John learned from the official scorer, Craig Cousins, that a recent Boone and Crockett Club rule change now allowed a broken antler to be scored and entered in the record book, if it could be proved that the two pieces belonged to each other. Rulings are made on a case-by-case basis. Detailed photos must be taken of the two pieces both together and apart, and then submitted to the Boone and Crockett Club for approval. John followed this procedure. And just as this story was going to press, John was notified by the Boone and Crockett Club that the broken piece of main beam had been accepted for entry into the record book! This raised the final net score of his awesome trophy to 214 2/8 non-typical points.
The color of the broken piece of antler is a little lighter than the rest of the rack, but that’s to be expected since it had been exposed to the sun and elements for at least four months.
The property where Brian Zastrow found the broken main beam was adjacent to the property where the sheds were found. Again, that is 3 1/2 miles (in a straight line) from where John Filla shot his record buck.
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
Shooting a 200-plus-inch whitetail buck is an incredible accomplishment. And the fact that John’s buck didn’t break part of his rack when he jumped off the cliff and hit his head on the asphalt is quite amazing. Moreover, a whitetail with an inside spread of almost 30 inches is absolutely phenomenal! On top of that, what are the odds of someone finding the piece of broken main beam more than 3 miles from where the buck was killed, and then connecting it to a buck that had been killed the previous season by a total stranger? Truly, John’s larger-than-life story has more twists and turns to it than a NASCAR road course. Only in Wisconsin!
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