IL-Cornfed,
Is this the deer? It was pretty widely publicized.
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Record Illinois deer measures No. 2 in world: Handicapped hunter uses crossbow to get mark in Fulton Co.
By MARK TUPPER -- H&R Executive Sports Editor
It's nothing new for Tim Walmsley to get a telephone call about a big deer.So when a Peoria-area taxidermist called to say he had a new state record buck, Walmsley rolled his eyes.
"I thought, 'Yeah, sure,' " recalled Walmsley, the former Decatur man and outspoken advocate for Illinois' whitetail deer hunters. "Then when I saw it; I nearly fell over."
Walmsley was stunned recently to measure a deer that will blow away the previous record score for an Illinois buck. And, Walmsley said, this deer,which was taken last November in Fulton County, is the second largest in the world ever taken by a hunter.
The deer -- which has antlers that include 36 measurable points -- was a non-typical rack preliminarily scored by Walmsley to measure 291 1/8 inches. The deer was taken by an unnamed handicapped hunter using a crossbow.
That will disqualify the deer for recognition by Pope & Young, a Minnesota-based group that measures animals taken with a bow and arrow, but it is eligible for Boone & Crockett Club recognition.
Walmsley is an official measurer for both groups.
"This deer ranks No. 4 in the world and No. 2 in the world by a hunter,"Walmsley said. "No. 1 by a hunter was a deer taken in Mississippi that measured 295. The top two deer ever measured were not killed by hunters but were both found dead."
This deer will obliterate the previous state record of 267 3/8 taken by Richard Pauli in November of 1983 in Peoria County. That deer was taken with a firearm.
"This deer will have to be verified by the Boone & Crockett panel which meets in the summer of 2004 in Kansas City," Walmsley said. "Most of the country doesn't even know about it yet. The hunter probably didn't know what he had, but he's finding out fast. He's already had to change his phone number."
Walmsley couldn't say what the record deer might be worth, but the hunter will be selling the story of his hunt and photos of the deer to the highest bidder. And that says nothing of what can be made by displaying the deer in public.
Walmsley said he spent six hours with the mounted deer.
"It took me three hours to score it and three hours to do the paper work and to decide to let him leave with it," he said. "That's probably the biggest deer I'll get to see in my life."
News of the record deer reached John Buhnerkempe, newly named Chief of the Division of Wildlife Program Development for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
"I'm sure I'll get some feedback on that one," he said. "A deer that big talks about the overall quality of our program, and we've already received a lot of national acclaim.
"But there are mixed blessings that come with that," said Buhnerkempe, a Teutopolis native. "It attracts non-residents to the state, which creates concerns about competition with residents and concerns about commercializing wildlife in our state.
"Success often has its difficult part to it."
Mark Tupper can be reached at 421-7983.
