[Linked Image] I'm not a huge collector, but I have the number 4 (of 25) artist proof (remarqued) of this.

It's a painting of the earliest documented whitetail kill in the Boone & Crockett record book, taken by Arthur Young (17 years old) in 1830 in McKean County, PA. It's not only the earliest documented whitetail kill; it's the earliest record of ANY trophy animal in ANY record book anywhere in the world. The buck is a clean 6 x 6 and scored 175 4/8. Though records weren't officially kept until well after the Boone & Crockett Club was formed, this could be called (retrospectively) the first world record whitetail for 40 years. It wasn't until 1870 that a bigger one was killed.

The painting appeared on the cover of the Pennsylvania Game News in December, 2013. It's a fascinating story of the most historic buck of all time, and I happened to write it. A shorter version of the story also appeared in Deer & Deer Hunting magazine this spring.

One interesting aspect of the story is that not only do the antlers still exist, but so does the rifle Arthur shot it with, and the powderhorn he carried on the hunt.

For you whitetail enthusiasts, prints are available at Ernest Durphy.com.

Steve.

"I was a deerhunter long before I was a man." ~Gene Wensel's Come November (2000)
"A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user." ~Theodore Roosevelt