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What could have been: Potential Oklahoma state record buck fell prey to barbed wire fenceBy Kelly Bostian
Tulsa World
Dec 4, 2017
Josh Hughes and Drake Fletcher put their hands on what could have been the new Oklahoma state record white-tailed buck Monday afternoon—and then they handed it over to the state.
When certified Boone & Crockett scorer George Moore read off the final total score after measuring the record-book buck outside the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation office at Jenks, the men high-fived at what they had recovered in LeFlore County and then slapped their foreheads and groaned at what could have been.
“At least it was recovered and didn’t go to waste,” Hughes said. “This way people at least will get to see it.”
The nontypical antlers on the buck sported 21 points on the right side and 26 points on the left, with an inside spread of only 20 2/8ths inches. Moore put the total gross green score at 269 3/8ths inches and tallied a net score of 259 6/8ths.
That’s more than 10 inches larger than the current Oklahoma overall record buck listed in the state’s Cy Curtis records program, a 248 6/8ths inches buck shot by Michael Crossland in Tillman County in 2004.
Moore emphasized that this was a rough green score and that an official final score will be done after the rack dries for 60 days. But he also said that even with tough measuring conditions, with the dried velvet in the way in places, he doubts that the final score will vary by more than an inch.
“It will be a record-book buck,” he said. “Boone & Crockett has a category for found deer, so these guys can be listed as the finders.”
The buck, one Hughes believes he watched on his trail cameras the past five deer seasons, was found in grisly condition, caught in a barbed wire fence on his neighbor’s place, and not 50 yards away from his hunting property.
His neighbor told him a buck with big antlers had formed a habit of stealing feed pellets from his cattle over the summer and that his dogs would regularly chase it away from the cattle.
Hughes guessed that the dogs chased the buck toward a creek crossing that, during low water, is elevated but has tires hanging below it from ropes to deter cattle that might think about walking up the creek.
“I think he jumped over those tires and got his antlers caught in the fence up above,” Hughes said.
The neighbor has no interest in deer and knew of the dead buck hanging in the fence for months but paid no attention to it. He mentioned it to Hughes in casual conversation.
Hughes showed the neighbor a large 10-point buck and asked if it was big like that one.
“He said, ‘No, it’s bigger than that,’” Hughes said. “I thought, ‘Uh-oh.’”
As soon as the men saw the buck in the fence, they knew it was the monster buck he’d watched for years. Hughes flipped through photos on his phone and compared the antler formations of a buck in photographs to the features of the large buck’s antlers.
“People will say it’s not him, but I know it is, especially now I’ve got to put my hands on it. Anyone else around there that’s been watching this deer will know it’s him,” he said.
The creek water was up when they saw what now was just a husk of the front half of the animal hanging just over the surface of the water, mostly dried and rotted away. Fletcher climbed out on the tires and went to work dislodging the smelly remains from the fence.
“If he hadn’t told us about it, it probably would have just hung there and eventually rotted away. No one would have ever known about it,” Fletcher said. “At least people will get to see it this way.”
Hughes, who lives south of Bixby, called a state game warden to report the deer. The warden investigated, and the deer was turned over to Carlos Gomez, one of the wardens for Tulsa County. Gomez brought the deer to the Wildlife Department office in Jenks on Monday to meet with Hughes, Fletcher and Moore for the official scoring.
“It’s a Catch 22,” Gomez said of the practice of the state's taking possession of found deer, especially remarkable deer.
First and foremost, he explained, wildlife is the property of the people of the state of Oklahoma. The Catch 22 comes into play where confiscating big antlers could encourage people not to report it when they find remarkable bucks, even though it's illegal to possess deer parts without a license or tag. But allowing people to take the antlers without some extenuating circumstance — such as being the landowner or having had vehicle damage — might encourage people to shoot deer illegally and later claim “they found it.”
This buck is the second huge buck the state has claimed this year. A motorist hit a buck with antlers that measured 234 inches near Edmond earlier this fall.
“We just can’t open the door for everybody, anybody that has a questionable deer head, certainly one of this magnitude, to just say, “OK, now it’s yours,” Gomez said.
The state likely will look for a taxidermist to mount the antlers with the cape of another buck, and it will be placed in a traveling display used at department events.
“We want sportsmen across the state to see that this state can produce some big deer,” Gomez said.
