With five years’ worth of history with the deer, tagging this incredible non-typical meant a lot to Chris. Photo courtesy of Chris Alberini
June 12, 2023
By Clifford Neames
Chris Alberini had been after a world-class whitetail just miles from Boston, Massachusetts, for over five years. “He roamed around a lot, making it hard to pattern where he might be next,” Chris explains. “And I was not the only one after him.”
Due to local ordinances, Chris couldn’t hunt the New England giant just anywhere. “You have to bowhunt and watch where you go,” Chris says. “So, I was not just trying to pattern the deer, but also had to stay within the law.”
With an estimated age of 9 1/2 years old and scoring 195 7/8 inches, Chris’s buck is a Massachusetts monarch. Photo courtesy of Chris Alberini Eventually, Chris found a bedding area between two swamps that the giant deer was using. “He showed up there two years in a row, staying for just a few days and then leaving,” Chris remembers. “When he showed up again, I knew it was time to go after him in there.”
On Nov. 17, Chris moved into the thicket and hung his saddle in a tree to watch all day. There was plenty of rut activity, but the big buck never came in. With so much happening that evening, he decided to take the next day off from work and hunt from dawn until dusk.
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The action began before daylight; there were deer running everywhere. His target buck had a doe locked down, and throughout the day other bucks kept trying to get to her. “He would run them out and another one would show up. I saw him four times that day,” Chris says. “And then, when I finally got a shot, I missed!”
After getting out of his tree stand to relieve himself, Chris arrowed this buck while his pants were down. Photo courtesy of Chris Alberini That miss really got under his skin, but his wife and friends convinced him to stay after the deer. On Nov. 21 the wind was right again, so Chris slipped back into the area. At 8:30 a.m., a mature 8-point showed up and presented an opportunity, but Chris let him walk.
Two hours later, he needed to make a nature call.
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There was no putting it off, so he made his way down the tree. He took off his outer hunting clothes and piled them up at the base. And he carried his bow with him as he eased a few yards away. Just in case!
“I was just getting to it when I heard a noise,” Chris explains. “And there he was pushing does right to my setup!” The does froze when they saw his gear, and the big buck stiffened up and headed right to where Chris was squatted. There was nothing he could do but grab his bow and get ready to take the shot.
“At 25 yards, I let the arrow fly and watched it disappear into his chest,” Chris recalls. “He bounded once and looked right at me. Then he ran a few yards and tipped over.”
With his pants around his ankles, Chris shot the non-typical at 25 yards. Photo courtesy of Chris Alberini The giant buck field-dressed almost 200 pounds and is estimated to be at least 9 1/2 years old. The dark rack, with long thick beams and a great split drop tine, has an incredible 47 5/8 inches of mass and green scores 195 7/8.
“And this happened while I was standing there with my pants around my ankles,” Chris laughs.
