Local news reporting possible record buck
11-13-2007, 08:08 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast, Va
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RE: Local news reporting possible record buck
Monster Buck Creates Big Buzz [/align]
In two of the last three years, the 22-year-old from Percy, which is about 15 miles south of Sparta, had found the shed antlers from a massive whitetail buck on private property he hunts in Randolph County.
He had never actually seen the deer in person, except for one fleeting glimpse on videotape. It was a blurry image, caught last summer when the buck stepped into a bean field about 150 yards away from the camera.
"It wasn't a very good look," Eggers said, "but there was no mistaking it was huge -- very huge. I never expected to see it again."
The hunting stars aligned for Eggers last week. On Oct. 23, Eggers was about 25 minutes into his daily after-work bow hunt when two does came crashing through the brush.
In pursuit was a monster 11-point buck, the mythical Bigfoot of the timber. Somehow, Eggers calmed himself enough to bring down the behemoth. Only after he found the animal 200 yards from where he shot it did he begin to comprehend the scope of his kill.
The buck field dressed at a whopping 251 pounds, and Eggers estimated he weighed well over 300 pounds on the hoof. Of more significance was the massive rack, which may be the biggest taken with a bow in North America this year.
Last Thursday, an official measurer with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' Big Buck Recognition Program scored the antlers. It had a 211-inch gross, but there were major deductions for abnormalities on both sides of the rack.
After the deductions, the green score came up to 198 1/8 inches net. There is a 60-day mandatory drying period before the score is deemed official, so some shrinkage may occur on the rack.
"Even so, that's a substantial animal," said Tom Micetich, deer project manager for the IDNR. "I probably would have fallen out of the tree if that thing got anywhere within 40 yards."
Micetich said there's a good possibility Eggers' deer could be the biggest buck with a typical rack taken with a bow in the United States, Canada and Mexico this fall.
"It's awful early in the go to make comments like that," Micetich said. "However, I scored one from White County last year that pushed 200 and ended up being No. 1 or 2 in North America.
"I know this: There will be darn few typical deer that push 200 or even go over it like this one."
This we do know: Eggers' deer is not a world record. It's not even a state record. Mel Johnson, of Metamora, owns both distinctions. His 204 4/8 -inch world record bow kill was taken in Peoria County in 1965.
However, Eggers can take solace in the fact that his deer would be a record in 39 other states.
"They say it's almost like winning the lottery," Eggers said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime deer. All you can do is to try and do it again. The likelihood that it will ever happen again is probably none."
The hunt
Eggers is a 2003 graduate of Trico High School, where he was a starting forward on the varsity basketball team his senior year. He now works as an apprentice wireman for Burke Electric out of Murphysboro.
A hunter since he was 12, Eggers estimates he has killed about 30 deer with either a bow or a shotgun. Despite his experience, he felt like a rookie last week when he spotted the monster buck.
"I was nervous, I'm not going to lie to you," said Eggers.
Eggers entered the timber after work on a damp, overcast afternoon and climbed into his deer stand about 20 feet off the ground around 5 p.m. Twenty minutes passed before a small doe came running by his blind.
Ten minutes later, another doe came in "acting funny," Eggers said.
"I looked back behind her and seen his rack through the brush," Eggers said. "I knew immediately which deer it was because I have sheds from him in years past. I knew he was around the area, but I never thought I'd get a crack at him. The older they get, the smarter they get."
What brought the buck out of hiding is what gets many males in trouble -- the pursuit of a female.
"The hot doe was the only reason," Eggers said. "Otherwise, I don't see why he would have been out and about. It was about 5:20 p.m. with daylight. He wasn't dumb."
The doe led the buck to within 18 yards of Eggers, who didn't have a clear shooting lane. Eggers called the deer in closer with several grunts, the last of which produced his money shot.
"When I did that, he stopped and looked in my direction," Eggers said. "At that point, I let it fly. I was nervous, but I tried to stay focused on keeping everything right. I made sure my arrow was on the arrow rest. I made sure my clothes were tucked in so nothing was going to get caught in my bow string."
Eggers was using a 70-pound Hoyt compound bow with a Strictnine broadhead made by Rocket Arrowheads on an Easton Axis arrow. The shot caught the stomach as the deer was quartering away and came out behind the front shoulder.
The buck ran about 200 yards before coming to rest in some fallen brush. As he approached the animal, Eggers' heart felt like it was going to burst through his chest.
"I realized how big of a body and everything he had," he said. "I couldn't believe it."
Word spread fast Eggers went home to get his father, Douglas, who helped him load the buck on the back of his truck. It didn't take long for word of Eggers' kill to spread through Randolph County.
"Over the last week there's been over 100 people see this deer," Eggers said. "They all say it's like nothing they've ever seen before."
Eggers has been contacted by North American Whitetail and Buckmaster magazines, which plan to feature his kill in future editions. He said he plans to take the deer to a taxidermist for a full-body mount.
"I'm just making up my mind where I'm going to go with it," Eggers said. "This is still all hard for me to believe."
Micetich said Eggers' kill will enhance Illinois' reputation as a haven for trophy bucks.
"That's all we need," Micetich said with a laugh. "We'll call attention to trophy deer in Illinois so they refuse to shoot a doe."
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