The author takes an in-depth look at trophy whitetail hunting across North America -- where it's been and where it's going.
By Les Davenport
Every hunter's dream is to shoot a buck like this -- a buck that might qualify for the B&C record book. But what are the chances of actually making it happen? In today's whitetail world, they may be better than you think!
Trophy whitetail hunters and lottery players are eternal optimists. Although the odds are overwhelmingly against them, they habitually buy tags and tickets in hopes of hitting it big. The ultimate coup for a trophy whitetail hunter is, of course, to harvest a buck recognized by Boone and Crockett or Pope & Young. The average number of yearly B&C whitetail entries recognized over the past 10 years is about 382. This means that your odds of being one of the hunters who harvest a B&C whitetail during any given year are about one in 78,500.
According to the Pope & Young Club's sixth-edition record book, published in 2005, the average number of entries over the last 10-year period is 2,052 per year. For the archery hunter, this makes the odds of shooting a record-book whitetail about one in 14,600 per year.
Why do we ignore the odds and go hunting regardless? The answer is simple. We sportsmen love nature and the outdoors, and ultimately we love the challenge of hunting mature whitetails. Increasing the odds of harvesting a record-book deer means supporting state and private deer management programs. Better trophy hunting is one of many benefits of quality deer management. Its main goals, however, are to encourage health in whitetails, promote good buck:doe ratios, and sustain equitable populations and age structures within regional herds.
LOOKING BACK
The popularity of deer hunting, and especially trophy whitetail hunting, has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few decades. During the 135-year period from 1830 to 1965, only 1,062 whitetails were entered in B&C. Ohio's Hole in the Horn buck, found dead in 1940, still ranks as the No. 2 non-typical today, with a score of 328 2/8 inches. It took almost 80 years for James Jordan's 206 1/8-inch Wisconsin world-record typical from 1914 to be bested by Milo Hanson's 213 5/8-inch Saskatchewan monster in 1993. And Mel Johnson's 204 4/8-inch Illinois archery buck from 1965 has remained No. 1 in Pope & Young for over 40 years. In February 2006, while being honored at an Illinois Bowhunter's Society banquet during the Illinois Deer and Turkey Classic held in Bloomington, Mel commented that he couldn't believe his "Illinois bean-field buck" has stood the test of time for so long.
From 1966 to 1975, only 615 whitetails were entered in B&C. The top typical during that period was taken by Larry Gibson in Missouri in 1971. Larry's 205-incher still ranks No. 3 today. On the non-typical side, Larry Raveling's 282-inch giant from Iowa, killed in '73, took top honors during that 10-year period.
From 1976 to 1985 the 10-year tally jumped to 872 entries. Peter Swistun's 200 2/8-inch typical from Saskatchewan, taken in 1983, topped that decade. The non-typical brute found dead in 1981 in St. Louis County, Missouri, scoring 333 7/8 inches still holds the No. 1 spot in B&C.
North American Whitetall North American Whitetail is designed for the serious trophy hunter. It provides authoritative coverage of world-class whitetails, the latest approaches to deer management and advanced hunting techniques.
