The Oklahoma 17-pointer is indeed a giant—the biggest David has ever seen. (Photo courtesy of David VanOrsdol)
April 03, 2022
By Tony Kalna Jr.
Breaking News Buck David VanOrsdol of Creek County, Oklahoma, obtained permission to hunt deer on a 90-acre tract of private property near his home last year. He set out some trail cameras to scout with and got a picture of a big 13-pointer. He nicknamed the big buck “Flossy” after his favorite cousin whose nickname is also Flossy.
David grew up deer hunting with his father, Mike VanOrsdol, who taught him how to hunt deer at an early age. Mike even hosted a deer hunting contest at his home each season. Unfortunately, poor health has kept Mike out of the deer woods in recent years.
“I showed Dad the trail cam pics of the big buck before he died,” David says. “Even though he couldn't deer hunt anymore, those pictures got him excited.”
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Hunting "Flossy" It is this rich family tradition of hunting whitetails that kept David focused on killing Flossy during the 2021 Oklahoma archery deer season.
David saw two bucks the first two days he hunted: a heavy 8-point and a big 7-point. He passed on both bucks in hopes of shooting Flossy who was now a 17-point.
“I got off work early on Oct. 20, and I wanted to get to my stand because I had Flossy on camera 48 hours earlier,” David says. “I thought this might be my best chance to kill him.
This match set belonged to Flossy when he was a 13-point. (Photo courtesy of David VanOrsdol) At 4:00 p.m., the hunter climbed into his stand to wait Flossy out. The deer were moving that evening, and it wasn’t long until he spotted a heavy-antlered buck with a doe 400 yards away in the hay field. As the deer got closer, David knew it was Flossy; but the buck got behind some brush and disappeared.
Suddenly, the giant whitetail popped out from behind some brush just 20 yards away.
David promptly sent a bolt from his Excalibur crossbow into the buck. The deer took off before the hunter grunted the buck to a stop.
“I watched him stand there for what seemed like 30 minutes and then it got dark,” David remembers. “I finally climbed down and went back to the car to go home, get a good flashlight and some help to find the buck.”
Tracking "Flossy" Once back at the farm 2 1/2 hours later, with four tracking buddies, David only found one drop of blood in the field. However, it gave the crew an idea of which way the buck was going. They later found Flossy 400 yards from where David shot him.
“It was a lot bigger than I thought it was,” says David. “The Lord surely blessed me.”
The Oklahoma 17-pointer is indeed a giant—the biggest David has ever seen. His cousin unofficially green-scored the buck at 180 4/8 inches net.
David’s wife holding Flossy’s antlers. David shot Flossy in late October after the buck showed back up on his trail cameras. (Photos courtesy of David VanOrsdol)
