World's New No. 3 Typical Revealed After 32 Years

Back on Nov. 28, 1991, Sam Aiuppa entered the woods in La Salle County, Illinois. He was hunting game birds, a pastime which he dearly loved, but little did he know he would end up changing the whitetail deer world forever that day.

It started out as a typical day for Sam, who was in his early 50s at the time, as he packed up and headed out the door with his Remington 870 shotgun. Sam dedicated a lot of his outdoor time to hunting birds. It was one of his favorite things to do, and he started at the very young age of 10 years old. By the time he was 16, Sam started shooting trap and skeet.

Sam’s whole family enjoyed bird hunting. They would even travel to South Dakota to hunt game birds. But it wasn’t only game birds that captured the Aiuppa family interest! They also did a little deer hunting, mainly because South Dakota had a law that only allowed bird hunting after 10:00 a.m. So, the family would use the early morning to fill a deer tag and have some food for the table. Regardless, bird hunting was the true outdoor hobby for the family and a great bonding time.

Bird Hunter Finds Whitetail Glory

On Nov. 28, 1991, in Sam’s home state of Illinois, it was a cool cloudy day with temperatures hovering in the upper 30s. When Sam reached the woods to hunt birds, he could not help but notice the incredible amount of deer sign. For some reason, the remnants of deer activity caught his eye in a different way that day. Multiple rubs on trees stuck out like a sore thumb. In fact, the sign was so enticing that Sam decided he was going to hunt deer after the bird hunt.

Once his successful upland outing had concluded, Sam put away his dogs and returned to the woods around 3:30 in the afternoon. Armed with a deer stand, Sam quickly found a tree and made his perch. The hunter was on the lookout for whatever buck might’ve made all the rubs.

After a short while in stand, the sun slowly began to sink over the horizon. That’s when Sam noticed a buck coming down the trail. It stopped, looked around and then walked closer to Sam’s stand. As it drew nearer, the deer paused multiple times to survey its surroundings. Once the deer was in range, Sam grabbed his Remington 870, which now was loaded with slugs, raised it and took one shot. The buck jumped up, then took off and went over the hill!

Sam remained in his stand roughly 20 minutes before deciding to go look for blood. Immediately upon inspection, Sam found blood and decided to walk over to where he last saw the buck go over the hill. Incredibly, the buck was dead just over the rise! Sam contacted a friend, and together they took the deer to the processing plant.

Sam had no idea just what he had killed. Sure, the hunter knew the buck he’d taken had a nice rack. Amazingly though, Sam didn’t realize the antlers he was gazing at were those of the WORLD RECORD typical at that time.

Hidden in Plain Sight

After the deer was processed, Sam decided to have the antlers put on a wooden plaque. That plaque, and those antlers, hung in Sam’s basement unrecognized for over 30 years. Other than Sam, and perhaps his friends or family, no one knew this giant whitetail had been taken — or, obviously, just how significant it is to whitetail history.

Time flew by as the years rolled on from 1991 to 2023. Then, 32 years later, one of Sam’s friends who does electrical work stopped by to do some work. The electrician, Don, found himself in the basement of Sam’s home preparing to work when he looked at this deer hanging on the wall. Immediately, Don realized Sam had killed something very special!

The rack Don saw hanging on the plaque was clearly way larger than any normal whitetail rack he’d seen before. In fact, Don had never seen a typical set of antlers larger than these. And he wasn’t a stranger to whitetail hunting, either. Amazed by the sheer size of the rack, Don pleaded with Sam to consider having the trophy officially scored and entered into a record book.

Sam was put in contact with a measurer for an initial scoring, and the numbers that materialized were of huge significance in the whitetail world! Soon, word spread across social media and eventually into the ears of Jamie Martin, antler collector and owner of Iconic Whitetails.

Jamie had a hunch this buck was something special, and he sensed it would be a once in a lifetime chance to reach out and visit with Sam. After a few phone calls with Sam, Jamie was able to confirm a date to meet up and view the antlers. To confirm the size of the rack, Jamie scored it himself per Boone & Crockett guidelines. And it didn’t take long to realize the numbers were very close, and this was a deer of great importance!

After their meeting, Jamie purchased the antlers from Sam, and they now rest in the Iconic Antler Collection. All that was left to do was to have the rack officially measured for entry into B&C’s record book.

Dave Boland was the B&C measurer who conducted the official scoring. Truly an icon of the whitetail world, and among the most respected and knowledgeable measurers alive today, Dave has scored over 10,000 racks . . . yes, 10,000. Dave has devoted his life to scoring antlers nationwide, so it was only fitting of Jamie to select him as the measurer who’d have the honor of entering the iconic Aiuppa buck into B&C.

In fact, the very reason this article is titled “When Legends Meet” is a testament not just to the legendary Sam Aiuppa antlers, but to legendary measurer Dave Boland. It was simply an epic moment to witness these antlers scored by the hands of this master of the measuring tape!

As for the Sam Aiuppa buck’s score and official measurements, let’s dig in! Each antler is over 100 inches typical, with the biggest typical side (right) being 103 1/8. The 6x5 frame has a gross typical score of 224 7/8. The deer has a total of 13 points, of which two are non-typical (both on the left antler). The rack has a total gross of 233 7/8, and after subtracting 17 inches of side-to-side deductions and 9 inches of abnormal points, the final net B&C score is a staggering 207 7/8 inches.

This score places the Sam Aiuppa buck as the new No. 3 all-time typical in the world — prior to final confirmation by a B&C panel measuring session. As if that statistic isn’t impressive enough, there’s even more to realize about just how big this fantasy whitetail really is. Perhaps most noteworthy is the fact Sam’s buck was actually a world record typical at the time it was taken, though it was never entered and thus never received any notoriety. Again, Sam’s trophy fell in November 1991, roughly two years prior to Milo Hanson’s famous 213 5/8 typical from 1993, taken near Biggar, Saskatchewan (and still the current B&C No. 1 typical).

Of note, to this day there has never been a 5x5 framed deer as big as Sam Aiuppa’s. In fact, this is the largest 5x5 net frame of all time. Take this into consideration: Milo Hanson’s current world record is a 6x6 with 12 typical points and a 27 2/8 inside spread and gross score of 220 3/8. Sam’s deer is an 11-point frame and grosses 224 7/8.

Here’s a stat that’s even wilder to consider. If Sam’s deer didn’t have the 9 inches of abnormal tines, including the 6 7/8-inch drop tine on the left side, this buck would be a world record typical netting over 216 inches as a 5x5. Whew, the numbers don’t lie!

The main beams of the final rack are even bigger than those of the shed antlers. The right and left sides measure 28 2/8 and 27 1/8, respectively. Perhaps the rack’s most unbelievable and iconic feature, the brow tines simply must be mentioned. Both of the G-1 tines measure over 13 inches in length, for a combined 26-inch contribution to the rack’s score. Finally, the tallest typical point (right side G-2) is 15 2/8 inches in length, and the biggest mass measurement is 5 6/8.

Epic Shed Antlers

In an interesting plot twist, this buck wasn’t entirely unknown to the public — thanks to a set of its shed antlers! Yes, though Sam Aiuppa’s harvest of the buck remained almost entirely unheard of, there is a set of shed antlers off this deer that had been found the year prior. Simply known as the “James Albring Sheds” — they are a monster set of Illinois antlers (which the buck grew during the 1990 season). This monstrous set of typical antlers scores 95 inches (right side) and 104 6/8 inches (left). The main beams measure 25 5/8 (R) and 26 7/8 (L).

Amazingly, there also is a single antler from the buck that was found prior to the Albring set of sheds. That antler, a typical right side, measures 98 inches. So, there’s an astonishing total of three sheds. No others to this date have been found, at least that we know of. But the current sheds have been recognized by the North American Shed Hunter’s Club record book as some of the largest typical whitetail deer shed antlers ever found. They are the Illinois state record typical sheds. Impressively, the left side of the Albring sheds, which measures 104 6/8, is the all-time No. 2 typical single side shed ever found.

In Conclusion

In March 2024, at the Iowa Deer Classic show in Des Moines, Jamie Martin displayed the Sam Aiuppa antlers to the public for the first time. It was there, at the North American Whitetail booth that the official score was unveiled, and word of this new No. 3 typical spread like wildfire. Surely, it’s only fitting the buck appear here, on the cover of NAW’s Breaking News Bucks special issue for the first time in print publication.

Sam Aiuppa made history on Nov. 28, 1991, though it took an amazing 32 years for the news of his trophy to spread. Truly, this amazing feat couldn’t have happened to a more humble individual. We offer our sincere congratulations to Sam, for taking this legendary whitetail!

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