October 13, 2017 - Edmond, Okla. is a far piece from eastern Texas, but the whopper buck story that played out there just prior to the Oct. 1 archery season opener in the Sooner state is sure to grab the attention of whitetail hunters across the region and beyond. My guess it will probably make some feel a little bit sick.
Sadly, there wasn't a broadhead, bullet or licensed hunter involved in the kill. This big boy met his maker as the result of a collision with a car, truck or SUV that occurred on dark Sunday night in late September, smack the middle of an upscale subdivision in the town of 100,000 north of Oklahoma City.
"Nobody knows for sure what happened, because the driver of the vehicle didn't stop and the collision wasn't reported," said George Moore, the Edmond resident who reported the road kill to local game wardens. "When something happens around here involving a big deer I'm usually one of the first to hear about it."
Moore is a former fish and game commissioner for the Edmond area, an avid bowhunter and an official measurer with the Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young clubs. His phone rang bright and early on the morning of Sept. 25, but there wasn't an excited deer hunter on the other end of the line.
"It was the animal control people - the dog pound," Moore recalled. "They told me they had a deer that had been hit and killed by a vehicle sometime the night before. They told me it was a big buck - one that I would definitely want to take a look at."
When Moore arrived what he saw was a monster of a buck with a truly spectacular rack, one that deer hunters everywhere dream about lining up their peep sights or rifle scopes.
"It was a friggin' giant," Moore said. "The animal control people said from what they could tell he made it about 60 yards away from the road before he died in somebody's driveway. It's a very upscale area of town with 5-10 acre lots and $1 million homes."
At that point Moore did what any responsible B&C measurer would do. He contacted a local game warden, pulled out a measuring cable and note pad and proceeded to measure the gargantuan rack for all it was worth.
And it would have been worth a lot to a hunter with a rifle or bow in his hands.
A main frame 10 pointer with 28 scorable points and main beams of 26 and 26 4/8 inches, the big non-typical rack ran up a gross "green" score of 236 3/8 inches. The buck was aged at 4 1/2 years old, Moore said.
Deer must be re-scored after 60 days drying in order to be eligible for entry to the B&C record book, and Moore has no doubt the Oklahoma County bruiser had the goods to make it had it been killed by a hunter. The minimum score required of non-typicals is 195 net.
"He's going to be right there at 236 once he's dry - he won't miss it far," Moore said.
Interestingly, this isn't the first B&C caliber buck to set up camp within the city limits of Edmond, whose city slogan is "A Great Place to Grow."
In 2010, Moore arrowed a 206 inch non-typical less than four miles from where the road kill took place. The area also produced a former state record typical in the 1990s.
"There are definitely some big deer around here," Moore said. "There was a kid who actually had this buck on game camera and he had permission to bow hunt for him. I'm sure he was sick about the whole deal when he found out, because archery season opened up the following weekend."
Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com.
