or Tony Lovstuen did in 2003. This in spite of the fact Beck’s deer is only seven inches smaller than the Tucker buck and two inches smaller than the Lovstuen buck.

Beck’s buck scores a whopping 305 7/8 and has some gargantuan measurements such as 30-inch beams, a 23-inch inside spread and towering 16-inch tines. It truly is a whitetail that has it all.

This 37-pointer sits quietly in the top 5 for hunter-killed whitetails. It’s in rare company as one of only a handful of wild deer ever to score over the magical 300-inch mark. So why isn’t it more well-known? We have no idea, but it should be more famous than it is.

The Hubert Collins Buck

This buck would probably be a lot more well-known had it not fallen just 1 1/8 of an inch short of tying Mel Johnson’s 1965 bow hunting record for a typical whitetail.

Pictures did spread far and wide of this deer shortly after it was shot in Saskatchewan in 2003, but it seems to have become lesser known since then simply because it isn’t in the top spot for a bow-killed whitetail. And really, that’s a shame because this buck’s beautiful chocolate-colored rack is as close to perfection as you’ll likely get for a clean 12-point whitetail.

Collins’ buck scored a whopping 203 3/8 inches, making it one of those very rare typicals to crack to the 200-inch mark.

The James Cartwright Buck

Washington is not really a state known for trophy whitetails. Yet in 1992, James Cartwright shot a monster 200 3/8 inch typical whitetail there. But outside of the area it was shot in Washington, very few hunters knew this beast existed.

The main reason is probably because this buck didn’t enter Boone and Crockett’s record books until 2003. One of the reasons for that was because the buck broke off one of his beams after going down when Cartwright shot him. For years the buck wasn’t even eligible to be measured under B&C’s strict rules against damaged antlers.

Boone and Crockett eventually changed their rules however and the buck was finally measured and entered into the record books as the largest typical ever taken in Washington and one of the largest ever.

It’s probably safe to say the deer’s broken beam is what kept this deer out of the record books and in relative obscurity for so many years.

The Alexander McDonald Buck

The largest non-typical ever harvested in Nova Scotia tapes out at 273 6/8 inches and is in the top 25 for biggest hunter-killed whitetails ever. With its impressive double brow tines and mass that carries all the way out to the tips of the tines, we can only speculate as to why the buck isn’t more well-known.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact it was taken all the way back in 1960.

The Scott Dexter Buck

Scott Decker’s 2004 Illinois whitetail is in a tie for sixth place all-time for non-typical whitetails. That list includes both hunter-killed and bucks found dead! Pretty impressive. But for some reason you’re more likely to see photos of and hear about the Tony Fulton buck one spot above it or the Mike Beatty buck one spot below.

So why don’t we hear more about this 295 3/8 inch beast? We have no idea, but this buck certainly has some impressive mass doesn’t it?

The Larry Gibson Buck

Larry Gibson’s 1971 Missouri monster still sits in third place all-time for typical whitetails. But for some reason, outside of Missouri, it just isn’t nearly as popular as the James Jordan buck above it and the Mel Johnson buck below it.

We’re not quite sure why that is, but it is a shame. At 205 inches even, this deer is in a very rare class of whitetails. Gibson shot the trophy whitetail at only 10 yards. How he kept his composure for the shot at a buck this big at that close a distance is anyone’s guess. We’d be shaking right out of our blinds or treestand!

The Stephen Jansen Buck

This is another story of a buck that went years before it was finally scored. Steven Jansen shot this monster in Alberta in 1967 and it currently stands in the top 10 typicals of all time.

But the story goes that Jansen didn’t even like this buck because he felt the antlers were unbalanced! In fact, he kept the buck in a shop for years where the antlers were used to hold belts! Years later, Jansen’s nephew got curious and decided to have the antlers scored.

It’s a good thing he did. The antlers scored 204 2/8 inches making it one of the largest hunter-killed whitetails of all-time. This buck was only 2/8 of an inch smaller than the Mel Johnson buck, yet it remains a lesser-known brute of the whitetail world just the same.

The Bruce Ewen Buck

Another Canadian buck that is world-class, but just doesn’t get the attention it probably deserves. Bruce Ewen shot this 202 6/8 inch monster with a rifle in Saskatchewan in 1992.

This buck comfortably sits in the top 10 for typical whitetails.

The post 8 World Class Bucks You May Have Never Heard of Before appeared first on Wide Open Spaces.

The article was originally seen at http://www.wideopenspaces.com/whitetailwednesday-8-world-class-bucks-you-may-have-never-heard-of-before/

Originally posted 2018-06-08 13:29:45.