January 5, 2018 - The 2017-18 deer season rolls to a close on Jan. 7 in most of Texas. Like every deer season, this one has been pretty uneventful for most East Texas hunters where lifetime bucks are concerned. But it turned out to be a really memorable one for a handful of others.
I've tracked down stories behind nearly a dozen whopper bucks this season. One factor that seems to stand out is that age is no barrier when it comes to killing a giant. Three of the best bucks killed in the Pineywoods, Post Oak and Coastal Prairies this year were taken by youth hunters. The average age between them is 10.
The biggest of the bucks was taken by the youngest hunter in the group, nine-year-old McKenzie Tiemann of Brenham. Tiemann's buck is a 24-point bruiser killed on open range in Washington County.
A Genetic Freak
The Tiemann buck is one of those genetic freaks with DNA that caused its antlers to do the kind of stuff that will cause just about any whitetail junkie to sit back and scratch their head. It's got Coke bottle bases, exceptional mass and points going every which way.
Amazingly, the rack lost very little on it original net score, which takes into account symmetry - or a lack thereof - between the left and right antlers.
The buck registered a green Boone and Crockett non-typical gross score of 208 1/8 and a net score of 198 3/8 when it was taped by Texas Big Game Awards scorer Jeff Shows of Dime Box. Tiemann's father, Wade, said the buck will be re-scored after 60 days drying by Greg Pleasant, an official Boone and Crockett Club scorer from Giddings.
Scores on bucks like this one can change significantly from one scorer to the next, because there are so many judgement calls involved. What one scorer sees in the antlers the next may not, or vice versa.
One of the more prominent examples of a buck undergoing a major scoring adjustment involved the 44 point Robert Taylor buck taken in Grayson County in 2012.
Taylor's buck was originally scored for TBGA at 254 4/8. In 2015, a group of panel judges at the Pope and Young annual convention docked the score on the deer nearly 35 inches to 219 6/8. What the original scorers saw in the rack the panel judges didn't.
Scoring non-typical bucks can be difficult like that, especially those that sprout a bunch of points and other abnormal growth.
There is plenty on the line depending on how Pleasant interprets all the goodies on the Tiemann buck. Should the score go up a few inches, it could challenge the current open range youth non-typical state record taken in 2012 by Makayla Hay of New Waverly.
The Hay buck grosses 213 7/8 and 203 1/8 net. It is the highest scoring buck taken in Madison County in 50 years.
Should Tiemann's score drop it could cost her a spot in the all-time B&C record book. The minimum net score required for non-typicals is 195.
Regardless of what happens with the final tally, the Krause Elementary third grader has still got herself one heck of a whitetail buck. It's the second largest non-typical ever reported in Washington County. The biggest is a 29 pointer killed by Thomas Holle in 1987. That buck nets 213 5/8.
What makes the Tiemann buck even more special is the fact it was shot off the 120-acre family farm. The youth hunter and her dad had been watching the deer for the better part of two weeks. Interestingly, however, there weren't any trail cameras involved in the deal.
According to Wade Tiemann, the buck had been coming to a corn feeder just about every day leading up to the Oct. 28 opener of the two-day Youth Only season. The feeder is situated within rifle shot of their cattle barn, where McKenzie tends her 4-H show cattle.
"I saw him twice last year, once after the season was over so I knew he made it through without getting killed," said Tiemann. "He was showing up at the feeder like clockwork every day for two weeks before McKenzie killed him. We watched him for about an hour two days before the season opened. That's when McKenzie and I had our little talk about what was going to happen if the Good Lord blessed her with the chance to take him."
Well aware they were onto the deer of a lifetime - one that was simple to identify - Tiemann said he explained to his daughter that they weren't going to take any chances evaluating the buck's antlers through binoculars or a rifle scope if he happened to show up.
"We already knew he was big, so there was no since in looking him over and increasing the risk of getting nervous, " he said. "I told her that once he gave her a broadside shot that she could put the gun up and shoot. I made it clear we weren't going to wound this deer and she did a great job. That girl can definitely shoot. She's the only one in my family that I trusted to shoot this deer other than myself."
As earlier mentioned, Tiemann's buck is one of three man-size giants reported by kid hunters this year. The other two belong to 12-year-old Chloe Howard of Bullard and 11-year-old J.J. Idrogo of Tyler.
Howard's Nacogdoches County 21 pointer, also taken during the Youth Only weekend, grosses 171 3/8 as a non-typical. It was her first buck.
Idrogo's buck sports 17 points and ranks as the highest scoring non-typical ever reported from open range in Smith County. The buck registered a green gross score of 190 6/8 and 178 net. It's the biggest buck reported in Region 5 thus far this year.
Another Polk Co. Giant
Another outstanding East Texas buck that recently surfaced on the TBGA website was shot by John Peterson of Houston. The big 13 pointer grosses 183 1/8 and nets 178 1/8. It was taken from a 6,000-acre open range club in Polk County during the early managed lands deer season.
Peterson's buck is the larger of two whoppers reported from Polk County this season. The smaller buck, also a 13 pointer, was brought down on 77 acres by bowhunter Blake Laviolette of Onalaska. It grosses 179 and nets 172.
There is somewhat of a high-tech story behind Peterson's big whitetail.
The 36-year-old hunter and several others hunters on the club had recorded several pictures of the buck on game cameras last season. Peterson actually let the buck walk twice and his father passed on him once.
"He was really nice last year, probably somewhere the 160s," he said. "The second time I saw him I almost shot him out of instinct before I realized what I was looking at. We all agreed to give him another year and I'm glad we did. We feed a lot of protein on our club and it really makes a difference."
Shift to Oct. 13 of the 2017 MLD season. Peterson was sitting in his office at work, not in a deer blind.
He decided to check the images on one of his game cameras using his Smartphone. The cellular camera, secured to a tree in the woods roughly 90 miles away, remotely sent several images to Peterson's cell phone.
Peterson saw antlers in one of the images, but could make out much detail. Thinking it might be the big buck, he put in for some last second vacation time and drove to the lease, where he and his dad corned a couple of road crossings near their blinds.
Peterson hunted the deer that weekend with no luck. He backed off and didn't go back until the the following Tuesday afternoon.
"I walked in from a long way to keep things quiet," he said. "He stepped out about 5:30 and that's when I took him. He's a pretty special buck. A lot of the other members on the lease knew about him. Everybody was after him."
Best of the Rest
TBGA scorers have already taped several more top shelf East Texas bucks scoring upwards of 160 inches this season, and chances are the list will continue to grow right up until the deadline for entry, March 1, 2018. Here's a rundown on a few more outstanding bucks that have been reported from free range thus far:
* Joe Parker, Harrison Co., 15 pointer, 175 7/8 gross, 168 1/8 net
* Andrew Middlebrook, Nacogdoches Co., 11 pointer, 165 2/8 gross; 155 1/8 net
* Bryan Decker, Rusk Co., 10 pointer, 163
* Cody Brister, Trinity Co., Davy Crockett NF, 11 pointer, 164 3/8 gross
* Kevin Ellis, Leon Co. 12 pointer, 165
* Rodger Beavers, Hunt Co. 18 pointer, 173 4/8
* J.J. Idrogo, Smith Co., 17 pointer, 190 6/8
* Blake Laviolette, Polk Co., 13 pointer, 179 gross, 172 net
* Travis Neal, Sabine Co., 9 pointer, 162 4/8
* Bradley Henson, Angelina Co., 11 pointer, 169 1/8 gross, 165 6/8.
* Billy Fondren, Cherokee Co., 13 pointer, 171 7/8 gross.
Matt Williams is freelance writer based in Nacogdoches, Tx. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.
