For The Record 09-05

For The Record

Phil Tokar

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Martin Bobcat, 70-lb draw

Score: 143 Pope & Young

“What I like most about this deer,” says Phil Tokar of his giant Allegheny County buck, “is that I got it on the last day of the archery season in the last hour of light.”

The quest to harvest this particular deer began two years earlier. “Less than fifty yards from where I got this buck, my friend Tom Fitz shot a buck that scored in the 130’s. Later that winter, he found a matching pair of sheds not far from his tree stand. The sheds were huge.”

Phil hunted the area the next two seasons and didn’t catch a glimpse of the buck, but he knew the deer was still around. “I saw plenty of huge tracks and rubs, but never actually saw the deer. I just kept going back and hoping for a chance.” His persistence was finally rewarded.

“Before climbing into my stand, I put out some Tinks lure. It was a real windy day; I mean very windy. I sat on my stand as the daylight was turning to dusk. Then, the buck appeared about a hundred yards downwind. As soon as he smelled the lure, he headed straight toward me.”

When the buck stopped broadside about thirty yards out, Phil’s Razorback-tipped arrow connected with the deer’s spine. “He dropped right in his tracks,” said Phil. “It was incredible. I shot again, even though I probably didn’t have to. He was already dead.” Officially, the buck scored an even 143 Pope & Young and weighed 228 pounds field-dressed. “It’s the biggest bodied deer I’ve ever taken.”

Amazingly, the rack has only a 16 ?-inch spread but has incredible antler mass. The mass continues to the tips of the main beams. Also, the main beams curve around so much that only a two-inch gap separates the tips. “That’s how I knew the sheds Tom found two years ago belonged to this buck,” Phil said. “The main beams of the sheds curved around the same way.”

The buck was aged at 5 to 5 ? years of age, and it had the wounds to prove it. While butchering the deer, Phil found two broadheads and a shotgun slug high up in the deer’s front shoulders. “The skin had healed over, so I knew they’d been in the deer a couple of years. That’s what’s so amazing about big bucks; the older they get, the more they’ve been through. Every one of them has a story.”

Charlie Zirkle

Randolph County,

West Virginia

Score: 145 Pope & Young

Recently I talked to Charlie Zirkle of Randolph County, West Virginia, about the record book buck he harvested during the 2004 season. In his words, here is the story:

“Several years ago, I decided to plant a food plot behind my house. I bought a bag of Clover Mix, made by the Heartland Wildlife Institute in Ohio. I own a twelve-acre field and planted only an acre and a half of it.

“Within a week or two, the clover started coming up and fifty deer showed up to feed on it. What made it so funny was that the other ten and a half acres also had clover, but the deer totally ignored it. They wanted the Clover Mix so badly that they absolutely rooted the whole patch.

“I’ve seen some nice bucks come into the food plot. Every year I harvest only one buck off my property and let the rest grow for next year. Last year this paid off. Early in the summer, a true trophy buck started coming to the food source.

“Like clockwork, this trophy deer came into the food plot at the same time every morning and again every evening, and he always entered and exited the field at the same point. In the middle of summer, though, this deer quit feeding in the evening. He’d feed about five minutes in the morning, then leave. And then, a month before the season, he quit coming altogether.

“I didn’t see that buck again until a severe thunderstorm passed through. Out of nowhere, he showed up again in the field. And then he disappeared again, just a few days before the start of season.

“The day prior to opening day, I hung a tree stand close to where I’d seen the deer entering and leaving the field. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d see him. I thought I was going to have to wait him out. That’s how I’ve gotten many of my nicest bucks. I’ve hunted entire seasons for a single deer and not gotten a chance until the last week – or the last day. So I was prepared to wait this deer out, too.

“First day of the season, another severe thunderstorm moved through the area. I stayed on stand all day. Sure enough, he appeared in the field again. Something about nasty weather brought the deer out. This time, though, he entered the field about a hundred yards from his usual entry point – and where I was sitting.

“I watched him feed for a while. Then, about a half-hour before sunset, the buck turned to leave the field, walked right by me and offered a perfect shot.

“The buck scored 145 Pope & Young and had an outside spread of 23 inches. Not bad for a West Virginia deer!”

Larry Dailey

Shotgun 2004

Columbiana County, Ohio

Net Score 174

Larry Dailey of Lisbon, Ohio, who harvested his first Buckeye Big buck in 1985, shares with us how he harvested his second buck, which scored 174.

It happened on a Wednesday afternoon during Ohio gun season. I went out hunting on Monday, but hadn’t seen many deer, just a few does. I went to work on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, but worked Wednesday until I just couldn’t take anymore, had to get out of there, so I left work (since I am self-employed, I can do that).

I called my brother and suggested we go hunting. He said he had things to do and couldn’t make it. So, I told my brother I was going to use his stand, because I didn’t feel like going across the field and crawling into mine. His last words were, “Go ahead, but don’t shoot nothing big.”

I rode the four-wheeler back to his stand, crawled into the stand about 3:00 pm, and right at 3:30 I heard something (there was an old spoil pile there). I just happened to turn to my left to see this buck coming down over the hill and turn broadside to me. He had a decent rack, and once I saw that rack, I didn’t look any longer. I pulled my gun up, trying to get a shot at him, but the sun was directly behind me and created a glare on my scope. As a result, I couldn’t get a view of him when he went into the brush. I was trying to turn my hat around to put some shade on my scope when the buck started out of the brush. I don’t know if he saw me, but he got a little nervous. When he moved, I could get a shot of his silhouette, so I aimed right in the center behind his front shoulder. It was kind of foggy, but I could see the crosshairs. I shot and knocked him down.

He got back up, turned, and I thought he was going to run away from me, but he came across the creek, got in the tree line I was in, and started coming directly toward me. I took my second shot, probably only 15 yards, and my shot glanced off his chest and put a little crease in him. He turned and went into an open field, now running directly into the sun, so again I got a glare as I tried to get him in the scope. He cornered away from me and began going up the hill.

I finally got a clear shot at him and caught him in the middle of the ribs. The shot knocked him down; he turned, got up once again, and ended up running through a small patch of woods into the middle of an open field. He then ran about 20 to 40 yards, and into a really thick area. I didn’t want to go directly into the bottom where he was, so I ran to the top of the field and walked down the hill. When I saw him, he was still standing in the patch where I finished him off. He was a 14-point buck and weighed 199 pounds.